Why Partnerships Help You Scale Faster Than Fundraising

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” — African Proverb

In today’s startup ecosystem, fundraising is often seen as the holy grail of success. Decks are polished, rounds are announced, and founders are celebrated for how much they've raised — not what they’ve built. But for many early-stage startups, strategic partnerships, not fundraising, are the real fuel for scale. I have worked with hundreds of founders across East Africa through Founders Hub Africa, I have built my own ventures, and I’ve seen firsthand how partnerships often unlock more leverage, reach, and growth than capital ever could.

Here’s why.

1. The Obsession with Fundraising Is Misleading:
2. Startups – or should I say Founders - often assume that money will solve everything: from building the product, hiring a team, to going to market. But money without strategy simply amplifies inefficiencies. Raising funds is not the same as creating traction or value. Many founders spend 6-12 months chasing investors — months that could have been spent building partnerships that generate real distribution, data, or users. When this doesn’t work out, and oftentimes it doesn’t, they begin to pivot their idea while some even ditch the product altogether, thinking that the idea and product is not good enough to attract funding. To them, funding from an investor, not the customer, is the only proof that they’re building a great solution.
4. What Scaling Really Means:
5. To scale is to grow efficiently with minimal incremental cost. Fundraising gives you fuel. But partnerships give you runways — real, tangible channels for user acquisition, product distribution, or operational support. If you're still figuring out product-market fit or market access, scaling with partnerships is not just smarter — it’s safer.
7. What Partnerships Offer That Money Doesn’t:
8. A partner is, in itself, a customer. Meaning that a partner accepting your product is proof that other customers actually need it. These are some of the things a well-structured partnership can give you: • Access to new markets (e.g. an NGO giving you access to rural women, or a telco offering distribution via USSD) • Credibility and trust through association (but be keen to not suffer from guilt by association) • Free or subsidized tools (think co-branded campaigns, event hosting, or shared tech) • Speed to market without building new infrastructure One solid partnership can unlock the same results you'd need $50,000 to achieve on your own. And I’m not even joking.
10. Types of High-Impact Partnerships:
11. Depending on your stage and model, consider these: • Distribution partnerships — for reaching more customers (e.g. an insurance company partnering with Zidallie to reach school-going children) • Strategic brand alliances — cross-promotion, co-hosted events, joint content • Product/tech integrations — plug into APIs, tools, or platforms instead of building in-house • Community-based partnerships — co-creating with local leaders, influencers, or founders’ communities • Government or NGO collaborations — access to underserved or hard-to-reach demographics
13. How to Identify the Right Partner:
14. Since we have all agreed that a partner is a customer, you need to ask yourself the following questions when approaching one: • Do we share a similar audience or mission? • Can we help each other succeed without competing? • Are our strengths complementary? • What do they stand to gain? If both parties win and users benefit, it's worth pursuing. But one mistake that Founders make is to think small of themselves when going into partnerships – from a negotiations point of view. I want you to know, going forward, that you should approach a partnership as an equal partner at that level. You both have something to offer. However big of a brand the other party might be, them accepting to work with you means that you have brought something valuable that, even though they’re big, they do not have.
16. My Experience: How Partnerships Helped Me Grow Faster:
17. When we started Founders Hub Africa, we had no funding. What we had was a clear mission and strong relationships. By partnering with aligned communities and organizations (like startup hubs, accelerators, and local leaders), we: • Built regional communities in 3 countries • Hosted impactful events without upfront capital • Collaborated with corporates for visibility and resources No investor did that — relationships did.
18. When building HimaPay, we partnered with a regional agribusiness and logistics company, a partnership which would see us commence operations beyond Kenya into Uganda and Zambia, where we would process payments worth tens of millions over 5 years for more than 15,000 farmers. The donors failed to release money for the project, but we had a product that was capable of pushing the project forward, and we didn’t let the fact that we were yet to be licensed by the CBK hold us back.

There are yet other solutions I’m building alongside other founders and the key theme is partnerships. Our restricted expenditure lending platform, Jisort, that gives bus fare loans to commuters is partnering with a digital lender to access the pool of funds, and a USSD and SMS resources platform to defer the high initial USSD setup and maintenance costs. We are not waiting to raise hundreds of millions from investors to get started.

1. How to Approach a Strategic Partner: • Lead with value: Make it about what they’ll gain, not what you need. • Start small: Offer a pilot, a free workshop, or a co-created piece of content. • Have a partnership one-pager or deck ready: treat it seriously. • Follow up and build trust: This is a relationship, not a transaction.
3. When Fundraising Does Make Sense:
4. Let’s be clear: fundraising isn’t the enemy and I’m not asking you to stop fundraising. Sometimes you need capital for: • Heavy infrastructure or tech development before even having the product to seek partnerships with • Expanding after validating your model in order to give better customer experience • Acquiring large market share fast (post-PMF) and lock them in But capital should accelerate an already working engine — not replace building the engine.
6. Final Thought: Influence Before Investment:
7. Partnerships build trust capital — and that’s what ultimately attracts funding, talent, and opportunities. So before you raise funds, ask: Can I partner my way to the next milestone instead? Because more often than not, you can.

(This article is sponsored by PARKSBY, The Sustainable Solution to Urban Parking that lets you find parking near you, if you’re a motorist, and also helps you share your underutilized private parking. This is Partnership.)