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I think there is a sense of “if I pay, it probably has a value so said company can charge a customer, and it is likely said company will not to fail so soon.” N

I think there is a sense of “if I pay, it probably has a value so said company can charge a customer, and it is likely said company will not to fail so soon.” Not that this is always true, but with a reasonable trial and active customer support team, I think a starter plan is never a bad idea at all. Making a paid plan also means the company has to work double harder now to deliver a better product and a better customer experience, unlike IMO a free tool has the “we will get there eventually, let’s test with free users first.”

cortesoft 9y ago
Right, but I think the point is that those free users are not a good analog for paying users. The things you learn from those free users will not help you figure out how to serve customers who will actually pay something for your service.
- yeukhon 9y ago
  Yes, exactly. Free users are likely not going to stick UNTIL very later. I remember using lucidchart.com from time to time. I just needed a quick sketch and I could bypass the free limit with some careful tricks. Until I was required to make more and bigger architectural diagrams did I sign up as a paid customer. Free users are basically visitors and focusing on them early on is a distraction (focus on what isn't interesting to your paid users) - and if there is a group of people willing to pay, they will most likely have common expectations for what the product should be.
ccallebs 9y ago
I'm debating the merits of this right now. For the moment, I'm not charging for my beta. I have received some good feedback so far, but people haven't been as active using it as I would like. I'm wondering whether it would be better to find a smaller number of people willing to pay for the product and really tailor the experience to them.
- ghaff 9y ago
  >a smaller number of people willing to pay for the product and really tailor the experience to them. Maybe. Or they could just be outliers who happened to be willing to pay for your product early on. You want to be open to customer feedback of course but it's also about your vision for the product.
- mikeleeorg 9y ago
  I would argue yes, find a smaller number of paying customers and tailor the experience to them. It's incredible difficult to get paying customers, and if you can get some, then you can begin the journey of expanding your feature set / distribution channels / promotions to reach other customers. It's kind of like the idea of focusing on fewer people who love you, vs lots of people who just like you, where love = paying customers :)
s17n 9y ago
It's not about how much you charge, it's about how good your business is. I am far more confident about gmail's long term prospects than their paid competitors', for example.
- yeukhon 9y ago
  Well, this is a great point. Gmail eventually grew into a B2B-B2C model. Users get a reliable mail service with a nice interface, Google gets ads revenue, and then Google sell business Gsuite. There is a trio-business relationship, hence why I think it's a B2B-B2C. We can cite Facebook, Yelp, LinkedIn as similar examples. I guess startups that provide utilities (I can't figure out a better word, but think Github/Gitlab/CircleCI) should charge as early as possible, whereas startups focus on user contents can remain free for a long period of time, and then think about how to get users to pay (think of Tumblr's paid themes, although really unsuccessful from my perspective). Everyone takes a different path and some just won't last no matter which approach to take.

cortesoft 9y ago

Right, but I think the point is that those free users are not a good analog for paying users. The things you learn from those free users will not help you figure out how to serve customers who will actually pay something for your service.

yeukhon 9y ago
Yes, exactly. Free users are likely not going to stick UNTIL very later. I remember using lucidchart.com from time to time. I just needed a quick sketch and I could bypass the free limit with some careful tricks. Until I was required to make more and bigger architectural diagrams did I sign up as a paid customer. Free users are basically visitors and focusing on them early on is a distraction (focus on what isn't interesting to your paid users) - and if there is a group of people willing to pay, they will most likely have common expectations for what the product should be.

ccallebs 9y ago

I'm debating the merits of this right now. For the moment, I'm not charging for my beta. I have received some good feedback so far, but people haven't been as active using it as I would like. I'm wondering whether it would be better to find a smaller number of people willing to pay for the product and really tailor the experience to them.

ghaff 9y ago
>a smaller number of people willing to pay for the product and really tailor the experience to them. Maybe. Or they could just be outliers who happened to be willing to pay for your product early on. You want to be open to customer feedback of course but it's also about your vision for the product.
mikeleeorg 9y ago
I would argue yes, find a smaller number of paying customers and tailor the experience to them. It's incredible difficult to get paying customers, and if you can get some, then you can begin the journey of expanding your feature set / distribution channels / promotions to reach other customers. It's kind of like the idea of focusing on fewer people who love you, vs lots of people who just like you, where love = paying customers :)

s17n 9y ago

It's not about how much you charge, it's about how good your business is. I am far more confident about gmail's long term prospects than their paid competitors', for example.

yeukhon 9y ago
Well, this is a great point. Gmail eventually grew into a B2B-B2C model. Users get a reliable mail service with a nice interface, Google gets ads revenue, and then Google sell business Gsuite. There is a trio-business relationship, hence why I think it's a B2B-B2C. We can cite Facebook, Yelp, LinkedIn as similar examples. I guess startups that provide utilities (I can't figure out a better word, but think Github/Gitlab/CircleCI) should charge as early as possible, whereas startups focus on user contents can remain free for a long period of time, and then think about how to get users to pay (think of Tumblr's paid themes, although really unsuccessful from my perspective). Everyone takes a different path and some just won't last no matter which approach to take.