Solving the Chicken and Egg Problem of Diaspora Investing

When we started Borderless (previously called PLTFM), I knew we were going to face a classic chicken-and-egg problem: supply and demand. More specifically, I knew there would be investors looking for investment opportunities (demand) and investment collectives looking for investors (supply), but not necessarily at the same time or in the same place. It didn’t worry me too much because I believed both sides existed. The real challenge was organising them in a way that allowed them to find and trust each other.

As a reminder, Borderless enables members of the African diaspora to invest back home, but with a twist. Unlike other platforms that bring you deals directly, Borderless requires you to join a collective before you invest.

What is an Investment Collective?

Investment collectives are groups of individuals who pool their capital, networks, and expertise to invest together. They typically invest in startups, real estate, or other high-growth opportunities. These collectives operate with shared decision-making and risk. They are becoming increasingly popular among angel investors, diaspora communities, and participants in emerging markets. At Borderless, we are building the digital infrastructure to help these collectives form, operate, and grow.

The Onboarding Dilemma

As a new user (read investor) on the platform, you can either join an existing collective or start your own. Most people are unlikely to click "start one" because they haven’t done it before and want to invest. If they sign up and don’t find a collective that matches their interests, or worse, find no live collectives at all, they may never return to the platform.

On the other side, we have collective managers we’ve been engaging with for months. Many are excited and ready, but some are waiting for our help to find investors. They hope the platform will bring them demand, while the investors are hoping to find ready-made collectives. This is the classic challenge of building a two-sided marketplace.

The Cold Start Problem

Andrew Chen describes this scenario in his book The Cold Start Problem (great book, worth a read). One story I remember clearly is from Uber’s early days. The founders paid drivers to stay online, even when there were few riders, so that when someone opened the app, they could always find a car. Otherwise, the user might delete the app and never come back.

We’re facing a similar situation at Borderless. We don’t have Uber’s budget to pay collectives to be active on our platform, but we do have tools that solve real problems for them. That makes our platform valuable from day one.

Solving Real Problems: Membership Collections

One of those real-world problems is membership collection. A few weeks ago, a collective manager asked how we managed memberships at HoaQ. I sent him a link to the Borderless demo and test environment so he could try it out for himself. We’ve made it simple for collectives to manage memberships, regardless of where their members are based. If you are a collective manager, drop me an email and I will send you the links ([email protected]).

At HoaQ, we’ve collected over $100,000 in membership fees since mid-2021. I understand how critical it is to have a recurring and sustainable revenue model. That experience is guiding how we build Borderless and the tools we provide to collectives.

Where We Are Going

To better balance supply and demand, we are prioritising onboarding collectives that are already active. These groups already have members and deals, which ensures that new investors landing on Borderless find opportunities worth engaging with.

At the same time, we have created a waitlist for investors. This helps us keep them engaged and allows us to notify them as soon as new collectives go live. If you are an investor concerned about not finding the right fit immediately, I still recommend joining the waitlist. You’ll be the first to know when collectives become available.

You can join the waitlists below:

Potential Users - https://tally.so/r/mOJQ5M

Collective managers - https://tally.so/r/3NJqWp

As always, thanks for reading.

My name is Joe Kinvi, and I’m building Borderless, the infrastructure that enables the Africa Diaspora to invest at home easily. We are starting with building tools for investment collectives. We are going live this month (June 2025), and you can join our waitlist here.