# Frankly.me (2014 – 2016)

- URL: https://girisimcikafasi.com/en/startup-graveyard/frankly-me/
- Sector: Social media
- Country: India
- Total funding: unknown
- Cause of closure: No market need

## What did it do?

Frankly.me was a mobile platform where users could put questions to celebrities, politicians and writers, with the answers shared as short videos. The app started life as a purely video-based social network, then shifted towards question-and-answer and short-video self-expression models.

## Why did it shut down?

After raising USD 600,000 in seed funding from Matrix Partners in January 2015, the company redefined its product several times in quick succession. In November 2015, while changing its business model, it parted ways with dozens of employees and moved the app towards a structure centred on short videos and parodies. In January 2016 it raised a bridge round from existing and new investors, but could not find backing for a large Series A round. In their closure announcement in February 2016, the founders said the market was eager to watch video but making video was still hard for users, and that they had failed to achieve lasting product–market fit. The rise of live video apps such as Periscope and Meerkat was also squeezing the space.

## The story

Frankly.me was founded in 2014 by Nikunj Jain and Abhishek Gupta in Noida, near Delhi. The initial goal was to create India's purely video-based social network. It soon became clear that celebrities were taking an interest in the app, and the team pivoted to a question-and-answer platform where users put questions to well-known figures and received the answers as short videos. Figures such as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and lyricist Javed Akhtar answered questions on the platform.

In January 2015 USD 600,000 in seed funding arrived from Matrix Partners. But the presence of celebrities did not translate into ordinary users producing content regularly. In November 2015 the company changed its business model again and parted ways with dozens of employees. The new direction was a Dubsmash-like format in which users expressed themselves through short videos, impressions and parodies. At the same time, live-streaming apps such as Periscope and Meerkat were pulling users' video habits elsewhere.

Having raised a bridge round from existing and new investors in January 2016, the company decided to close just a few weeks later. According to the founders' statement, the market was keen to watch video, but making video was still hard for users, and the team had not found lasting product–market fit. Founder Jain stressed that the real problem was not funding but this lack of fit. The team of around 35 people disbanded; according to reports, investors got most of their money back.

Frankly.me's short story shows that a social network that starts with celebrities lives, in the long run, on the contributions of ordinary users. Squeezing three different product experiments into less than two years also left the team without enough time to test any of them properly.

## Lessons

- Celebrity participation brings initial attention, but if it does not turn ordinary users into content creators the network will not grow; test the creation side from the very start.
- Pivoting repeatedly in a short time wears out both the team and the bank balance; try each new model with a small team and a clear measure of success.
- If no sign of fit appears, closing early and returning money to investors rather than burning what is left protects the founder's reputation; Frankly.me returned most of their money to its investors.

## Sources

- [Why We Decided To Shut Frankly.me Just A Few Weeks After Raising Pre-Series A Round?](https://inc42.com/buzz/frankly-shutdown/)
- [Unable To Raise Fresh Funds, Frankly.Me, The Matrix-Backed Video Q&A Platform Has Shutdown](https://thetechportal.com/2016/02/10/frankly-me-shutdown/)
- [Matrix-Backed FranklyMe Shuts Down](https://inc42.com/flash-feed/franklyme-shutdown/)
- [Frankly.me Puts Curtains On its Operations](https://techstory.in/frankly-shuts-its-operations-10020216/)