5 ms·
hah. I love it. Now, personally, I don't have a problem with 'free' but I do think that 'free' goes more with "I'm doing this because I think it's fun" than "
by lsc 17y ago
hah. I love it. Now, personally, I don't have a problem with 'free' but I do think that 'free' goes more with "I'm doing this because I think it's fun" than "I'm doing this so I can get rich." - I think most of the problems you see with 'free' happen when you try to get rich off your free product, rather than just trying to create a good product that happens do be free. Craigslist is an excellent example. I mean, craig did get rich, by my standards, anyhow, but he's careful not to overdo it. He could probably become rich by global standards by selling craigslist to someone who would spam it up facebook or myspace style, but he didn't. even now, he focuses on making the free product good.
That's the other side of 'free' - infrastructure is super cheap these days. If you build it because you think it is awesome, there's usually no need to get VC to rent servers.
Really, though, if you want to make money rather than just cover your costs, charging money for what you provide is the obvious choice.
My personal goal is to have a conventional 'charge money for goods and services' business that is successful enough to support me and my crew while we work on a few free 'because I think it would be awesome' boondogles, because that sort of thing is a lot of fun, you know?
- ahoyhere 17y agoOh, totally. I only have a beef with "free" as business advice! If you just wanna have fun, don't twist yourself into a pretzel trying to "monetize." EDIT: Clarity!
- zeemonkee 17y agoAnd don't post on HN saying "Rate my startup" when you have just made a website for fun. A startup is - or should be - a real business.
- wgj 17y agoBTW, http://everytimezone.com/ http://everytimezone.com/ rocks! I've been using it quite a bit. Great work, hugely useful, free, and no pretzels.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- _delirium 17y agoCraigslist is an odd case, because I think he did actually get rich by global standards, or at least, he has more money than most VC-backed entrepreneurs with exits have. Estimates vary, but he appears to make somewhere between $10m and $50m in cash dividends from CL per year, possibly more, which would put his cash net worth comfortably over $100m, not even including Craigslist equity. There are plenty of startups that don't exit at a level that pays the founder $100m+, and Craig still owns the business even after raking in that cash.
- tibbon 17y agoAnd their model is pretty clear. They are exchanging goods (posting space for job listings) for money. The critique of free isn't that you can't give away a piece of candy to smooth over business, but that free isn't a business model.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- lsc 17y agobut they don't charge in a way that maximizes short-term profits. they charge in a way that maximizes long-term viability. They only charge for listings /if/ the poster makes money off the listing /and/ the section is so full that thinning it a bit might be beneficial to the readers.
- stanleydrew 17y agoI wouldn't say Craig is working hard to make the free product good. I absolutely hate the fact that I have to use craigslist for apartment search. It is terrible (but simple, yes) and Craig has made a conscious decision to keep it that way.
- lsc 17y agocompare it to Dice or monster. or, hell, realtor.com I think it's really, really easy to make your product /worse/ by adding features. That said, I personally have a few projects on the back burner that directly compete with craigslist in a very limited way. it /can/ be improved. I'm just saying, for most of the space, by resisting the urge to 'make it better' craigslist has ended up being the dominant player because craigslist is the best. being light on features has kept them from screwing it up too badly.