case study · streaming · subscriptions
Alutamax
A Netflix-style experience engineered for Kenyan wallets — subscriptions billed through M-PESA, a catalog spanning the big networks.
The brief
Streaming in Kenya has a payments problem: international services want cards most people don't use online. Alutamax solves it by billing the way Kenyans already pay — M-PESA — alongside Stripe for cardholders.
I built the full product: catalog architecture, subscription lifecycle, search and discovery surfaces, and the billing engine that keeps access in sync with payments.
What I built
- Subscription billing — plans and renewals through M-PESA STK push and Stripe, with automatic access control.
- Multi-network catalog — titles organised across Netflix, HBO, Disney+ and more in a unified browsable library.
- Search & discovery — genre browsing, search and recommendation surfaces.
- Watch experience — continue-watching state, per-title pages and responsive playback UI.
- Admin CMS — catalog management, plan pricing, subscriber analytics and content scheduling.
- Account management — profiles, subscription status, payment history and renewal reminders.
Under the hood
The billing engine reconciles two very different payment worlds: STK callbacks and Stripe webhooks both feed one subscription state machine. Access checks happen at the edge of every content route, and renewal jobs run on a scheduler with retry logic for failed prompts.
Where it is now
Alutamax has been live since 2023 with paying subscribers. Recurring revenue products live or die on billing reliability — this one has run for years without payment drift.
initiate
Like what you see?
Every project here started as a conversation. Tell me what you're building — I'll show you how it ships.