MATHEW MWANDOTO
Core Team, Riverstarz
Architecting and Scaling Riverstarz's Digital Platforms (2020 – Present)
I'm one of the founding engineers for Riverstarz Music and Riverstarz Digital. Over the last four years, I've led system design, SaaS/API commercialization, payment integrations, and AI‑driven BI—all focused on delivering seamless distribution and reliable revenue streams for artists, labels, and partners.
Three Major Pillars of Work
Each project represents a critical component of Riverstarz's technical infrastructure, delivering measurable business impact and technical excellence.
Music Distribution System
Launched 2021
Automated ingestion, validation, and delivery to DSP partners (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.)
Unified Payment Gateway
Launched Q1 2024
Custom payment solution unifying M-Pesa, PayPal, and Paystack with real-time reconciliation
BI & API Commercialization
2024 – 2025
AutoML-driven forecasting and SaaS/API expansion for external distributors
Music Distribution System
Launched 2021
Overview
Designed to ingest, validate, and deliver artists' audio + metadata directly to DSP partners (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.), Riverstarz's Distribution System has been live since mid‑2021. It automates tasks that were once manual—bitrate/format checks, DDEX ERN 3.8.2 metadata validation, and content delivery—enabling us to onboard 50+ independent labels in the first 18 months.
System Architecture & Documentation
Drafted UML workflows, component diagrams, and ERDs to define multi‑step ingestion pipelines. Outlined data models for MySQL (transactional tables) and MongoDB (ingestion logs).
Quality Control Engine
Built automated QC scripts that scan audio files (bitrate, sample rate, codec) and metadata XML (DDEX ERN 3.8.2 compliance). Reduced manual QC load by 95% within the first year.
DSP Integration & Delivery
Negotiated technical terms with Spotify's partner‑integration team; wrote API specs for JSON/HTTP calls. Successfully delivered the first batch of 10 artists in 8 weeks.
Metrics & Impact
50+ labels onboarded in 18 months, 99.2% system uptime (AWS EC2 + RDS design), >1 TB of audio delivered per month by Q2 2022.
Unified Payment Gateway
Launched Q1 2024
Problem
By early 2024, Riverstarz was struggling with operational delays due to manual invoicing, disparate payment channels, and time‑consuming reconciliation. Our days‑sales‑outstanding (DSO) had climbed above 90 days.
Solution
I architected a custom Payment Gateway that unifies M‑Pesa (Kenya/Tanzania), PayPal (global), and Paystack (Kenya/Ghana/Nigeria) into a single PHP/MySQL engine with real‑time reconciliation.
API Integrations
Mapped M‑Pesa STK Push call‑flow; implemented callback endpoints. Onboarded PayPal and Paystack with PCI‑compliant practices.
Reconciliation Logic
Built PHP/MySQL reconciliation module achieving 99.5% accuracy on payment‑to‑invoice matching.
Monitoring Dashboard
Real‑time dashboard showing transaction volumes, success/failure ratios, and settlement times.
Business Impact
Achieved a significant reduction in DSO and a notable increase in activity from Kenyan clientele.
BI & API Commercialization
2024 – 2025
Business Intelligence & Forecasting
In mid‑2024, a slump in sales prompted us to retool our data strategy. I led the design of a BI pipeline—extracting transactional & usage logs from MySQL, transforming them in PostgreSQL, and loading into BigQuery for AutoML analysis.
ETL Pipeline & Data Warehouse
Designed ETL workflow (PHP + SQL) moving daily sales, streaming, and user‑engagement data from MySQL → PostgreSQL → BigQuery.
AutoML‑Driven Forecasting
Configured Google Cloud AutoML Tables to predict monthly sales by genre and geography. Improved forecast accuracy from 62% to 87%.
Executive Reporting
Developed interactive dashboards showing KPIs: Active Users, Upload Volumes, Approval Times, and Sales Growth.
SaaS/API Commercialization
In January 2025, Riverstarz Digital spun out a subdivision to offer our Distribution System and QC Engine as a commercial SaaS/API to smaller distributors and tech‑savvy clients.
Multi‑Tenant SaaS Development
Designed tenant schema in PostgreSQL to isolate client metadata while reusing shared tables for DSP credentials and QC rules.
RiverstarzQCService (API)
Packaged validation logic into Node.js microservice with /validateAudio and /validateMetadata endpoints.
Partner Onboarding Kit
Created comprehensive documentation with sample code, API definitions, and user‑flow diagrams.
Technical Documentation & Code Samples
System architecture diagrams, API specifications, and monitoring dashboards
System Architecture & UML Diagrams
- Multi‑Tenant Schema Diagram (PostgreSQL)
- API Flowchart showing request lifecycle
- Payment Gateway Call Flow with M‑Pesa STK Push
API Specifications
- DDEX XML validation endpoints
- Audio quality control services
- Payment webhook integrations
Monitoring Dashboards
- Transaction KPI Dashboard
- BI Dashboard with AutoML forecasts
- Real-time system health metrics
Sample API Specification
{
"POST /api/validateMetadata": {
"description": "Submit DDEX XML for validation",
"request": {
"headers": { "Content-Type": "application/xml" },
"body": "<ResourceList xmlns='urn…' />"
},
"response": {
"200": {
"description": "Metadata valid",
"body": { "status": "pass", "errors": [] }
},
"400": {
"description": "Validation errors",
"body": {
"status": "fail",
"errors": [
{ "line": 54, "message": "Missing <ResourceTitle>" }
]
}
}
}
}
}At‑a‑Glance Numbers
Quantifiable impact across all major projects and initiatives
| Project | KPI / Metric | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Distribution System | Labels onboarded | 50+ labels in 18 months |
| . | System uptime | 99.2% (AWS EC2 + RDS) |
| Payment Gateway | DSO reduction | 40% drop (90 days → 54 days in 6 months) |
| . | Reconciliation accuracy | 99.5% match rate |
| BI/Forecasting Platform | Forecast accuracy | Increased from 62% → 87% |
| . | Revenue stabilization | Month‑over‑month growth stabilized by Q3 2024 |
| SaaS/API Commercialization (2025) | Paying tenants | 6 tenants in first 8 weeks |
| . | Time‑to‑live for new partner setups | Reduced from 6 days → 2 days |
About Mathew
With a Bachelor of Economics and 5 years of building platforms at Riverstarz, I sit at the intersection of business strategy and technical execution. I've applied economic rigor—forecasting, benefit analysis, unit‐economics thinking—to shape product roadmaps, prioritize features, and model business projections.
When I'm not coding or designing, I'm working on Excel models, tracking fintech trends (M‑Pesa, Paystack, API‐driven banking), or negotiating new direct deals with DSPs for Riverstarz Music.
Core Expertise
Let's Connect
Interested in discussing technical architecture, fintech solutions, or collaboration opportunities?