

What Do You Do With A Failed Product? - sgdesign
http://sachagreif.com/what-do-you-do-with-a-failed-product/

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sideproject
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!

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sgdesign
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…

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sideproject
That would be super. :)

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sgdesign
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…

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capex
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.

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sgdesign
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.

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jonathanjaeger
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.

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sgdesign
I'll have to think about the business model thing. But what's wrong about the
domain? Is it the .me you don't like? Or the name itself?

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jonathanjaeger
I think there is a lot more upside in tweaking the business model. For example
if you wanted a few employees working on a $1 million revenue business, that's
10,000 projects per year going to fruition in your current model.

The reason people use .me is because all the good .com's are taken, but
folyo.me isn't a very easy name to say out loud to someone and remember. Your
competition scoutzie.com isn't the best domain in the world but it's a .com
and it sounds more like a brand than folyo.me -- I know domains are expensive
if they're good so not sure if it's worth the investment in something better.

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gridspy
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.

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sgdesign
Thanks, that's a good point!

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tomasien
"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!

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stevewillows
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.

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od2m
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...

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drac89
What Do You Do With A Failed Product? -You could Open Source it. That's what I
did.

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sgdesign
What were the results? Did people end up using it? Did they start
contributing?

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drac89
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)

