FirdauS◎L ⚡️

Audio Visual Engineer. Ambient Postrock enthusiast. Father of 7 cats. A citizen of @Solana ◎.

[FirdauS◎L ⚡️ @FirdausWee]

@Whale_Guru Salaam. done.

[hayden @haydendevs]

lets see how super he really is

[Kingnet AI @Kingnet_AI]

@launchcoin $KNET + Kingnet AI

[FirdauS◎L ⚡️ @FirdausWee]

@JupiterExchange @jup_portfolio Still not working for me

[FirdauS◎L ⚡️ @FirdausWee]

@OneWifo @ArcanumCult 7DKy94KzgqjxJ58vA5X98a2U64i7hGYaoei4ZFQCLNid

[FirdauS◎L ⚡️ @FirdausWee]

@MrBsol @ArcanumCult 7DKy94KzgqjxJ58vA5X98a2U64i7hGYaoei4ZFQCLNid

[FirdauS◎L ⚡️ @FirdausWee]

@ArcanumCult 7DKy94KzgqjxJ58vA5X98a2U64i7hGYaoei4ZFQCLNid

[Mr B @MrBsol]

Who wanna be the next one?

5 sol to 5 of you dropping in 10 minutes

I’m gonna announce something big

[FirdauS◎L ⚡️ @FirdausWee]

@MrBsol Me me me

7DKy94KzgqjxJ58vA5X98a2U64i7hGYaoei4ZFQCLNid

[FirdauS◎L ⚡️ @FirdausWee]

@phantom @monad_xyz The phantom menace

[FirdauS◎L ⚡️ @FirdausWee]

@MarcellxMarcell I really need some. Thanks Marcell.

[FirdauS◎L ⚡️ @FirdausWee]

@MrBsol Standard price i supposed

[FirdauS◎L ⚡️ @FirdausWee]

@jup_dao @joiceloo_art B

[Avast @0xAvast]

The End of an Era

Three years ago, I started working on Froots, and today I’m officially announcing its end.

I stopped working on the project two months ago, though it’s been much longer since I last spoke about it publicly. I absolutely love Froots: the juice brand, the IP, and the people who have supported us.

Froots has been in a critical state for a while. Even though I acquired 100% of the company back in November with a plan to revive it, alas, it’s time to pull the plug.

This probably won’t come as a shock to those who’ve been keeping up, as the team has been rather inactive over the past eight months. Still, I felt people deserved some closure, and to be frank, so did I. I also want to use this as an opportunity to share my experience and potentially help future founders and creators.

We did a lot of really cool things with Froots. One of the highlights was supplying free juice to every major NFT NYC 2024 event and seeing people’s reactions to our product. That was incredibly fun, and the support was overwhelming.

I believe that with the right leadership, Froots could perform extremely well. The IP slaps and all the people who tried the juices absolutely loved it. But I’ve come to the conclusion that, for numerous reasons, it won’t thrive under my leadership, at least for now. I would love to see Froots do well with or without me...and I really hope to one day be in a position to bring back Froots, whether as the IP or the juice brand, but realistically, that’s unlikely.

I could list all the reasons that led us here, but I’d rather take accountability for the things I did and didn’t do. In hindsight, I didn’t have enough experience to start or run a project like this at the time. We didn’t plan enough, and my lack of judgment in people led me to trust those I shouldn’t have. That’s on me.

I made a lot of promises to the community, things I wholeheartedly believed would happen, but sadly, I wasn’t able to deliver on them.

I apologize for letting a lot of people down.

I don’t claim to have it all figured out (otherwise, we wouldn’t be here), but if you’re considering launching a project, I hope you can learn a thing or two from the next few paragraphs.

The Biggest Mistakes We Made

The biggest mistake we made was trying to please everyone. This led us to launch a game called The Arena, which cost us a lot to develop and also required $4K per week in prizes...for 24 weeks straight. That totaled around 3,000 SOL in prizes (SOL was much lower back then). The community loved it at first, but over time, it became "normal," and that wasn’t enough anymore. We also launched a staking platform, even though we had initially told ourselves we’d never do it, but we caved.

I believe a lot of projects, including top ones, are suffering from the decisions they made post-mint to appease holders. The pressure to get everything right, to please everyone -as dumb as it sounds- gets to you. This might be good for short-term price action, but long term, it’s extremely -EV. People forget about those things, and you’re left with an expensive feature nobody really cares about.

We learned that the hard way.

If it wasn’t obvious, I’ve always truly cared about Froots and our holders, which is why I used to write four-page essays updating the community. It’s also why I’m really sad to be making this post today. I said this a while ago, and it’s still true:

"It hurts seeing people leave. It hurts seeing the FP go down. It hurts seeing people who believed in us, believed in me, be disappointed. It hurts because I care, even though some days, I wish I didn’t care as much."

The trap of building a company in public with a community is that, as I mentioned, you end up letting the noise get to you. That leads to poor decisions because you want to please people. The key is to manage expectations, something I personally struggled with.

This space moves fast, and if you don’t constantly give people something to “eat,” they move on. Web3 communities are, by design, insatiable. There’s a constant inflow of new buyers who didn’t benefit from past rewards (e.g., OG BAYC/DeGods holders got tons of airdrops, but new buyers didn’t—so you always need to find something new).

I had a talk with the Clayno team a while back, and this is what they told me:

"What we’re building takes time. We could stay quiet, heads down, but in Web3, you’re dealing with a younger crowd. They run on hype. We figured the best way to combat that is to focus on attention and throw smoke screens. It takes us 2-4 months to push out updates—people won’t wait more than a week. Utilize the community in simple, efficient ways."

That’s definitely one way to approach the issue.

You need to keep the community updated, but to manage expectations, don’t reveal everything. Find your balance.

For Future Founders

You can easily raise money in Web3 if you’re a decent marketer and understand the industry. But if you’re planning to do so, plan EVERYTHING in advance and stick to your vision. Of course, things won’t always go as planned, but don’t go in blind.

There’s also a fine line between listening to community feedback and letting them dictate your project’s direction. Listen and observe, but also trust yourself. People will always think they know better, but most of the times they don’t.

Surround yourself with the right people. Don’t be afraid to hire and delegate. Don’t be afraid to take risks, if you don’t try, nothing happens. If you do, maybe nothing happens… but maybe it changes everything for you.

Be consistent. This is especially true in Web3. If you’re building in public, you HAVE to stay consistent, particularly with content.

One more thing: If you create something in public, people will criticize every single decision you make. Some will spread negative stuff about you, which may or may not be true, and you may even receive threats for things you didn’t do. (In Froots’ early days, someone doxxed me as the FP dropped and even leaked my girlfriend’s personal info, which is INSANE.)

Nobody is in your shoes. Stay true to yourself, and don’t let the toxicity affect your mental health. You’re the only one who knows what you did, didn’t do, or intend to do.

That said, always take accountability, nobody is perfect. I used to be frustrated that influencers, projects, or even Solana itself (lmao) wouldn’t acknowledge Froots, even though we were doing something unique. But then I realized I was just bitter: if I wanted them to notice us, I needed to work harder.

The Industry’s Hypocrisy

Small rant but I've had this on my mind for a while and this isn't just about me. I find it unfair that this industry constantly shits on people who aren’t bad actors, people who stick around and genuinely try new things...while simultaneously handing more money to bad actors and forgetting about them within a few days.

Shoutout to those who truly try/tried their best and are/were passionate about what they built, yet got dragged for engagement (e.g., @frankdegods ). Most of the time, the picture people paint is far from the truth.

Don’t be a dick to people who show up with good intentions—there’s only so much they can take. If we weed out all the good actors for engagement, we’ll be left with the scum of the earth—and that’ll be our fault.

Don’t let others dictate your opinions. It’s easy to believe everything you read online, but there are always multiple sides to every story.

While we get rugged daily, paradoxically, this industry doesn’t tolerate failure. People are quick to label failed projects as rugs. Not everyone is going to succeed—that’s a fact. Most people will fail.

But if you’re reading this: Shoot your shot. Take a chance. No dream is too wild or too stupid. Just do it with integrity.

What’s Next for Me

While it’s really hard for me to let Froots go, this is certainly not the end of Avast. I’ve learned a lot from Froots, and I’ve met some incredible people, both online and IRL at conferences like NFT NYC. This industry is now a major part of my life so I will 100% be around.

Thank you to all the people who supported us, or me and as always, if you have any questions, ask away.

[FirdauS◎L ⚡️ @FirdausWee]

@Dior100x Dior own research 😜

[FirdauS◎L ⚡️ @FirdausWee]

@SOLBigBrain You will always be the og legend of the solana space. @SOLBigBrain Big brain, BIG IQ. W!

[FirdauS◎L ⚡️ @FirdausWee]

@MrBsol 7DKy94KzgqjxJ58vA5X98a2U64i7hGYaoei4ZFQCLNid

Thanksssssbsssss

[FirdauS◎L ⚡️ @FirdausWee]

@MarcellxMarcell Justin

[FirdauS◎L ⚡️ @FirdausWee]

@MrBsol 23