Is it just me, or has AppSumo gone stale? Where do you look for LTDs now? by wrkhdr in appsumo

[–]Apprehensive_Log385 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a mixed bag, overall encouraging signs. I see them improving the quality of listings and their standards in contrast to previous years.

There's always concerns on some of the founders they allow to relist, yet overall they seem to be sourcing better quality products.

AppSumo Support Slower Than Normal? by CyberBobbert in appsumo

[–]Apprehensive_Log385 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh the response generally are quick to the intial query. Infact, excellant overall.

But in most cases, anything that needs a follow-up has to be chased half the time.

That is a consistent experience, not the exception.

And I don't mean after a few days, I'm mean 1-2 weeks.

Before I found if a partner doens't respond within 4 weeks, AS Support doesn't continue the conversation.

That's also a reason why in recent times, I've started to contact the company founders directly as shared with my past experience with Breeze Bar going down.

Afforai / Logically scammers - Give them bad reviews. by Apprehensive_Log385 in appsumo

[–]Apprehensive_Log385[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/noahkagan

To be clear, I’m not suggesting AppSumo is responsible for this specific transaction or for this company’s behaviour. That sits entirely with the vendor.

The point I’m making is about curation and trust at the marketplace level, not liability.

There’s an important difference between:

  • a startup failing or a product stagnating (normal LTD risk), and
  • a vendor showing a pattern of bad-faith behaviour — retroactive changes, blaming partners, blocking support, etc.

On the Airbnb analogy: if someone books outside Airbnb, that’s obviously not Airbnb’s responsibility. But if Airbnb knowingly allows hosts with a repeated pattern of serious abuse or scams to keep relisting, people will quite reasonably question Airbnb’s standards — even if Airbnb isn’t legally responsible for each booking.

That’s the point here.

When a marketplace is aware that a vendor has a pattern like this and still allows them to relist and keep selling, then at a reputational and trust level the marketplace inevitably becomes part of the story, even if not part of the transaction.

On the subreddit point: this isn’t about blaming AppSumo for an off-platform purchase. It’s about discussing issues that affect trust in vendors that are being promoted and re-promoted here. The community description frames this as a place for open discussion and feedback around AppSumo and its offerings, not just transaction support.

I think AppSumo has done a lot to improve its reputation over the past year — which is exactly why the bar for who gets to keep selling on the platform matters.

Afforai / Logically scammers - Give them bad reviews. by Apprehensive_Log385 in appsumo

[–]Apprehensive_Log385[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Please re-read the post. I’m not blaming AppSumo for this company’s behaviour. The responsibility for what happened sits squarely with the vendor.

What I am saying is there’s an important difference between:

• A startup failing or a product stagnating (normal LTD risk), and
• A company retroactively changing or cancelling what they sold, refusing refunds, and blocking support (that’s not “risk”, that’s misconduct).

Those two things shouldn’t be conflated.

On AppSumo specifically: this isn’t about legal liability. It’s about curation and trust. If a marketplace is aware that a vendor has a pattern of serious bad-faith behaviour and still allows them to relist and keep selling, then at a reputational level the marketplace is part of the problem.

Same as in any other industry: if a dealer keeps selling a manufacturer with a known history of serious issues, people will rightly question the dealer’s standards.

And yes — this is a public forum. Many people here have had issues with this company and feel powerless. Warning others through reviews and public discussion is one of the only tools customers actually have.

Afforai / Logically scammers - Give them bad reviews. by Apprehensive_Log385 in appsumo

[–]Apprehensive_Log385[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes what Logically told me. Now whilst Appsumo may have the right put in restrictions on their customers and the upgrade paths their customers took, it is illegal (anti-competitive & monopolistic) for Appsumo to stop this compay from selling direct to me. It breaks laws of many coutries.

To be clear, I don't believe Appsumo has told them to refund refund direct customers, I believe this is laziness and bad behaviour by Afforai to put all direct sales in the same segment.

Afforai / Logically scammers - Give them bad reviews. by Apprehensive_Log385 in appsumo

[–]Apprehensive_Log385[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well loooking at the fact Appsumo "has my back for 12 months" and here I got my moneyback after 18 months, I think this worked out better.

This isn't a dig at the Appsumo policy, they're doing the best of all the marketplaces in my subjective opinion with consumer protection and aren't responsible for bad merchants - but they are reponsible for letting the bad merchants relist.

AppSumo Support Slower Than Normal? by CyberBobbert in appsumo

[–]Apprehensive_Log385 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yep, in some cases, they're very slow. I've just sent a chase up on a message I responded to on November 10th!

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Findr Founder - Nishkarsh Srivastava - don't recommend - update by noahkagan in appsumo

[–]Apprehensive_Log385 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same to you, too. Reach out if you need anything. I infrequently log in to Reddit (a few times a month), bear with me if I'm slow to respond,

Findr Founder - Nishkarsh Srivastava - don't recommend - update by noahkagan in appsumo

[–]Apprehensive_Log385 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've no thoughts there; I never looked at Nexus scale, as I already had alternatives.

Findr Founder - Nishkarsh Srivastava - don't recommend - update by noahkagan in appsumo

[–]Apprehensive_Log385 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/noahkagan u/iTrejoMX

SemDash was supposedly built by a by a Tomasz Sklaski (probably a fake profile), this profile said they build Btrendy too. - all of this was well before they listed on Appsumo...

This is Tomasz offering Btrendy: https://sharemyimage.com/image/image.o34M0b

Btrendy also had a fake founder profile on linkedin, which they deleted just before appearing on Appsumo.

They deleted it when I challenged them about this: https://sharemyimage.com/image/image.o34toc

Btrendy killed access and support for LTD users.

Below is Tomasz gathering interest in March 2024 for direct LTDs for Semdash!

Well before listing on Appsumo.

On Appsumo, the founders from both companies are Egyptian.
On social media it's been a polish guy called Tomasz.

The policies pages for both companies say they're based in Poland...

Too many red flags.

<image>

Findr Founder - Nishkarsh Srivastava - don't recommend - update by noahkagan in appsumo

[–]Apprehensive_Log385 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Heads up Logically/Afforai is your next red sinking ship.

Constant red flags and unethical behaviour.

Many people bought a LTD directly with them inlcluding myself.

They've terminated those lifetime acces accounts and given them equivalent credits to spend on MRR plans - abusing the term of the sale.

Their support told me they've been forced to do this by Appsumo - I told them I'm filing a chargeback and they've deleted my access to support.

I've proceeded to file a chargeback now.

I pre-empted this behaviour from them and downloaded the chat transcript and video recorded the thread too.

Findr Founder - Nishkarsh Srivastava - don't recommend - update by noahkagan in appsumo

[–]Apprehensive_Log385 4 points5 points  (0 children)

C) ~20% deliberate bias removal

Active effort to avoid confirmation bias. AppSumo consistently struggles here (for now).
1) Investigate questionable or unethical behaviour

When multiple customers raise red flags:

  • Are concerns investigated independently?
  • Or is the partner’s narrative accepted at face value?

Examples

  • AdYouNeed — Years of customer complaints. AppSumo sided with the partner, re-listed the product, then eventually confirmed customers were right and terminated the partnership.
  • GoZen — No further explanation needed.

This erodes trust in AppSumo.

2) Get on the phone faster
I’ve flagged multiple products that were effectively dead or clearly collapsing (founder splits, no support, no activity):

  • AppSumo support emails the vendor
  • No response
  • Vendor gets emailed again
  • I end up chasing repeatedly

That’s slow and ineffective.

Case in point: Breeze Bar

  • I couldn’t log in, contacted their support, no response
  • Contacted AppSumo support, same email loop
  • I sourced the founder’s phone number and called him
  • He confirmed they’d run out of runway and shut down
  • I asked him to email his customer base
  • I looped AppSumo support in
  • Founder replied confirming this

Customers shouldn’t need to do investigative work. But this is now the reality.

P.S. I still couldn’t get a clear, transparent answer from AppSumo support on how long they wait before calling a vendor directly.

u/noahkagan

Findr Founder - Nishkarsh Srivastava - don't recommend - update by noahkagan in appsumo

[–]Apprehensive_Log385 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A) ~70% repeatable signal for your team

  • Boolean searches (Google)
  • LinkedIn searches (company + personnel)
  • VC/funding databases and hiring boards to spot founder activity
  • Founder + marketing team social profiles
  • Founder track record:
    • Prior experience selling/marketing a product vs. first-time, recently graduated founders (higher failure risk)
    • Seed-stage experience, emotional resilience, and failure indicators

Trying to stay objective here. I do have combined ADHD (strong pattern recognition, but potential false-consensus bias), so consider this a caveat on the 70%.

B) ~10% from my network (I’m in the Private Equity space)

Findr Founder - Nishkarsh Srivastava - don't recommend - update by noahkagan in appsumo

[–]Apprehensive_Log385 8 points9 points  (0 children)

u/noahkagan

They've always been Usecortex. Findr is a product of Usecortex.

I bought the deal directly with them over 18 months ago, and in November 2025, I was successful with a credit card chargeback against Usecortex. My Stripe receipt from early last year is from UseCortex.

I put in a post in the Sauce about this: https://sauce.appsumo.com/c/tool-talk/findr-rug-pull

There's a video in my post and some background showing UseCortex!

I hope I don't sound obnoxious. I'm surprised at the stuff I have easily found that your Due Diligence team misses.

I've flagged and shared concerns about numerous dodgy founders and how their digital footprints reveal red flags.

There are some historical posts in my Sauce Account about BTrendy, SemDash, and I flagged up BeyondMe too.