The tech space is notoriously one of the most challenging for startups, with high capital needs and just a little margin for error. In August 2019, when the Gradely solution was launched into this space, somehow I knew we were positioned to succeed against all odds.
I’ve worked in the technology innovation and product development industry for the most part of my career journey, and I have witnessed promising ideas being forgotten or misunderstood, in certain cases with significant opportunity cost.
I’ve met teams struggle to understand the notion of a product and the underlying product development process.
However, the idea behind the Gradely solution had huge potential and the only way to actualise it was to think about it from a place of success, even more so, with clarity.
Where It All Began…
My tech career started way back as a Youth Corps Member where I worked as a UI/UX designer for “VMLearn” – a professional training company planning to go digital. Upon completion of my service year, I spent 2 more years in the company.
During my stay at VMLearn, I worked on several products including Skilli – a platform intended to be the first MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) platform in Nigeria. Podium – a multi-tenant platform designed to enable a variety of people to launch their online school. Aligner – an app designed solely for recruitment purposes. The official NYSC SAED (Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development) website and SAED connect portal for corps members.
After 3 years with VMLearn, I moved on to co-found Thribyte technology with 3 other friends where we built a gamification app for learning known as “Quizac”. We launched Quizac in 2017 and it got over 5,000 downloads in its first week, and it is, of course, thriving to date.
In 2019, thanks to my good friend Imole Oluwaseun I met Boye Oshinaga, now the CEO of Gradely. Through him, I learned about the idea behind the Gradely solution. The potential therein was quite the catch, and I knew immediately I wanted to be a part of Gradely’s success story.
Actualising the Idea of Gradely
As a founding member of Gradely, I knew it was important to have a holistic, strategic view of the entire product, how it can be built and how it will become successful.
I was excited about the Gradely solution because unlike any other learning solution that provides content for learners, Gradely was aimed at first understanding what individual learners needed, and using the data to recommend personalised learning resources for each learner.
Staying on top of our game and making sure we were moulding Gradely right meant picking the right people and investors who were equally hungry for, and shared in our mission to grow and scale the company.
Today, I’m glad that I work with folks who share in the vision to create a powerful engine of experimentation, creativity, and improvement. Each member of the team is a pleasure to work with. I love that we’re always pushing ourselves to be better and that I get to lead these initiatives.
Over the years, I’ve realised that irrespective of how much experience I’ve got, there’s always still so much to learn. New perspectives and frameworks to consider, new technologies and methodologies to stay on top of, new industry trends and competitors to evaluate.
But as a product lead with a team to guide, making intelligent bets is what I do. Sometimes our initiatives will win big, and at other times, it will lose big, and so my advice to anyone looking to join the team is this – Resist the urge to do many things at the same time. Thinking of products means thinking like a user; you need to have a “user mentality” and “empathy” to relate to user problems, frequent needs and expectations.
Currently, Gradely is at a point where we’re growing rapidly and there are big things on the horizon. I believe with a common goal and a continued team-spirit, there’s no limit to where this company can go.
Get to Know a Little More About Babatunde Caleb – Q & A
Q: What are you likely to be caught doing in your spare time?
A: You’d probably catch me cooking.
Q: If you could meet one person in history, who would it be and why?
A: Honestly, no one. I’m not a fan of meeting people and talking. I’d rather read their books if they had one.
Q: What’s that one thing most people don’t know about you?
A: A lot of people have no idea how much I love cooking.
INTERESTED IN MEETING THE REST OF THE TEAM? KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR OUR NEXT SPOTLIGHT, HERE ON OUR BLOG!
Check out our other employee spotlight stories:
Sami Ullah Shah, Backend Developer
Olawunmi Fashina, Customer Success Associate
Odunmolorun Osineye, Product Associate
Emediong Akpan, Content Writer
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