For African writers, getting paid for their work on global platforms has long been a daunting task. While some startups are working on solutions, Storipod has taken a different route: serializing stories in a social media-style format. It’s a daring approach designed to leverage today’s rapidly decreasing attention spans. This is the story of Storipod, from Day 1 to Day 1,000.
Day 1: The Death of Blog Posts
James Nelson has always been a writer. Back in 2019, while working at Interswitch, he would write blog posts one week and spend the next trying to drive traffic to them. “Come read my blog. Click here. Visit my blog,” he recalls. Over time, he began to feel like he was just annoying people.
Then, he tried something different: writing on his WhatsApp Status. The same content, but a new format. By the fifth slide, people were already chiming in. “I don’t think that should have happened,” one person commented. “I think this makes sense,” said another. The engagement was immediate.
“People consume things in tiny bits,” Nelson explains. “That’s how we read now — WhatsApp Status, Instagram Stories, tweets. So why not use the same method for storytelling?”
It was a simple yet brilliant insight. Music has Spotify and Apple Music. You can record a song in your living room and make money through streaming. Movies have YouTube and Netflix: upload a great film, and people watch it — you get paid. But writing? There’s no such platform. Medium doesn’t pay writers. Substack doesn’t support African creators. Twitter’s monetization requires subscriptions. “Writers deserve better,” Nelson says.
In 2022, while still the head of product at Shuttlers, a startup digitizing shared commutes, Nelson bought the domain name for Storipod.com. The name, inspired by “peas in a pod,” represented writers sharing their stories together. “Storypod” was already taken, so Nelson went with Storipod. “We’ll out-market them,” he figured.
By December 2022, Nelson left Shuttlers, bought a Mac and an iPhone. “With these two, I’ll never be jobless,” he thought.
“I realized that the only difference between me and other Nigerian founders was that they had raised money, and I hadn’t,” Nelson admits. After a short stint at Edukoya in 2023, he made the bold decision: “We’re going to do Storipod, or we’ll die trying.”
Day 500: 15 Developers and a Prayer
Building a social media app is no small feat. The bar is set high — users expect Instagram-level polish from a tiny team. They want seamless functionality, without the usual “Nigerian app” lag.
Nelson went through 15 mobile developers, burning through his savings. He hired an Indian developer who left a trail of bugs. But by December 2023, they finally made it to the Android store.
Then came the battle with iOS. After 22 rejections, an email on February 6, 2024, read: “Welcome to the App Store.” “I read it twice,” Nelson says. “That was the most powerful email I’ve ever received.”
But the money was gone. The Indian developer left. The team was down to Nelson and his two co-founders, Caleb Chinga and Prince Ita. They had no mobile engineer, and no clear path forward.
“At one point, I thought it was over,” Nelson admits.
But then, Nelson started cold-messaging Flutter developers on LinkedIn. “We have bugs. Can you help us? We don’t have money, but this thing can blow.”
Most ignored him. One developer, Daniel, asked to see the documentation. “This is what I do for a living,” Nelson replied, sending over the code. Daniel fixed some bugs and agreed to help for free when he had the time. That’s how Storipod survived its first crash.
Soon, Nelson found Taiwo Farinu, a brilliant coder working from a beer parlour with a broken laptop. When Farinu needed ₦20,000 ($13) for an emergency, Nelson sent it, even though he was broke himself. Farinu solved complex problems, like making the app remember where you stopped reading — just like WhatsApp Status.
With the help of free Microsoft Azure credits, relationships with former interns, and a designer working 3 a.m. NHS night shifts, Storipod pushed forward. But the team was still unpaid. Nelson was burning out, and his co-founders were juggling day jobs and night shifts on Storipod.
“I see what they’re going through,” Nelson says. “I’m like, ‘Guys, how far? We need to fix this. Let’s push.’”
Every night, he’d pray the same thing: “God, let this succeed. Not for me, but for these guys.”
Day 1,000: 150,000 Users, Zero Payroll
In January 2024, a Canadian contact on LinkedIn saw what Storipod was doing and offered to help. He sent Storipod’s first angel investment: $5,000. Nelson shared part of the funds with the team. “I never knew ₦200K ($138) meant more to them than millions,” Nelson says. That’s when he knew they had something real.
In 2024, Storipod launched monetization. Creators could lock their stories behind a paywall, and readers could tip their favorite writers. Storipod took a 30% commission. Unlike other platforms, payouts were guaranteed.
Then, a user named Grace made a viral TikTok video, showcasing Storipod. “Let me introduce you to an app where you can make money from day one.” With just 3,000 followers, the video went viral. Nelson sent her ₦30,000 ($20) and ran ads on it. This became Storipod’s killer marketing strategy.
Another user, Winnie Baby, started writing on Storipod and later joined the team to handle newsletters. She became the face of the brand. “Winnie Baby from Storipod” became a key voice for the platform.
By mid-2025, Storipod had 50,000 users. Then 150,000. They moved payouts to on-chain stablecoins (USDC) for easy withdrawals across Africa.
The team grew to 20 people, yet they still ran on Zoho’s free tier, built their own email campaign manager, and used Microsoft Azure credits. Nobody was paid. “When I tell people we run at zero cost, they don’t believe me,” Nelson says.
But somehow, it’s working.
The Exit No One’s Pricing In
Nelson isn’t focused on the traditional VC unicorn path. Instead, he’s keeping an eye on the creator economy, globally.
Farcaster, a decentralized Twitter for creators, is gaining momentum. “Every platform makes its own creators,” Nelson says. “People big on YouTube aren’t big on Instagram. Storipod will make its own — Winnie Baby is already one of them.”
Storipod’s long-term vision isn’t just to compete with YouTube or Instagram, but to rival Amazon Books. “On Storipod, writers can earn from chapter one, not just when someone buys the whole book,” Nelson explains. “Eventually, Africans will default to Storipod.”
Right now, Storipod has 150,000 creators. Ads haven’t launched yet, but they plan to go live once they hit 1 million users.
Nelson’s exhausted, working late nights and waking up late. Farinu is still coding from the beer parlour. The UX designer is still sketching at 3 a.m. between shifts. New team members keep showing up.
“People don’t resign at Storipod,” Nelson says. “Everyone’s a founding member. Even the cleaners. They believe this is theirs.”
It doesn’t make sense: twenty people, zero payroll, Instagram-level UX. But somehow, they’re at 150,000 users — and they’re still running.
Nelson leans back. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
