6 ms·

What Do You Do With A Failed Product?

39 points by sgdesign 13y ago

sideproject 13y ago
6 days ago, we launched http://sideprojectors.com http://sideprojectors.com I wouldn't call these projects "failed", but many developers abandon, pause, stop their projects for various reasons. So far, we have had more than 50 projects posted and as of this morning two projects have been sold. Loved the approach that Sacha is taking as suggested in the post, sideprojectors could be another way of saving an interesting side project that could benefit others!
- sgdesign 13y ago
  That's a great idea. Maybe I should submit http://thetoolbox.cc/ http://thetoolbox.cc/ ? I still like that project but I don't have the time to keep it up to date…
  - sideproject 13y ago
    That would be super. :)
    - sgdesign 13y ago
      Done: http://www.sideprojectors.com/project/project/70 http://www.sideprojectors.com/project/project/70 Although I'm a bit wary about selling it, because it's the kind of project that could easily be used for spammy purposes…
- _frog 13y ago
  Awesome to see you guys finally launched this. I was another finalist in Hackagong (a local hackathon here in Wollongong, Australia) when the initial version of this was being built and I loved what I saw. I'll have to keep it in mind next time I build a cool side project. I actually worked with Vero, one of the companies mentioned in Sacha's blog post, for a short time too. It's great to see so many Australian startups showing up on HN.
- morgante 13y ago
  This looks awesome. What kind of traction have you seen? Anything getting sold for decent amounts?
  - sideproject 13y ago
    Final amount is between the seller & the buyer. I'll try to write up as a separate post, instead of doing it here. :)
gridspy 13y ago
You need to put more links to your homepage near the bottom of your blog post. "I rethought the homepage’s message from the ground up to really explain what Folyo does, instead of just projecting a nice image (compare [THE NEW HOMEPAGE] with the old homepage). "So take a look at [the new Folyo](I'm a link!) and let me know what you think!" Also, add: PPPS: Perhaps a fresh design is what your startup needs. Guess where you can find new designers? [Hint: Folio](link) Anyway, good luck with your next shot.
- sgdesign 13y ago
  Thanks, that's a good point!
capex 13y ago
The problem with Folyo is the upfront fee. If the intended market is startups, most projects are bootstrapped. They'd kill to get a great designer, but $100 posting fee is a huge psych barrier. IMHO, the proven formula of service providers shaving off their earning for you should work better. There are other innovations possible, like peer review for design, design critique from an expert, outsourced usability testing etc. Its always easier to swim downstream.
- sgdesign 13y ago
  I'm not sure what you mean by "shaving off their earning for you"? Do you mean taking a cut of the project budget? I could do that, but A) it would end up being more expensive for customers (although maybe that's irrelevant if they don't perceive it that way?) and B) it would be more complex logistically. So I will probably stick with the current model at least for now, even though I know it has its flaws.
  - brandnewlow 13y ago
    It won't be more expensive for customers because they'll do their best to negotiate a fair rate on the project. This leaves the service provider to pay your fee, but since you hooked them up with the work (and by extension payment for it) it's more natural.
  - jonathanjaeger 13y ago
    I really like folyo.me, even though I ended up finding a designer off Behance, I certainly considered folyo.me for a while. However, I still disagree with your business model. At $100 a pop, you would need so much traffic from this niche to pay the salary of a full-time developer (or designer, in your case), unless you broadened the scope. Elance/oDesk/99Designs and other sites just have more room to monetize than a one-time $100 upfront fee. If designers get a lot more inbound from this, you're essentially giving them leads, so it makes sense for the startups to find great designers and the designers take a percentage cut for having much of the heavy early lifting done for them. I also don't think you're going to reach much scale with a domain like folyo.me -- it's just not good. I love your design work, but branding is key too, and while a domain like that might be good enough to validate your idea I don't think you can have a runaway hit with that.
tomasien 13y ago
"If your launch didn't work, launch again. We launched 3 times" - Something similar to a quote from the Airbnb guys I think. I'm too lazy to look it up, but this is the Internet! Keep launching! Coffitivity.com launched 3 times before literally anyone used it, and a million people have used it the last 4 months. Re-launch, reload, recycle - then give up!
drac89 13y ago
What Do You Do With A Failed Product? -You could Open Source it. That's what I did.
- sgdesign 13y ago
  What were the results? Did people end up using it? Did they start contributing?
  - drac89 13y ago
    They get the power to change it something else.. something that could work or not failing ... in the end It wasn't a failed project anymore. (sorry for the late comment)
stevewillows 13y ago
The examples of designers on the site are almost too cool. There's a benefit to edgey designer types, but not everyone is looking for that ultra cool, high-personality type. I say this as a designer who is going to submit on the site.
od2m 13y ago
What I've always done is this: Die a little inside when something you labored on for 18 months ends up being sold for half cost on Woot. That's just me though...

39 points by sgdesign 13y ago

6 days ago, we launched http://sideprojectors.com http://sideprojectors.com I wouldn't call these projects "failed", but many developers abandon, pause, stop their projects for various reasons. So far, we have had more than 50 projects posted and as of this morning two projects have been sold. Loved the approach that Sacha is taking as suggested in the post, sideprojectors could be another way of saving an interesting side project that could benefit others!

sgdesign 13y ago
That's a great idea. Maybe I should submit http://thetoolbox.cc/ http://thetoolbox.cc/ ? I still like that project but I don't have the time to keep it up to date…
- sideproject 13y ago
  That would be super. :)
  - sgdesign 13y ago
    Done: http://www.sideprojectors.com/project/project/70 http://www.sideprojectors.com/project/project/70 Although I'm a bit wary about selling it, because it's the kind of project that could easily be used for spammy purposes…
_frog 13y ago
Awesome to see you guys finally launched this. I was another finalist in Hackagong (a local hackathon here in Wollongong, Australia) when the initial version of this was being built and I loved what I saw. I'll have to keep it in mind next time I build a cool side project. I actually worked with Vero, one of the companies mentioned in Sacha's blog post, for a short time too. It's great to see so many Australian startups showing up on HN.
morgante 13y ago
This looks awesome. What kind of traction have you seen? Anything getting sold for decent amounts?
- sideproject 13y ago
  Final amount is between the seller & the buyer. I'll try to write up as a separate post, instead of doing it here. :)

gridspy 13y ago

You need to put more links to your homepage near the bottom of your blog post. "I rethought the homepage’s message from the ground up to really explain what Folyo does, instead of just projecting a nice image (compare [THE NEW HOMEPAGE] with the old homepage). "So take a look at [the new Folyo](I'm a link!) and let me know what you think!" Also, add: PPPS: Perhaps a fresh design is what your startup needs. Guess where you can find new designers? [Hint: Folio](link) Anyway, good luck with your next shot.

sgdesign 13y ago
Thanks, that's a good point!

capex 13y ago

The problem with Folyo is the upfront fee. If the intended market is startups, most projects are bootstrapped. They'd kill to get a great designer, but $100 posting fee is a huge psych barrier. IMHO, the proven formula of service providers shaving off their earning for you should work better. There are other innovations possible, like peer review for design, design critique from an expert, outsourced usability testing etc. Its always easier to swim downstream.

sgdesign 13y ago
I'm not sure what you mean by "shaving off their earning for you"? Do you mean taking a cut of the project budget? I could do that, but A) it would end up being more expensive for customers (although maybe that's irrelevant if they don't perceive it that way?) and B) it would be more complex logistically. So I will probably stick with the current model at least for now, even though I know it has its flaws.
- brandnewlow 13y ago
  It won't be more expensive for customers because they'll do their best to negotiate a fair rate on the project. This leaves the service provider to pay your fee, but since you hooked them up with the work (and by extension payment for it) it's more natural.
- jonathanjaeger 13y ago
  I really like folyo.me, even though I ended up finding a designer off Behance, I certainly considered folyo.me for a while. However, I still disagree with your business model. At $100 a pop, you would need so much traffic from this niche to pay the salary of a full-time developer (or designer, in your case), unless you broadened the scope. Elance/oDesk/99Designs and other sites just have more room to monetize than a one-time $100 upfront fee. If designers get a lot more inbound from this, you're essentially giving them leads, so it makes sense for the startups to find great designers and the designers take a percentage cut for having much of the heavy early lifting done for them. I also don't think you're going to reach much scale with a domain like folyo.me -- it's just not good. I love your design work, but branding is key too, and while a domain like that might be good enough to validate your idea I don't think you can have a runaway hit with that.

tomasien 13y ago

"If your launch didn't work, launch again. We launched 3 times" - Something similar to a quote from the Airbnb guys I think. I'm too lazy to look it up, but this is the Internet! Keep launching! Coffitivity.com launched 3 times before literally anyone used it, and a million people have used it the last 4 months. Re-launch, reload, recycle - then give up!

drac89 13y ago

What Do You Do With A Failed Product? -You could Open Source it. That's what I did.

sgdesign 13y ago
What were the results? Did people end up using it? Did they start contributing?
- drac89 13y ago
  They get the power to change it something else.. something that could work or not failing ... in the end It wasn't a failed project anymore. (sorry for the late comment)

stevewillows 13y ago

The examples of designers on the site are almost too cool. There's a benefit to edgey designer types, but not everyone is looking for that ultra cool, high-personality type. I say this as a designer who is going to submit on the site.

od2m 13y ago

What I've always done is this: Die a little inside when something you labored on for 18 months ends up being sold for half cost on Woot. That's just me though...