Hi Hichame,
I’m Tibi from FWDesign. I’ve been part of Envato for a long time — long enough to remember when the marketplace really felt like a community, not just a business. Back then, there was a sense of pride in being an Envato author. We worked hard, built our reputations, and trusted that the company valued us as much as we valued it.
Since you became CEO, things have felt very different. The focus shifted away from that community spirit toward corporate deals, subscriptions, and cutting costs. For people like me, who built their lives around ThemeForest, AudioJungle, and the other marketplaces, it’s been heartbreaking. Our earnings have been cut, our work has been devalued, and customers are being steered into Elements whether it fits them or not.
What hurt the most, though, was the way Elements was promoted. The advertising promised “unlimited everything,” but the reality was full of caveats — licensing restrictions, limitations, and consequences that weren’t made clear. Customers felt misled, and authors like me felt completely sidelined. It was like we didn’t matter anymore. Basically, Elements is a lie — the biggest scam I know. It was sold as a miracle solution, but in truth it deceived customers and destroyed the trust that once defined Envato.
Worse, the marketplace itself was weaponized to capture users into Elements — banners with false advertising everywhere, even inside the checkout cart and plastered on authors’ own product pages. Envato was literally using our work to sell a competing service that undermined us. That felt like betrayal on top of betrayal. And time after time, we raised this on the forum. Personally, I constantly tried to highlight the damage and suggest ways to fix it. But you, as CEO, never once addressed us directly. Not a word, not an acknowledgment. Probably you just laughed at what you saw as childish complaints, while to us it was our lives, our work, and our futures on the line. And maybe you’re laughing even now, reading this, seeing me put so much sentiment into it. After all, to you it’s just business. But that’s exactly where you failed. Envato was never just a business — it was a place where authors could build their dreams. A fair, balanced marketplace that worked for both creators and customers. Until you arrived, and turned it into a cold, failing business that lost its soul.
And through all of this, you never once truly engaged with us — the authors. Not a single honest conversation about what was happening, not even one moment of listening to our concerns. Instead of giving us a voice, you cut it off completely by closing the forums. For years, that was the one place where authors could share experiences, raise issues, and feel connected. Shutting it down felt like the final message: our voices don’t count anymore.
We were treated like bots — as if we never really existed, just machines churning out content for Envato. Even being an Elite Author with millions in sales didn’t matter. To you, we were never people with passion, creativity, and livelihoods on the line. We were reduced to tools for your strategy — a strategy that turned an author-driven, quality-focused marketplace into a hollow subscription model that ended up hurting everyone: authors, customers, and the company itself.
I don’t write this to attack you. I write it because Envato used to mean something special to a lot of us. It wasn’t perfect, but it was built on fairness, trust, and a real sense of connection. Under your leadership, that spirit seems to have disappeared, and what’s left is a marketplace that feels empty.
And personally, I feel deeply offended by all this mess. I’m not even sure if everything you did is legal, but I’m too tired to fight for it. After all this, I was forced to build my own store and start searching for other places to sell my work. Sixteen years of working for Envato — basically my whole professional life — and it all ended like this.
But I still have a voice, even if you tried to shut it out. I come from a communist country, and I remember my parents not being able to speak their minds because of the regime. Probably most authors stay silent out of fear — fear of losing their accounts, or who knows what. Well, I am not one of them. I will speak, because silence only helps those who cause the damage.
As I’ve said many times on the old Envato forum: put me in charge for six months, even for free, and I’ll bring Envato back to life. I know it might sound bold or even a little naïve — and now you’ll probably laugh again — but my passion is real. I truly understand Envato not just from a business perspective, but also from the author and client perspective. And in this field, you’re completely clueless. This part probably made you laugh so hard you had to share it with someone — ‘look at this idiot!’ — but jokes aside, with the right focus I believe I could revive what made Envato great in the first place.
Sincerely,
Tibi
FWDesign