First, a bit of context.

The tide of good times and irrational exuberance in startup land is down, and every other week, we are discovering those who are swimming naked. It’s one week, one recklessness or worse, getting revealed.

Yesterday, I shared a post on X that said founders should understand the startup game is long and when they see other founders struggling, their focus should be on learning lessons and not on gloating – directly or indirectly. Especially as they are in the arena. I have seen too many spectators of yesterday became the spectacle of today.

Enter the dense post.

[SIC] “But its weird how I only see OO speak out a times like this when its certain “openly” shady people involved”

But irony is not dead.

The author of that post, Jude Dike, runs a startup called Get Equity. Last year there was a report in Wee Tracker “GetEquity’s Game Of Fast And Loose Makes Founders And Funders Jittery” which attacked his and the startup’s credibility.

Guess who came out swinging for one of the “openly” shady people 

The author, Henry, received the rest of my opinions via WhatsApp.

Though we’ve engaged, I do not know Jude personally, and did not consult him before or after appearing to come to his defence. So why did I do so?

It is what I do. I bat for founders, especially when I believe they’ve been wronged.

And in cases where I am not “defending” founders, you see me absent in public conversations where they are being (rightfully) pummelled. 

But why?

Because, I am biased & supporting founders fits my agenda.

What agenda?

If you go to my about page, you see where I tried to articulate my agenda.

“My thinking goes thus; for the black man to be fully liberated, we’d need successful black nations. For that to happen, economic capital and political power will need to aggregate and be retained in the hands of the most enlightened black folks in black nations. I strongly believe Nigeria’s techosystem has the largest concentration of people that can make this liberation happen. My agenda is to help realise this as a participant, supporter and activist.”

Naive? Perhaps. But it what it is.

To me, founders are a special breed, the best of them see a problem and solve it. That something doesn’t exit is not enough to stop them. Every progress we see in society has been made because of those who decided to go against the grain. If the problem of Nigeria – or the black world would ever be solved, I strongly believe it will be by this special breed. So I’ll keep supporting them.

Does that mean founders are flawless and should be given carte blanche to do anything? Not at all. You never see me stopping any founder from being investigated or put on the front burner. I’ll publicly come to their defence if I think any attack is inaccurate or unfair, and in most cases, privately admonish and advise the founder on how I believe they should make amends for their errors. My biased self would rather scold in private and defend or ignore in public. And when they do right, I am happy to effusive in my public and private praise.

These days, the tide of my founder friendliness is waning. In recent years, we’ve seen, quite frankly, atrocious, irresponsible and in many cases, illegal behaviour by founders. Though I believe they have been enabled by careless investing, they are ultimately responsible for their actions. In speaking to a number of tier one African VCs and investors, I have told them I will soon be the champion of “founder unfriendliness”. 

Being founder friendly should not stop one from being firm, because if left to run amok, some of the self-destructive behavior can get to scale which works against my agenda. So there, I put my agenda first.

So you see me writing stuff like this

Whenever I support founders or players in Nigeria’s tech ecosystem, and they are effusive in their thanks, I tell them they are merely beneficiaries of my agenda. I have done this since October 2010 when I held the first startup meet in Lagos, and I plan to keep working towards it for as long as I can.

I am pleased to see more reporting being done by our tech media and as more light keeps being shone on such an important segment, the good tales get reported with the same glee as the bad, and the sum of it all leads to the progress of the techosystem.

On the net, good & responsible founders far surpass the bad or mislead eggs. So I am careful not to optimize my behaviour based off the few bad eggs at the expense of the good, least it affects me achieving my aims.

When I am done and gone, I don’t care if I am known as good or bad, but I want it to be clear to all that Oo tried hard to be consistent, and was mostly successful in being so.

Bobs! I no believe am. 1983 pickin of yesterday don fourty! Not thirty, FOURTY (or is it forty?).

I remember the first time I appreciated how old, or rather how young I was. It was while watching The Sound of Music for about the 15th time.

The scene of the Post boy dancing with Liesl came up where she stated she wasn’t young, as she was already 16! and the song  began…“You are sixteen going on seventeen..” the scene ended with a kiss. I was about 8 then, and began to calculate how long it would take for me to be in that glorious position. It was going to be the year 2000 – when I was to turn 17 seemed forever years away. It eventually came. That was 23 years ago.

The first time I had a proper “woah, I am so old and have done nothing with my life” crisis was in 2010, when I turned 27. For whatever reason, I had a deadline of 30 to achieve grand things. As soon as I turned 27, I felt so close to the deadline and I was so far away from achieving any of those things. 30 came and passed. It almost didn’t and I should have taken it as my first clue that the future was not mine to determine. Man proposes, God disposes. But I continued in my quest to succeed in the tech space. Starting this and founding that. Zero success.

2018, the year I turned 35 was when I said, “fuck it” and decided to go with the flow of life and stop worrying. That was the best decision I made. However, as I approached this post youth milestone of 40, I began thinking again, what am I here for? Will I achieve what I am meant to? Not sure how I came to decide what ‘meant’ was, but I worry I have not nearly begun to deliver whatever it is.

Interestingly, for a long time, I had a clear idea how I wanted to celebrate my 40th. I told folks I wanted to do 2 adverts. An underwear ad and have it on the billboard when you approach the 3rd mainland bridge in Lagos from the island to the mainland. In addition, I wanted to do a TV advert for the greatest beer in the world, STAR. Alas, I did not connect that the byproduct of beer consistency is a one pack belly na photoshop guru can help convert to 6. A requirement for my underwear ad. So we will move this goal to 50!

I am sure about what I hope to achieve in my life, I wrote it down in my 27th birthday post and re-articulated it in  my about page a couple of years back: Help tech inclined folks build capacity and wealth, and hope that leverage, in the hands of rich thinkers and builders, will reflect positively in Nigerian society.

Helping others, has also worked as a contentment hack to resolve my past regret of not hitting my defined success milestones. Since I didn’t become a USD multi millionaire before 30? I’f compensate by helping someone become a USD multi millionaire before 30

So how would I be celebrating my 40th?

As I approached today, I thought hard about how I want to mark my birthday as my my underwear ad plans firmly in the mud. I decided to combine two things important to me.

• I like to help people especially younger folks get into tech. Helps with my contentment hack as explained above.

• I’m got a soft spot for my good old school, Kings College Lagos and have always wanted to do something substantial there.

After a few engagements with the PKC (Principal, Kings College ) , I decided to move forward with a project I believe I believe would be useful and will combine both things. I’ll be setting up a technology hub in the school.

We’ll launch the club that will own this hub this Saturday the 14th of January 2023 at the Main Campus. I’ve identified 40 students interested in getting into the tech space and will be the core of the tech community. Some of them already code!. You’re invited, especially KCOBs in tech (when the call is sounded all must answer here! I don sound call so).

If you want to give me a birthday present, it would be your support for the hub. If you are down, just fill this form and you’ll be contacted with details.

Ah! What is a milestone birthday post without giving unsolicited wisdom? Well here is one thing I wish I realised much earlier in life: The curriculum is for the average. When a curriculum is set, it the the pace that the average student should take to achieve it. If you intend to be above average in life, you have to be ahead of the curriculum.

A second thing I always tell folks is this: in life you are always interviewing. If you are asked today, “if you need to eat a full cow, which of your friends will you call? Which of your friends will you call if you have a business opportunity, and you need a sound and honest person to partner with? The people that come to mind have interviewed for the role in their interactions.

A third thing I’d say is to use your prime and do prime things. When is your prime? I don’t know but I do know that when you are young, you should take risk. The older you get, you begin to ‘understand’. ‘Understanding’ is the bestie of status quo. Your 20s is when you’ll have the least amount of expectations and the most opportunities to make errors. Most importantly, a certain drive. Use it to the maximum.

Fourth and final. Jeje laiye – easy. This will feel like a contradiction of the above but from my personal experience, everything begin enter once I started to go with the flow. Don’t over stress. Like the OG jobs said, you’ll connect the dots looking backwards. Just as paraphrasing the street church folks “your own na to roll dice, na God dey give double 6”

Am I happy with where I am in life? What I’ll say is this if I’m told to go back to my panicked 27th birthday and I’m given two choices, “fix your mistakes and have a possible better outcome” or “go back directly to where you are (today)” I’ll take my life every time. No be say e perfect but I’m damn fortunate and I appreciate it.

I am thankful for everyone who been a part of this journey of life with me. Family, Friends and the Nigerian tech community.

It’s time to play!

FAQ

Giveaway? Of course there is giveaway.

Am I still A baby boy! As per full grown Adult? Although according to WHO et al, youth ends in your 30s, in Nigeria it begins at 50. So yes, I’m still A BABY BOY. If you say A stands for Adult, na you sabi.

Like play, like play, I no see 40 under 40, even for STAR drinkers. 41 under 41 anyone? Abeg na!

It’s been about 7 years since we all queued up for Ev’s new thing.  Wordpress was deemed clunky and Medium, the ish (we bin dey beg for invite that year o)

What’s changed? TIme.

More specifically, I got tired of not being in control.

Outsourcing your address on the web is a risky thing to do because any day, you can be kicked off that leased plot and you’d lose your audience (graph).

I don’t want to wait until a random change happens.

RSS and custom domains help insure against such things on third-party  platforms but Medium offers neither (custom domain names used to be, but is no longer supported)

Medium has also failed to innovate. For instance, you cannot publish a table on Medium. That’s crazy! and Almost zero levels of customization. I understand Ev is doing what’s best for his company. I’m trying to do the same.

In addition, I have some ideas I’d like to explore like writing different types of content in addition to regular posts.e.g. commentary on articles, quotes, images, etc. I am hoping this influences me to publish more often.

Please, subscribe to my RSS feed if you’re still old school like that

PS: I’ll still post stuff on Medium just to let those there know say “na that side we dey o”

PPS: I definitely miss the gorgeousness that is Medium’s Editor.

The chap who was coordinating our bus began calling me and I told him I was on my way. Drove out gave my guyman Gateman our usual salute greeting and drove to my cousin’s office to leave my car. All this while, the coordinator of the bus was calling and I updated him on my location.

My cousin could not leave his office so I had to go drop my car somewhere on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi and the bus was to pick me up there. I dropped the car came out and met my fellow journey people and the polite coordinator.

We proceeded to CcHub to pick the rest of the gang.  I saw Saheed Adepoju so I came down from the bus and dropped my tablet on the chair we had a brief chat (as he was not going with us) while the rest of the people came downstairs. I got into the bus, Femi Longe took my seat, I gave cogent reasons why the seat was built for me and got it back and the journey began.

Then I sent this tweet.

https://twitter.com/OoTheNigerian/status/278069671700340736

Emmanuel Olutosin was sitting in front and pleaded with me to pause talking around 12 noon (do I talk that much?) as he had an important call.

I started reading from my tablet until we got to Lagos Ibadan express road then we began to argue about the road. “Ah the road is better” “It is not better” ” Bi Courtney dey try”, “it is not Babalakin that should be praised, na Jonathan” “Should we still be talking about this road in 2012?” etc etc.

When we passed that part of the road and I slipped into my favourite position on private bus long trips – I wore my headphones listening to music and imagined I was in bus scene of Craig Davids “I’m walking away” video. I began dozing off while reading and listening to music.

Life could not be better.

I heard an explosion (learned later the tyre burst ) and the crumpling of metal and felt tumbling (I think I remembered stretching out my hands to break the fall). Then I opened my eyes. I began squinting as the sun was shining in my face, I was in the sand by the side of the road. My body was in pains and could move only my left hand. I overheard screaming.

A road safety guy came over and said, “You just had an accident” in my mind I remember saying “ahhhhh fuck”. Then I started panicking. The first thing I did was to try and remember my name (lol. How would I have known if it was correct). Then I recollected my mum’s number and knew that was the one number I was not to call.

Then I started feeling faint and called my cousin Namo
Me: “Namo I am dying, I am dying”

Namo (without knowing the situation): “SHUT UP ARE YOU MAD?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ARE DYING?

Me: I am dying I WAS IN AN ACCIDENT I AM DYING

Namo: SHUT UP THERE!!  ARE YOU MAD?!!  IF I HEAR YOU SAY THAT NONSENSE AGAIN. YOU ARE NOT DYING!!  YOU MUST BE AN IDIOT TO SAY SUCH RUBBISH!!! *MORE RAKING*

Me: Oya sorry. I am not dying.

Namo: Good. Give someone the phone.

Then the road safety guy took the phone from me and began explaining what happened and giving our location.

Then out of the blues, I started thinking about the domain names in my possession.  I had no succession plan for them. About my email, PayPal dough and ‘digital assets’ that my family would never access if I died.  I began trying REALLY HARD to recollect my man Joel’s number since he was one of the few people I could trust and with the technical knowledge to access my stuff with my email and password. I remember that not remembering the number causing me a lot of distress.

(BTW, it was his UK number I was trying to recollect which I never knew by heart. And secondly, he had moved to the US and I did not have his new number)

Next thing, I woke up (I guess I passed out) with a drip in my hand and saw my cousin Chuka and Uncle Azubike. I smiled.
(I do not remember calling either of them. But I learnt I called Uncle Azubike and my other cousin Obinna called Chuka who came down)

Osibo who work out from the CcHub came over. I did the most trollish thing ever. I looked at him remembered his name was Osibo and carefully called out “Charles!!” with a confident smile on my face.

The way his eyes widened (thinking I had lost my memory). I pointed, laughed and he realised I was a damn good troll (I am still proud of that move)

I heard them talking of an ambulance that would take me to Lagos. I sincerely did not believe I would last the road journey to Lagos. So I told my cousin I needed an Air Ambulance.  I called Tonye Cole whose number he gave me many years ago and definitely did not have my number talk less of remembering me

“I need an Air Ambulance” I told him, with the confidence of the son of a dictator or the Minister of Petroleum.

“Who is this?”

“Floreat!” I replied. Forming KCOB.

Let’s just say an Air Ambulance was not on its way (of course, it was an insane request. But when you think you are dying, making insane requests is not what you are afraid of)

I think I shouted Floreat when I was abandoned on the hospital floor with a drip in my hand.

This KC belief wey I get eh.

Next thing, I was on the road to Lagos and the road was bumpy. I begged my cousin for water to no avail.  I started feeling sleepy again. I was convinced that if I slept, it would be the end. I told my cousin not to let me sleep. Big Mistake!

As soon as my eyes attempted to close TOZAAAI! Came the slap that woke me up. I would respond. “Thank you. Do not let me sleep”. With joy in his heart, he responded with another slap (to keep me awake I suppose). About 30 slaps later, we got to Igbobi Hospital where X- Rays were done e.t.c.

Then I called my folks.

“Mumsie, I had a minor accident. But I’m good. It was like something I could get on a football field.” Sadly, she did not have the opportunity to panic. I called my dad, gave him the same football line.

They did not want to believe that it was not worse, but I was the one doing the calling.

My uncles and aunts came around and my friends started coming around.

I asked for the status of other passengers and learned that the guy coordinating the trip, the chap that kept calling me, the chap that sat behind me, died. His name? Bankole Taiwo

Later on, I got to learn of his final Tweet

RT @ayotheboss: RT @Gidi_Traffic: #REPORT [10:02AM] @Imagervet: ACCIDENT just occured on LAGOS- IBADAN EXPRESS. … http://t.co/btm6Vzlm

— Bankole Taiwo (@Bankoletaiwo) December 10, 2012

That night, before I slept, I scrolled through my phone thinking of my final interactions before the accident. I was happy that most of them ended with “Lol”, “Oo, you dey crase o”, “laugh smilies”. Usually after I may have make one ridiculous comment or the other. I was happy.

Though I do not pray often, I prayed briefly and thanked the lord for keeping me alive.  Closed my eyes to begin the most difficult 2 months of my life.

It has been a year and every day I am thankful for surviving with only a broken clavicle and some bruises as injury.

I am thankful and grateful to many people for their support. I would like to specifically mention my cousin Chuka and Uncle Azubike who got to the scene as soon as they could. My gratitude to the road safety chap. Of course my cousin Namo for instructing me not to die.

My Aunty Franca is an angel. She took care of me when I could not bathe myself. Every one of my family and friends that came to see me at the hospital and in Akoka and of course those that called from afar. You have no idea how much you lifted my spirit.

Baba God, thank you.

Rest in peace Bankole Taiwo. I did not get to know you but the little interaction I had with you was entirely positive. My God continue to give your folks the strength to carry on.

Notes

• I do not want anyone to read this and feel any tinge of sadness for me. I am doing spectacularly well and in a much better place than I was before the accident. You may however, drink a STAR on my behalf and say a prayer for Bankole Taiwo
• Family is everything. They will be there when shit hits the fan. Hold your family strong
• Except Bankole Taiwo, I decided not mention those I was in the accident ( Edit: Emmanuel Olutosin gave me permission) with because I don’t think I should be the one doing so.  We’re all at various stages of recovery and improving every day.
• Please think of a succession plan for your digital assets and those you handle for others. I hope to find a solution for this soon. Maybe today.
• The state of Nigerian health care is another story entirely. But I am thankful for those that helped with the limited facilities  at their disposal.
• Though my hand still hurts a bit, I can still dance Alingo.

Update:

Emmanuel Oluwatosin has written a post and so has Femi Longe

I am hoping by writing this long rambling  thesis, that distraction will go away.

Please note that this was written in one go this morning. No time for edits or ‘cohesive writing’. I have Fonenode business pulling my ear. Sorry

Let’s go.

1. Doing a pure download/file startup (ala itunes) is a mistake.

2. Creating a successful Nigerian streaming startup is kinda late now.

3. The only opportunity is focusing on discovery and ancillary unpiratable business models.

With all politeness, Nigerian music startups in general have added practically zero value to Nigerian music therefore it is going to be extremely hard to capture value where you have not created it.

A model that depends on extracting money from from an artist after (s)he has become popular is quite wishful thinking.

The central revenue model of most music file startups is selling downloads (If you have no transactional revenue plan, and hope on advertizing to make it big, LoL). Asides the fact that the approach to selling (by Nigerian startups) the music adds no value, it is anti to the success of the artist.

(Let me get this out of the way: iTunes has half a billion STORED credit cards and offers insane convenience. You are NOT iTunes)

Yes, I am saying selling music especially singles works against the interest of the Nigerian artist even the ones that have ‘made it’.

Take a look at this tweet by Don Baba J below

https://twitter.com/DONJAZZY/status/406118106063306752

He is giving actively giving away his latest hit track. Begging people to take it for FREE. Is that what you hope to sell? You may think is is mad and leaving money on the table. But my simple chart below explains why he is doing it.

SOURCE : Pulled out of me ass.

My interpretation

In the first chart, the artist makes a higher percentage of revenue from the sale of his tracks. However, because of the friction caused by focusing on selling music, the artist did not get popular. But did some shows though. Big share of small pie.

In the second chart, the artist did a Don Jazzy, pushed his music for free but still offered it for sale to those who want to buy via iTunes and other channels. As a result the artist got popular did lots of shows, performed at weddings and most importantly got paid to perform at the birthday party of the wives of the governors. How can I forget the endorsement revenue. (Small share but mighty pie)

“But we will sell albums!” I hear you cry.

Yup! You will sell albums. How many non singles from albums have made it big?

Fun Facts:

• Nigeria is the only market where an artist re releases a track from a published album as a single)

• Our Artists sometimes release three singles at one go.

• Davido released about 6-8 singles before launching his album.

Ok, I’ll make it a bit more sad. You definitely have heard of the long tail.

I stole the chart from here

What the chart means is that a few hits drive most of the sales/interaction/traffic. In the case of Nigerian music startups, very few songs will make all the money and these are the very songs that are given away for free! *sigh*.

We have seen instances where artists were paid quite a boatload of to distribute the songs via a particular channel (iRoking and Spinlet come to mind). It was good for the artist though in the short term. Not so sure about the distribution platform.

For Spinlet, it can be argued that the money paid was a marketing cost in trying to get people to download their app. For EME though, it was also kind of a win as they put together a bunch of songs which may never have been released and got good money from it. Of course they still released it in the open market. I’m not sure how many career defining hits came out of that album.

As for purchasing music and hoping to profit from the distribution like they do in Alaba, that is a really bad idea. iRoking did that and stopped. There are no guesses why.

(Supplier power for music in Nigeria is so low so they cannot go after hulkshare and co even if they wanted to. how much is the value of music you are going to court for anyway. And the artist will still give it away for free. I think iRoking tried the legal method at a time)

Streaming/subscription:

Now, let us assume you want to go the streaming/ subscription route for the library of music. How do you undercut Deezer, Spotify, MOG, Grooveshark who can give you the latest Olamide and Eminem on the same platform. In Grooveshark’s case, it is free albeit a bit backward compared to Spotify and Deezer.

The awesomeness of those platforms is the tail end asides the terrific experience of having access everywhere.Having everything is what gives them the most value and without 100 million in the bank, you cannot even begin thinking of playing that game. Grooveshark began and got big before the labels tried to take them down.

Besides all the space for that model has already been taken. Even Rdio (backed by men who sold Skype 3 times!!) are finding it insane to crack.

So if you cannot exclusively distribute music, how do you want to make any serious money from it?

Re: creating value:

To know if a Nigerian music file startup gives value, which one would die today and have a dent on listening or revenue for artist?

None.

But some people create value. The bloggers, especially NotJustOk have added the most value to Nigerian artists. Without them, there is absolutely no way any Nigerian artist would attempt to tour UK/US/Malaysia etc. Unfortunately, they have not been able to capture the value they have created.

Sorry guys.

So how can money be made at all by the music startups?

Any music startup that wants to succeed, has to be at scale, and create something that has to do with network effect. For instance, if your startup has the best way to efficiently reach all the reggae lovers in Lagos, then you can tap into that because you would make it possible to have a successful reggae concert. Without you, it would have been impossible.

Can you make an artist get endorsement? Sell tickets, merchandise? Then you can tap into the value you create.

There are other unpiratable business models like caller back tunes which gave Inyaya 5 digits in dollars monthly for many months. Unfortunately, all the value of CBT is created and consumed by the telcos. If Kukere was sold exclusively there will be no Iyanya. Period.

But one thing is certain, you cannot pay for most of the music if you are to make any money. In theory, COSON would try to convince artists otherwise. I will take them a bit more seriously when I see any currently successful artists endorsing their shakedowns. They will not and they know it. They need radios and blogs to spread the music far and wide. The day Wizkid (who is insanely massive) decides to cramp down on the playing of their music in hotels, radio, public places, you will see enough people replacing them overnight.

This is because there is no short supply of great music. With a laptop you can create what can become a hit song in Nigeria.

(Fun experiment:  9ice has banned his music from blogs. Let us see how that turns out Lol)

More bad news.

For those monetizing via say YouTube, the artist will go with you until he becomes big enough. Olamide is now on Vevo and you cannot match Vevo. Why? adding an Olamide increases overall value of their assets on a higher magnitude than yours. So you cannot match their offer.  It is a global game.

You too yarn. What was the plan for GBEDU.FM?

Those who interacted with me 4 years ago know that I had a time frame for GBEDU.FM before it would become too late. I know if I was not already BIG by last year, it was over to go through the streaming route. The time has passed.

Of course I had (have?) other ideas on how it could still work and I will give away just a little. Any Nigerian music startup that wants to make it somewhat big (> $2million.year revenue) cannot buy music first of all.  Secondly, they MUST align with a brand that will carry most of the operating cost in exchange for marketing exposure (meaning you must be big). Then focusing on creating value and sharing with the artists AFTER the value has been created. Alternatively, align with an organization who you will add value to even if independently, you cannot be profitable. e.g Like Spinlet is with Etisalat.

Other

I heard Michael Ugwu has focused on adding value in another way by making music distribution more efficient with Freeme Digital (I love the name!). I like seeing cashflow positive stuff. There is also DistroKid  (affiliate link. Feel free to go straight)  and another launching soon in that space.

I do not know how big that opportunity is but is a great way to be in the music business. Michael’s relationships with the artists gives him a head start and competitive advantage. Especially with back catalouges

My advice?

Don’t enter the space now. It is too late. Except you are neck deep already or you have a completely different angle. Your effort will be rewarded better elsewhere.

I love this quote on music startups so I will end with it again

“Music startup” is a misnomer, most music startups are actually music file startups.  If you want to actually create a music startup you have to combine cultural understanding of music + identification of new acts/trends that haven’t been picked up by existing labels & media, with a deep understanding of new media technologies.  Basically, think of the Web 2.0 equivalent of a Suge Knight.  Nobody has ACTUALLY started a music startup yet — probably because it is hard to have both cultural and technical sophistication.

If someone creates a really authentic new digital space with authentic new artists, and uses the new digital medium to deliver the close personal relationship today’s music fans / etc want out of their bands and personalities, they are likely to make a fortune.  Redistribution of existing content owned/controlled by labels and (equally evil) rights agencies is an epic failure of a business model, and does very little to address the massive thirst in the marketplace for new, interesting, authentic culture

– Numair Faraz on why it is difficult to build a music startup

There are many things I left out and could have made this shorter. Sorry, I did not have time.

I’d love your comments.

PS: GBEDU.FM is still there but it is now my expensive hobby. You have a new iPhone? Cool. I use an old phone but I have my personal music player. The  domain name costs $100 a year.

PPS: I will edit later when I have the time (I lie)

BTW, Do check out Orin for mobile . It is theoretically a competitor but the lad is someone to watch out for.

The last year has not been easy. A few ups and a number of really deep downs and I always wonder if I should have taken this road at all. Getting a proper and stable job would have been obviously much more straightforward for me.

I always tell my fellow entrepreneur journeyman and women, “we are playing the startup lottery” because of the amount of uncertainty and risk involved. This time around though, I have that niggling feeling that “this is it”. That all lessons have been learned and would be applied this time.

But isn’t that what the gamblers all say?

To my family and friends that have supported and rooted for me all this years. Especially my mum, dad and my cousin Namo. Without whom, I would have given up a long time ago.

*Thank you!

Here’s to successful and fulfilling journey.

PS: What is the status of GBEDU.FM? It is officially my expensive hobby.

*Yes mum, I know the only form you want my thank you to take. I am searching hard. I will find her soon. Promise.

GBEDU.FM as a product is far from dead. Moving servers just took longer than planned. It was down but not out. As a startup though, GBEDU.FM was in zombie mode.

When GBEDU.FM launched early last year, albeit arrogantly, I had plans that did not end up materializing. Unfortunately, for the music business and most consumer startup plays, you need quite a bit of runway before you can self sustain as a business. Sadly, I never got that runway, which meant that I could not focus on GBEDU.FM. December came, things happened and I decided to reevaluate.

There are two parts to building a successful technology startup. First, you have to build a bit of the product, then you need the market that can sustain it. You then keep improving both sides.  Whereas, if you are say, selling generators, the product is already built. You just need to find your market. With a startup, you are juggling both. One begets the other. Kinda delicate. I salute those that juggle it successfully.

Back to GBEDU.FM.

If it is neither dead, nor a zombie, what is it?

I would call it hibernating. Just there, not trying to move but not dead. It exists for my personal pleasure and that of the few hundred people that love it. Although the code has not been touched in a year, I still believe it is a great place to listen to Nigerian music online.

iRoking, Spinlet, TruSpot and co are spending quite a bit of money, trying to solve the problem of creating the best way to discover, listen to and share music from the African continent. Presently, you are better off downloading from the gazillion music blogs out there and playing your music locally. That is until Deezer launches in Nigeria fully.

For the future of music, especially in Africa, I strongly believe in the following.

1. Most music will remain free

2. Like on YouTube, the breakout of a song or artist should be democratic. Power would not be centralized with a few OAPs and radio DJs

3. Discovery of new acts and songs is really important.

4. There are several unpiratable business models  that will reward the artists (e.g call back tunes, merchandising, concerts) that are yet to be be executed well

5. The best music service and not the best funded will get the users. For now, downloading from music blogs is the best. (Note that Hulkshare, 4shared, et al get their references from the music bloggers)

6. Africa has the best chance of innovating a new business model for music. 95% of songs are indie made, therefore, the unfortunate supplier power stranglehold that exists in the west is absent.

This philosophy encapsulates my thinking about the music startup business

“Music startup” is a misnomer, most music startups are actually music file startups.  If you want to actually create a music startup you have to combine cultural understanding of music + identification of new acts/trends that haven’t been picked up by existing labels & media, with a deep understanding of new media technologies.  Basically, think of the Web 2.0 equivalent of a Suge Knight.  Nobody has ACTUALLY started a music startup yet — probably because it is hard to have both cultural and technical sophistication.

If someone creates a really authentic new digital space with authentic new artists, and uses the new digital medium to deliver the close personal relationship today’s music fans / etc want out of their bands and personalities, they are likely to make a fortune.  Redistribution of existing content owned/controlled by labels and (equally evil) rights agencies is an epic failure of a business model, and does very little to address the massive thirst in the marketplace for new, interesting, authentic culture

– Numair Faraz on why it is difficult to build a music startup

Until someone executes this, this music business will still be at the back of my mind. Yes, back.

Thank you to all of you that have relentlessly supported me no matter how ridiculous my idea may have  been. From the depths of my heart, I am grateful.

So what’s next for me?

Onwards.

Thanks to Nmachi for feedback on a draft of this post

“Battery too low for radio use”

Actually, that is not entirely true. My good friend Sir Diddles showed me a bad ass trick. Once that message comes up, simply dial 911 and watch your battery come back to life for another 5 mins or so.

Yeah yeah.. thank me later.

Do you know any other interesting phone hacks? Don’t tell me *#06# o!

PS: You would notice that I could have explained all that in a Tweet and did not need 3 paragraphs. However I did so for 3 reasons.

1. To use style and let everyone know once and forall I am using a BB. Yes, I am ashamed of myself.
2. To jump-start my blogging again
3. Because I can

Almost every weekend for as long as I remember, definitely since I got to UK, my weekends especially Fridays have always been depressing (except when I was going for one tech event to anther). I get depressed because I have not become what I planned to be and yet another week was passing by.

But as I woke up this night/morning (it’s 12:30 am here), I thought, I might just be trying too hard while pissing away the prime of my life. Of course, I had been told this before. severally. My oldest buddy actually visited me a couple of weeks ago and scolded me severely. “you do not even know how to be social anymore”. But it is totally different when you realize it.

The greatest fulfillment and ‘assets’ you can have when old are the experiences you garner with family and friends while young. A career is just to provide funds and make the journey more interesting, not replace it.

While, money and career may come and go, youth and time only go.

So enough of trying too hard. And I hope to learn to have fun. I’ll start tonight.

The easiest way to explain the crush I had (have?) for her is to say I’m her beliber and little monster rolled into one. For two years before I met her, her laughter was my SMS ringtone.

So when I learned that she was coming to Cambridge, I knew I had to be there. Of course speaking about OnePage was a great excuse.

After her talk the usual attention seekers crowded her, but trust your Naija guy, I went to the exit I knew she would pass and waited patiently. 5 mins later, she reappeared and she was in a hurry and the over zealous organizer was upset I was delaying her more. (I no send the guy papa).

Anyway, I embarrassed her (and I guess myself ) by telling her of my 2 year old SMS ringtone, took a picture with her and collected her card (which I kept safely with my passport till today).

Since then, I counted her as my buddy. So I was not too happy when she was shelved during the Google reorganization. So I am so happy and excited with her new challenge at Yahoo!

So it case your wondering, what the hell is this post about? Well, I have met Marissa and you have not

Best of luck Marissa, as you take on the greatest challenge of your career!