TL; DR,
iROKO Partners is in trouble and Jason needs to stop all this experimentation madness and FOCUS!!
Quiet an amazing read : http://techmoran.com/iroko-partners-reportedly-laying-off-top-executives-hundreds-others-axed/#sthash.Fekf5Hlp.dpbs
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Haha, business school 101: Market Research. I think Jason thought the Nigerians that could afford to live in London were the same as those in Lagos.
DSTV is upping their game, Africa Magic is improving.
Just some few weeks ago some publication was circulating where a young Ghanian movie maker alleged that irokotv was literally ripping movie makers off, she never gave her reasons but only compared how much movies make on the platform with other platforms operating outta silicon valley. Now, even without official word from iroko, people are already celebrating what they think is a downfall of a seemenly successful companyâŚsmh, hotels.ng did some laying off some years ago, then hit profitable milestones⌠Running lean is a strategy not an exit.
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Im just saddened how the alleged sources seem to be ratting (whistleblowing) of what goes on in the company. Making IrokoTV look really bad n personally I donât like that.
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ââŚOur doubts about IrokoTVâ - You and whoâs doubts? 
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50,000 subscribers is not âsuccessâ. Much lower than I expected, pitiful.
Hungry People crying. They fired you, then you cry to techmoran. So, you want the investors to listen to you because he did an experiment with telesales and moved on fast thereby saving money?
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If that article is true, then its not a bad thing in totality.
Every business face challenges in certain stage of growth, IrokoTv might just be facing such. All they need to do is to re-strategize.
Salary/wages are the biggest cost line of most businesses, if you get it wrong by employing more than what you need, then you will run into big trouble. Employ as you grow and outsource jobs(projects) with short life cycle to avoid redundancy cost(salaries) after the project is completed.
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I have been Irokos biggest critic, and Iâm glad theyâre finally seeing the error in the African market that I pointed out months ago, but I have to admit, 50,000 subscribers is excellent progress. That is, if those are active subscribers.
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Irokotv, has to pivot into a similar market (competing services) to disrupt their main competitors and must survive through this hard times (IF IT IS TRUE), the African broadband market has not evenly cheaply distributed and of its features, I think they are Iroko, they will survive.
I guess @Jason_Igwe_Njoku should just stop all this crazy experimentation and focus, focus, focus. When we keep mentioning stuffs like this on Radar, mad-men keep on repeating the fâckery of âwhere is your own?â
It will be the greatest shame on Nigeria and the SE if Iroko fails. I shudder to think that the man who inspires me that winning (after many failures) is possible, fails. God forbid.
I donât see any empirical reason though, why someone will have an uber-profitable cash-cow, then decides to slaughter it for Sallah 
The foreign markets were more profitable. Normally, its better to sit a market out if you have strong funding, than force it to grow.
Linda took 6 solid years before reaching a tipping point. Imagine if she had plastered ads all over Lagos, urging Lagosians to visit her blog? Epic fail i guess. Or Nairaland? Even Netflix sat their market out and continues to dod so today, patiently waiting for the growing cadre of cord-cutters.
@Jason_Igwe_Njoku, do not fail. Or you wonât step foot into the SE. This is a promise not a threat. 
If they are beating a hasty retreat I do not blame them. Incomes of diaspora is far higher than in Africa. A single typical diaspora subscriber earns 50 times more and is worth at least 100 Nigerian subscribers. Incomes are higher, steady, they are used to paying online and regularly. Iroko should never have abandoned that base and chased a mass market with question marks over its size and with lots of piracy and expensive bandwidth. Its too early for Nigeria and they dont have the cash to go up against heavy hitters like dstv and soon mtn.
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[quote=âhienyimba, post:11, topic:2910â]
The foreign markets were more profitable. Normally, its better to sit a market out if you have strong funding, than force it to grow.
[/quote] You know a serial entrepreneur ones said âFounders from dysfunctional homes are good with starting and surviving with a startup with all the chaos, but as soon a repeatable business model is found and the organization moves from a startup to an early stage company, the founders themselves throw bombs into their own organizationâ e.g steve jobs.
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Hmmn, IrokoâŚ
The problem with Iroko is the cost to the consumers. The day the cost of watching one movie (both subscription to Iroko and data charges) becomes equivalent to the cost of buying the CD in Nigeria, the company will do well. That is not possible in the short term because we all know how expensive data is in Nigeria.
Now, the question is what of the long term? Unfortunately I think by then it will make a lot of sense to be in the business and a lot of other players will jump inâŚand who knows how they will fare with that sort of competition.
There are alot of smart people who can do very well in this business but wonât go in now because it is just too risky. No one know when exactly data will become dirt cheap, and till then, it all burning cash.
I really want to see them do well though. The more success stories we have from high profile startups such as Iroko, the easier it is for the rest of us coming in.
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The article is no longer on Techmoran.
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[quote=âhienyimba, post:11, topic:2910â]
@Jason_Igwe_Njoku, do not fail. Or you wonât step foot into the SE.
[/quote]
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Itâs still there
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People need to stop exaggerating though. Iroko will not die. It has to much funding and too much revenue to die. Only a complete idiot can sink it at this point. Itâs just a matter of realigning the business
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