Starting-Up
Can you build a start-up that lasts?
Starting-Up is an educational strategy game about taking a venture from first idea to growing company. Players experience the full journey and learn the basics of doing business by making consequential decisions under pressure.
The concept
A playable entrepreneurial journey
The game turns the stages of building a company into an interconnected simulation. The market you enter, the people you recruit, the work you prioritise and the deals you accept all influence what the business can become.
Example directions
- 01Education
- 02Health
- 03Software
These are examples, not a complete list. The game can explore other sectors and challenges too.
Core gameplay
Five highlighted gameplay features
These are five features we currently highlight. They interact with each other, but they are not sequential stages or a complete list of everything in the game.
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Choose sectors and impact
Select the markets and problems your start-up will pursue, from commercially attractive sectors to mission-driven challenges. Learn how to use your environment, recognise when to pivot, find clients and decide where to build the company.
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Choose your co-founder
Build a founding team around complementary skills, personalities and ambitions. The right co-founder can unlock new opportunities, while conflicting motivations and working styles can create tension when pressure rises.
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Receive funding proposals
Meet investors, attend funding events and compare competing offers. Funding can accelerate growth, but every proposal brings trade-offs. Explore the funding landscape, know your worth, negotiate deals and grow the business.
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Run through the pipeline
Guide projects from research and validation to development and delivery through a dynamic kanban pipeline. Prioritise work, assign team members and choose between speed, quality and certainty.
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Manage your team
Recruit people with distinct skills, motivations and strengths. Divide the work, match tasks to each person and grow from a hands-on founder into a manager of managers.
The working prototype
Strategy becomes a schedule
The prototype brings markets, opportunities, product work, cash, reputation and people into one operating view. Players decide what moves forward, who does the work and which opportunities deserve attention.
Decisions with consequences
There is no single perfect route to growth
A strong technical team may struggle to sell. A charismatic co-founder may open doors but introduce impulsive choices. Fast funding can create momentum while giving away part of the company. Starting-Up asks players to weigh those tensions rather than follow a fixed recipe.
Help bring the concept to life
Do you want to fund Starting-Up?
We are developing the concept further. If you are interested in the game, a pilot or a funding partnership, contact UniGames at info@unigames.nl.
A concept from
UniGames