Vorolo.com, bootstrapped social network.
As the title suggests, vorolo is a new social networking website currently still in private beta.
Right now, vorolo is a one man band run by Jason Rai. Being a serial designer Jason managed to considerably keep the cost of development down designing the entire website himself. On top of that he spent $700 on the website programming. (According to Jason he would have quoted someone around $1,500 for all of the design work).
Today i was lucky enough to get an early look through the site and system.
The main problem Jason is going to face will be trying to build up the sites userbase. With the social networking market so saturated with large, established players it’ll be interesting to see how quickly this site grows.
I managed to get my hands on 20 beta invites. There is still a bit more work to be done on the site before it’s ready but when it’s good to go i’ll post the invites up here.
Edit: The updates are good to go. Leave a comment if you want one and i’ll send it over.
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Robert Michel:
April 11th, 2008
3:51 pm
I just stopped by your blog and thought I would say hello. I like your site design. Looking forward to reading more down the road.
Robert Michel
Paul Fraser:
April 11th, 2008
3:52 pm
Can i get an invite please jon.
Jon:
April 11th, 2008
3:53 pm
I’ve sent you an invite, Paul.
Richard:
April 11th, 2008
3:54 pm
Send me an invite please mate. Nice post, and good work with the blog.
Jon:
April 11th, 2008
3:56 pm
Hi Richard. Glad you’re digging the website.
I’ve sent you an invite.
Sarah:
April 11th, 2008
4:21 pm
hey jon i’d take one 🙂
Jon:
April 11th, 2008
4:27 pm
Sent.
hamish:
April 11th, 2008
4:54 pm
I’ll take one Jon! Thanks a lot! 😀
Gareth:
April 11th, 2008
4:55 pm
I would like one please Jon, if you may 🙂
Gareth:
April 11th, 2008
5:00 pm
Actually don’t! I had mine accepted by Jason!
kemeny:
April 11th, 2008
5:18 pm
Hey! ill take one!
Grant:
April 11th, 2008
5:28 pm
So i went over and got an invite… not to impressed i will wait till more features roll out and check it in a few months…
Kieran:
April 12th, 2008
6:05 am
It is very, very hard to launch a successful social network unless you have a solid niche or area of the market to target. From the video, it looks like Vorolo is not aimed at any specific niche or segment of the market, which means their direct competitors are MySpace, Facebook, Bebo… It’s going to be VERY hard to contend. The design looks nice though; with some creative marketing, this might just work. 🙂
Richard:
April 12th, 2008
7:58 am
Hey, I’ll take one if you’re kind enough.
Threeman:
April 12th, 2008
8:46 am
That is an awesome layout he’s made there. And only $700 for the programming of the site. I wish Jason goodluck with the site. :]
If you have any invites left I would like to have one to check the site out. :]
Harry:
April 12th, 2008
3:14 pm
Please invite me 🙂
Adam Scoville:
April 12th, 2008
3:20 pm
Been a long time TF member and have known Jason since back in FreelanceFans days (old forum he had), but would love to get my hands on an invite.
Also, great review! 😀
David:
April 12th, 2008
5:34 pm
I need emails to send them to, you guys! I have 4 invites left.
kaspar k.:
April 13th, 2008
2:25 pm
Okey. Though I’m usually resisting “yet another social network sites”, i would love try this one out. The design and the simple user interface seems just so appealing 🙂
Patrick:
April 13th, 2008
10:53 pm
I’d be very curious in getting more details on the building side. Did Jon do most of the programming work and get a hand on some more advanced stuff for $700 or did he get a lot of it done by someone somewhere who is super cheap?
Jason:
April 14th, 2008
12:39 pm
Patrick: Most of the programming was already done as it’s a pre-made script I purchased(not going to disclose what script it was) however, my programmer added more features to the script so it all worked out to be $700ish. Although it doesn’t stop there, I’m going to be forking out loads of more dollars towards Vorolo.
clueless:
April 15th, 2008
12:05 am
“not going to disclose what script it was” ha ha ha this is hilarious. Social networking sites were commoditized a looooooooooong time ago
Judging from your website, you seem pretty merry skinning phpBB sites. Just tell us the truth – that you are using the phpBB myspace clone mod. That is, of course, unless you didn’t venture outside of your comfort zone and embraced one of the dozen other second-rate myspace clones that are candy-coated with that awful spaghetti-stringed PHP.
Jason:
April 15th, 2008
10:07 am
Actually you’re wrong. I didn’t use a clone of anything.
jen:
April 15th, 2008
1:06 pm
Ooooh send me an invite if you have any left please!
Jason:
April 15th, 2008
3:04 pm
Jen: Leave your email address here or apply for an invite at http://www.vorolo.com 🙂
Tom Ross:
April 16th, 2008
7:11 pm
Could I please have a beta invite if there’s any left. Cheers!
Jason:
April 18th, 2008
10:10 am
Tom: Leave your email address here or apply for an invite at http://www.vorolo.com
Radford:
March 1st, 2009
6:01 pm
appreciate the info guys, thanks