The story behind Formspring and Formstack

Ade Olonoh, Formstack, B2B, Failure, SaaS (software as a service)

I’ve been looking to understand today’s guest for years. He created one of the first form software on the Internet, the kind of form that you could put into your website. He created it, he built it up, he monetized it, and it went really well.

And then, he comes up with this thing called Formspring. It was a site where anyone could ask questions and get answers, and it just became this huge social network. And it went away, almost as fast as it started.

I’ve gotten in trouble with entrepreneurs by saying that one of their businesses failed but I want to know what happened. I’m going to ask him about that in this interview.

Today’s guest is Ade Olonoh, the founder of form software Formstack.

Ade Olonoh

Formstack

Ade Olonoh is the founder of form software Formstack.

Andrew: Hi everyone. My name is Andrew Warner. I’m the Founder of mixergy.com, where I interview entrepreneurs about how they built their businesses. I am so excited about this interview because I’ve been looking to understand this founder for years.

Here’s the thing, he created one of the first form software on the Internet, the kind of form that you could put into your website, believe it or not that used to be a headache to get a form on your website, a good one anyway. He created it, he monetized it, he built it up, it went really well, and we’ll find out how well it went.

And then, he comes up with this thing called Formspring which just took the web by storm for a period there. It was a site where anyone could ask questions and get answers, and it just became this huge social network. And sadly, it went away, almost as fast as it started. I was looking at your face just to get a sense of how do I say this, is it okay for me to say it...

Continue reading the transcript...