I Tried to Rebuild Omegle. I Called It Koguko.

In 2022, the idea hit me: build something like Omegle.

Why? During COVID, I found myself on Omegle more than I’d like to admit. It was brilliant ~ one click, instant connection with someone across the world. No setup, no friction. Just people.

Then Omegle shut down ~ and the internet suddenly felt quieter. No one really captured that magic. So I thought: fine, I’ll make one.

Building Koguko: My Late-Night Obsession

Once I started, I couldn’t stop. The goal: recreate the core experience, but with better UI and UX. Cleaner, faster, more intentional.

I stayed up late asking myself, “What else can I add? And after that, what else?” I shipped rate limits and CAPTCHA before I had any users. There was no monetization plan ~ none. If it blew up, I had no idea what I’d do. But I kept building anyway.

Guerrilla Marketing: The Chatroom Hustle

Nights turned into a routine: jump between Ome.tv, Monkey Chat, Emerald Chat ~ talk to strangers and pitch them.

“Hey, try my app. I just built it.”

People actually liked it. I posted on Reddit, too, and the feedback was surprisingly great.

The Stall

After the early buzz, traction slowed. The classic chicken-and-egg problem showed up fast:

No users means no reason to stay.

No one staying means no new users.

Eventually, I shut it down.

What I Learned

Some products need day-one critical mass: You can’t slow-build a live chat network. It either feels alive or it doesn’t.
Marketing matters as much as building: I spent 80% coding, 20% talking to people. In hindsight, flip that.
You can’t out-Omegle Omegle ~ but you can try: In trying, you might find something uniquely yours.

What’s Next

Koguko didn’t live forever, but those nights ~ building, tweaking, and hustling in random chatrooms ~ stuck with me. Who knows ~ maybe I’ll revive it one day.