Abeg wetin be STARTUPS and what is BUSINESS?
Una no go kii person on top radar. This place is gradually turning out to be a cool hangout for me at my spare time. chaiiiii: 
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I think we need to look at why Kuluya died, its products were not what people or its customers really wanted,
Nigerians play mobile games and have been doing so for donkey long years, the trick is or was to find games that had stickiness that enabled people play them over and over again, they failed woefully doing that.
Great video and mobile games become viral quick look at Angry birds and Temple Run, Kangaroo and co which took over 10 failed iterations to get the right games after years of tweaking the games based on user feedback and testing, Did Kuluya do that or went on with Assumption that people will play the games because they are African themed?.
The African themed concept didnt really pan out because its really not about the concept but the game strategy and flow that actually keeps people playing. A game that has me think or keep trying levels or unlocking new things and areas makes me curious to see it to the end, the new strategy this days is to create the games and update with new gameplays n roles for as long as they can because they have figured it out, many game developers or gaming companies generally have 1 or 2 great games under their belt only which keeps them going for the long haul to complement they partner brands to create mini n short role games which they get paid for like the concept Maliyo did with Wema Bank i think which was awesome, if they had done same with a GTB maybe the stickiness would have occured.
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There is a time in every manās education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance. Self-Reliance - Ralph Waldo Emerson - Summary & Full Essay
If I may paraphrase:
There comes a time in a manās life when he is too old/big or starting to have actual demands and needs that he canāt be doing āstartupsā, but rather an actual business.
Of course, I know Steve Blank definition of Startups as temporary organization searching for a repeatable business model blah blah blah.
Keep searching when you have kids school fees to pay. Or getting missed calls from your siblings. Or rent is due in a few months. Instantly, youāll start thinking very carefully, and deliberately on the type of business to explore. And not just any or another fancy app or WordPress powered android blog with some unclear business model to change the world.
Youāre not Zuckerberg. Chance that youāll be, is just depressing. And Zuckerberg didnāt start thinking heāll be Zuckerberg. Thatās the problem with this new startup era. And boy he was 19 then. You need to be 19 to be thinking of playing around student posts and pictures. Thatās what boys with no kids school fees needs do.
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Startups never ends as long as you are an entrepreneur looking to provide solutions.
You made a valid point about begin serious about business and you tied it to an emotional subject - family - which will always get you a vote.
But beyond all the logic, one thing is constant in life - venture. We will always venture into new - even unproven - things. That said, STARTUP never ends at any level. The problem is when you put all your eggs in one basket - new venture/business - without other sources of income.
People venture into businesses - startups - for different reasons;
Some for the fame, some for the potential doors it will open to other things, some for the relationships hoping to establish, some to provide solutions, some for quick cash, some for long term as well as short term.
But in all, we need every single person that dares to start something especially in Nigeria - We need the data, we need references, we need the experiences. We are a developing nation and everyone - smart or plain foolish - should get involved.
In welcome the intention of the OP and @king_namo 's approach to analyzing the basics. We should all learn from this and look out less we fall - any fantastic/proven business can fall in a matter of days. #Peace
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You miss my whole point, but never mind.
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Apologies for that. I do understand your perspective.
STARTUP Na IDUMOTA While BUSINESS Na MAIN MARKET Onitshaā¦ I think you see! 
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A lot has been said on this thread. I actually think this thread shows our constant struggle as humans to āmake itā. Nothing in life is easy, well I speak for the carpenters, mechanics and shoemakers. Even the customer service guys slaving away in Banks will tell you how hard life is. Hardship permeates every aspect of life even for entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs with original ideas looking to solve real issues/problems deserve support. What we keep seeing time and time again are half-baked ideas that are mere clones of other half-baked business models (some real stuff get cloned too). However, our game is really weak. The ecosystem is just a handful of real businesses.
Having said all of the above, if you believe in it, go for it because you may be the only one who does believe in it.
Bros, this space is still fresh. Payment is big. We still need to crack it so I wont buy this at all.
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Creativity is hard and creating great games is harder. Kuluya needed a longer runway than Iroko startup money.
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Very well said. They also needed better games with better storyline and adventure.
You seem to have lots of spare time on your hands man! 
Considering that a whopping 80% of entrepreneurs who start businesses crash and burn, our prinary concern should be what we can learn from the colossal amount of failure with startups so that we can apply to our own business aspirations?
In my few years as a serial (yes ā hate that word too) entrepreneur, and through my exposure to thousands of entrepreneurs via Mara Foundation, I noticed that at surface level the primary reason startups fail is they simply run out of cash.
But trust me ā the cracks in the foundation start well before the brutal day of financial collapse just as @akindolu pointed out.
So clearly, when a startup is lame and boast of no real differentiation in the market (read: lack of unique value propositions), a startup would not be able to cater edible food for its consumers.
The only solution so far is to dig in. Figure out the true value our startups bring to the table which is unique and different than others in the marketplace.
Kuluya had the money. Kuluya had no competition. Kuluya didnāt go LEAN and they built Snake and Ladder games. I signed up for a week and forgot my password.
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Preach, breddah. Preaaach
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Rocket League was made with a $2 million budget. Now the game has made over $50 million on such a simple soccer concept. With our fanatical love of soccer one would think Kuluya would have pretty much done what these guys did.
All my Nigerian friends play Rocket League when their Fifa drug gets a little stale. It would have been easy money for Kuluya, and would have made them the top dogs on the entire continent.
But alas, lack of vision and poor management led them to build
Shame 
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@Bisong I donāt think it was so much a lack of vision as it was the business model Kuluya decided to chase. Itās unfortunate that Kuluya.com is no longer up, but as of a few years ago Kuluya.com was an almost pixel-by-pixel replica of King.com (the makers of Candy Crush). At that time a large part of Kingās business model was to churn out casual games (lots of match-3 games skinned in different concepts: pirate concept, fantasy concept, etc) which allowed players to compete for prizes (real cash). King has since separated the traditional Candy Crush business model, which relies on massive download numbers monetized by in-app-purchases, from this ācompete for prizesā business model by shifting it to a new site: royalgames.com.
In summary, Kuluya tried to lift a business model from the West, re-skin it to be African-themed, and offer it to the Nigerian market hoping to replicate Kingās success. The lesson we can learn here is that this is not always possible.
Kuluya tried to tread the path so many Nigerian startups are currently on: āNigerianizingā what works in the west and offering it to the Nigerian public for consumption. I think we as an ecosystem need to work much harder and first try to understand our unique needs and psychology as a people, and then build accordingly. Itās an iterative process, there would definitely be a lot of failure in trying to do so. However I think the feeling of success when one eventually gets it right would be far more rewarding than achieving success through copying and pasting.
My 2 cents.
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The simple fact is that the game business is hard and very hit-driven. Zynga had Farmville, King had Candy Crush, Rovio - Angry Birds, Supercell - Clash of Clans. Most mobile game companies have struggled to have a second hit. The console game winners have thrived on successful franchises - EA with the sports games is one of the best examples.
Kuluya was always a very risky bet. Without a big hit, it was always very dangerous. Even those with big hits have seen better days. Look at Zyngaās stock priceā¦
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Yes, I agree. The video game business is extremely brutal. However I have a suspicion that the founders of Kuluya knew this and thatās why rather than risk $2 million developing a new unproven franchise with no guarantee of success they went with a relatively less riskier business model in that of Kingās compete for cash prizes model. Basically develop a plethora of cheap to make simple games with measurable outcomes (high score, etc). That way your upfront investment is low, you donāt spend 4+ years making a single game before seeing any revenue, etc etc. Kuluya took a smart, calculated risk; unfortunately it didnāt pan out.
Note that before Candy Crush hit it big King was making money from this model, and still does.
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My friend was in charge of the games before leaving a few years ago. I personally reviewed and negotiated the terms of his contract before he joined Kuluya (he was the first Kuluya staff) and got a taste of what Jason is like. We negotiated for a while and he kept swearing at my friend for demanding certain terms.
This my guy was supposed to be a pioneer of mobile games in Nigeria because he is pure talent. He taught himself animation using 3D Max while in first year of Uni. There was a lot of creative differences between him and Jasonā¦he did not have the freedom necessary to work. Mind you my friend is an avid gamer and grew up among gamers so he knew what he was doing. He also had his own video game ideas which he put on hold for Kuluya because of a non-compete in his contract.
I do not know what happened but I guess there was too much interference so he left with some of his team whom he brought into Kuluya. This my friend is one of the most talented people I know and Iām proud to have grown up with him.
I feel many startups in Nigeria asides what you all have rightly pointed out fail, because of lack of government backing and favorable policies. Many compete with foreign businesses patronized by the same government who want us to go out there and give ourselves jobs. How can a startup grow like this whether their strategy and idea is brilliant or not?
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wait, but kuluya existed before spark.ng
and to my knowledge i think the founders was in charge of the day to day of the company not JASON
There were at least 2 in charge one is a German, donāt want to mention names. but Jason was very involved.
