In Kenya’s fast-evolving innovation ecosystem, many early-stage founders often struggle to bridge the gap between a promising concept and a product that attracts funding. One common misconception continues to hold back even the most promising early-stage ideas:
“I need to perfect my product before I can pitch it.”
The current funding landscape, both venture and grant, does not reward perfection. It rewards proof. In startup terms, that proof often comes in the form of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that is not only usable, but also fundable. This is a version of your product that solves a real problem, engages real users, and shows clear potential for growth and investment.
Data from Pariti, a Kenya-founded startup platform, shows the power of traction. Through their Pitch Review system, they evaluate startups based on key factors like product readiness, user engagement, market opportunity, and team strength. Out of more than 1,000 startups reviewed, those with a traction score above 70 had a 50% chance of connecting with investors, while those scoring over 78 were 8 times more likely to raise capital. That insight has reshaped how incubation and accelerator programs, including ours, approach product development.
In programs like the Futuremakers Women in Tech Accelerator Program and the SAIS Female Founders Academy, we focus on helping early-stage founders build MVPs that are testable, usable, and grounded in real user feedback, instead of flashy tools.
So, what makes an MVP not only fundable but compelling enough to win over investors during a pitch in Kenya’s current landscape? Let us break it down with examples, insights from our incubation programs, and what ecosystem partners are actually looking for.
1. Solve a Real Problem
Too often, early-stage founders get caught up building fully loaded apps with sleek interfaces and every possible feature, burning time and budget before they have tested their core idea. Many of these products never make it past beta. Not because the idea is bad, but because the team skipped validation and jumped straight into building.
We have seen this play out even among established players. When M-Kopa, known for its pay-as-you-go solar kits, expanded into smartphone financing, early versions of the product faced significant backlash. According to various reports, some of the early smartphones locked out users too aggressively, and the market was not ready for the financing terms applied. They also rolled out at scale before ironing out these issues, which led to poor user experience, strained trust, and backlash online, including customer complaints and viral stories of phones being “bricked.”
While M-Kopa has since iterated and improved their smartphone model, the early failure to validate with real users and adapt to behavioral data is a cautionary tale of assuming product-market fit based on success in another vertical.
That is why Dr. Kingi Mochache’s approach stood out. As the founder of PsychCare Clinic and an alumna of our Futuremakers Women in Tech Accelerator Program, she focused on accessibility over complexity. Her MVP was a USSD-based system that allowed Kenyans to book sessions with verified mental health professionals using even the most basic mobile phones.
This low-tech but high-impact solution tackled a growing challenge in Kenya: equitable access to mental health support, especially for underserved communities. By focusing on usability and speed to market, Dr. Mochache attracted paying clients, gained mentorship, and earned recognition in the healthtech space, all from a lean, practical MVP.
2. Traction Is More Than Downloads
It is not enough to build something. The real test is whether people engage with it, and whether that engagement signals growth potential.
This is what separates pitch decks from fundable MVPs: active users, clear feedback loops, and visible impact.
That is exactly what Dr. Gladys Ngetich, co-founder of SquadGO, understood when her team launched a ride-sharing platform for university students tackling two everyday challenges: safety and affordability.
Their MVP? A mobile app co-designed with input from students at UoN, JKUAT, and Kenyatta University. Instead of investing in a large fleet or building complex systems upfront, the team focused on validating their assumptions through small-scale pilots, testing features like emergency alerts, pricing, and ride preferences.
By tracking usage behavior and collecting structured feedback from early adopters, SquadGO improved their MVP in real-time and built a strong case for investment.
“We launched small, gathered feedback, and improved quickly. That gave us the confidence to approach partners,”
— Dr. Ngetich, during a Futuremakers Women in Tech session
That deliberate, data-driven approach paid off. SquadGO gained meaningful traction within campus networks and attracted attention from major ecosystem partners, including Founders Factory Africa and the Standard Chartered Foundation.
3. Build Lean. Learn Loud.
In Kenya’s fast-moving startup ecosystem, building lean is just the beginning. What matters more is how quickly and transparently you learn. A fundable MVP is the version that shows you are listening, adapting, and improving based on real user input.
Research from the IFC backs this up: startups that go through accelerators, where iterative development is emphasized, see 2.7x faster sales growth and raise 3x more capital than their peers. Why? Because investors do not just fund ideas, they fund teams that know how to learn.
From startup support programs across Kenya, the pattern is clear: founders who document product decisions, test ideas quickly, and reflect openly on what is working and what is not, tend to gain deeper trust from users, mentors, and investors alike.
Even feedback from your first 30 users can shape your strategy:
- Where are users getting stuck?
- Which features do they use most?
- Are they referring others?
- What complaints are coming up again and again?
These insights are traction signals and investment clues. They show that your product is evolving.
The loudest learners are often the ones that go furthest.
So, Is Your MVP Fundable?
You might be at the very beginning: a working form, a landing page, a beta version, or your first 10 users. That is not too early. In fact, that is where real validation begins.
But funding does not follow simply because something exists. It follows when:
✅ You have identified and are solving a real problem
✅ Users are actively engaging with your product
✅ You are learning and improving based on real feedback
You do not need to have it all figured out.
But you do need to show that you are learning, and building, fast.
Want to Validate Your MVP with Us?
Reach out to us or apply for one of our upcoming startup programs at adminibiz@strathmore.edu