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Web5 is here. Goodbye Web3? TBD.

<p><a href="https://failory.com/interview/folyo">medium bookmark / Raindrop.io</a> |  </p>
<h4>Hello Sacha! Who are you? What are you currently working on? 👩‍💻</h4>
<p>        I&#8217;m a designer/developer/ originally from France, but now living in Osaka, Japan. I work on a lot of stuff, but lately, most of my energy has been going into maintaining <a href="http://vulcanjs.org/"><strong>VulcanJS</strong></a>, a new React+GraphQL open-source framework. I actually used Vulcan to build another one of my projects, <a href="https://sidebar.io/"><strong>Sidebar</strong></a>, a daily newsletter of design links. </p>
<p>‍</p>
<h4>Why did you build Folyo? Which marketing strategies did you use? <strong>🤘</strong><strong>📈</strong></h4>
<p>I built<br />
          <a href="http://www.folyo.me/"><strong>Folyo</strong></a> as my first &#8220;startup&#8221; attempt all the way back in 2011. At the time, I had noticed how hard it was for startups to hire good designers (which it still is, I guess!). So I got the idea to build a networking site that would help connect companies and designers. So original, I know!</p>
<div><img src="https://failory.com/images/Failed-Startup-Folyo.png" alt="Failed Startup: Folyo"></div>
<p>‍</p>
<p>As for marketing, I relied mainly on writing good content and then posting it on sites like Hacker News. Some of my posts (such as the $5 Logo) even went pretty viral.
        </p>
<h4>How were you different and better than your competition? 👌 👍</h4>
<p>To be honest I probably wasn&#8217;t. The main &#8220;advantage&#8221; Folyo had was that it was a very lean operation with very little overhead. For example, we charged a flat fee for posting a project and didn&#8217;t handle any of the payment stuff between the company and designer in order to keep the app simple. We also didn&#8217;t handle any of the project management for you, so we were really focused on making that initial connection and not much else, as opposed to competitors who were trying to guide you through the entire design process. </p>
<h4>Should startup hire freelancers or full-time employees? 🤵 👨‍🏫</h4>
<p>That&#8217;s always a tough one. Most startups rightfully prefer hiring full-time employees, but that&#8217;s not always possible, whether it&#8217;s because of budgetary or availability constraints. </p>
<h4>In 140 characters explain why did Folyo fail <strong>⚠️ ❌</strong></h4>
<p>I picked a bad business model, as shown by the fact that many, many other companies have tried doing the same thing as Folyo and failed.</p>
<h4>Name 3 errors you committed with Folyo 🆘 🚫</h4>
<ol>
<li>I picked a bad business model</li>
<li>I made the main call-to-action button green instead of blue</li>
<li>I spent too much time doing interviews instead of focusing on my work</li>
</ol>
<h4>In which ways did Folyo’s failure help you achieve success with Sidebar? 🤓</h4>
<p>Folyo was actually instrumental in Sidebar&#8217;s success, as I initially launched Sidebar in order to have one more avenue to drive traffic through Folyo. I never expected that Sidebar would turn into a more sustainable business than Folyo ever was!</p>
<h4>Which freelancing book would you recommend? 📔 💯</h4>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/brennandunn?lang=es"><strong>Brennan<br />
Dunn</strong></a>&#8216;s stuff is generally pretty good!</p>
<h4><strong>Where can we go to learn more? 🕵️ 🕵️</strong></h4>
<p>You can check out my <a href="http://sachagreif.com/"><strong>personal homepage</strong></a>, or else just sign up for <a href="https://sidebar.io/"><strong>Sidebar</strong></a>!</p>
<p>‍</p>
<h4>Conclusion 📝⌛️</h4>
<p>The election of a great business model at the moment of building your startup is essential to achieve success with it. Spend time choosing the correct one. Remember that you can spy your competitors and analyze their business models.</p>
<p>Moreover, visit our <strong><a href="http://failory.webflow.io/blog">Blog</a></strong> if you are looking to solve this and many other frequent problems startups commit.</p>
<p>We’re always digging for more failure stories like Folyo. Sign up for our newsletter to keep updated on the latest additions. You can unsubscribe whenever you want!</p>
<div><a href="https://failory.com/interview/folyo">https://failory.com/interview/folyo</a></div>


Folyo Folyo was a networking site that connected companies and designers. Choosing a bad business mo…

Folyo Folyo was a networking site that connected companies and designers. Choosing a bad business mo…

Hello Sacha! Who are you? What are you currently working on? 👩‍💻

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