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I strongly doubt it. I can't see a public-media-style "pledge week" as a primary source of revenue for a for-profit company. I think the best outcome would be

by zach 16y ago

I strongly doubt it. I can't see a public-media-style "pledge week" as a primary source of revenue for a for-profit company. I think the best outcome would be that this is a one-time weird thing that happened before they found a real revenue model. That wouldn't be unprecedented at all, although every time I can think of, this happens before the founders sell to a large company who can monetize well. For example, I donated to faqs.org when it was just some guy, and now it's owned by some site aggregator I've never heard of. Which is fine with me, because I just wanted to keep it around. But assuming this works spectacularly, doesn't this just make Reddit completely illiquid? How can you go about selling a company based on revenues that are primarily free-will gifts? What would you sell, a share of profits from people just giving the company money? And what would you tell your donating customers who have zero ownership? Maybe that's all okay, or maybe I don't get it -- is there some way for this to succeed that I'm missing here?

nostrademons 16y ago
They're asking people to subscribe, not to donate. A subscription is a recurring revenue stream.
- deleted 16y ago
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- zach 16y ago
  Yeah, I'm just probably not being imaginative enough. Even if you give someone a tiny bit of status that says they're a member, that's what they're "paying for," even if it costs nothing. And all the psychic benefits just happen to be lurking behind that. I just can't believe this is where you go to before exhausting everything else, though. Just up and asking your customers to give you money like this has got to change your relationship, just like lending or giving money to a friend, right? I have to say I am fascinated to see how this plays out.
  - nostrademons 16y ago
    "Just up and asking your customers to give you money like this has got to change your relationship, just like lending or giving money to a friend, right?" When taken out of context, that sounds remarkably absurd. ;-) It's an interesting development, simply because most businesses throughout history have demanded that you give them money before you receive service. Or they bill you afterwards with the full force of law behind their threats. Very few will give you the service first and then ask nicely for money. I'm hoping that it works out, simply because if it doesn't, I'd bet that we won't see very many businesses using this strategy in the future. OTOH, I have no plans to subscribe - Reddit just isn't worth all that much to me.
    - zach 16y ago
      Yeah, I needed to weasel-ify it some more so it was clear I was talking about outright giving instead of giving in an exchange -- I probably should have just called it "donating" consistently. :) The thing that's interesting is that they're clearly willing to go for the donation angle. Again, the line is so thin that you wonder why they don't just announce they're selling you a digital doodad for an inflated price with the understanding that it's essentially a donation. It's something that works for PBS selling $100 DVDs but maybe the worry is that it triggers the "outrageous price" receptor...

by zach 16y ago

nostrademons 16y ago

They're asking people to subscribe, not to donate. A subscription is a recurring revenue stream.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
zach 16y ago
Yeah, I'm just probably not being imaginative enough. Even if you give someone a tiny bit of status that says they're a member, that's what they're "paying for," even if it costs nothing. And all the psychic benefits just happen to be lurking behind that. I just can't believe this is where you go to before exhausting everything else, though. Just up and asking your customers to give you money like this has got to change your relationship, just like lending or giving money to a friend, right? I have to say I am fascinated to see how this plays out.
- nostrademons 16y ago
  "Just up and asking your customers to give you money like this has got to change your relationship, just like lending or giving money to a friend, right?" When taken out of context, that sounds remarkably absurd. ;-) It's an interesting development, simply because most businesses throughout history have demanded that you give them money before you receive service. Or they bill you afterwards with the full force of law behind their threats. Very few will give you the service first and then ask nicely for money. I'm hoping that it works out, simply because if it doesn't, I'd bet that we won't see very many businesses using this strategy in the future. OTOH, I have no plans to subscribe - Reddit just isn't worth all that much to me.
  - zach 16y ago
    Yeah, I needed to weasel-ify it some more so it was clear I was talking about outright giving instead of giving in an exchange -- I probably should have just called it "donating" consistently. :) The thing that's interesting is that they're clearly willing to go for the donation angle. Again, the line is so thin that you wonder why they don't just announce they're selling you a digital doodad for an inflated price with the understanding that it's essentially a donation. It's something that works for PBS selling $100 DVDs but maybe the worry is that it triggers the "outrageous price" receptor...