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Yep, absolutely agreed. The landing page is work in progress and hasn't been proofread. Didn't except it to end up in HN :) Apologies for typos and grammar, an

Yep, absolutely agreed. The landing page is work in progress and hasn't been proofread. Didn't except it to end up in HN :) Apologies for typos and grammar, and I hope you can also brutally criticize everything else beyond the surface! :)

otoburb 7y ago
>>I hope you can also brutally criticize everything else beyond the surface! :) I recommend removing the word "cheap" from your landing page. I understand the sentiment (and love it), but what may be "cheap" in one part of the world is likely "expensive" in another. It also cheapens (no pun intended) your value proposition from an enterprise perspective. Be confident and drop the word. Also, perhaps in some fine print (or even better - a clearly visible and simple explanation) defining the scope of the perpetual license -- limited to +K (where K ≤ 0) major software versions or all future releases (K = ∞)?
- HenriNext 7y ago
  Again fully agreed, thank you. What do you think would be reasonable price for perpetual license?
  - otoburb 7y ago
    You need to do a market analysis yourself as developer tools are not my area of market expertise. As a general strategy, given this is a new tool you might want to start with just two dimensions/factors: introductory vs. long-term (to drive adoption), and consumer vs. enterprise. For the purposes of answering your question in the short-term: you might end up with a perpetual license single-developer price knowing that this initial set of customers will be innovators and an "investment" that will be on your books for quite some time. You could even time or quota-limit if you're looking for a specific growth trajectory and initial burst of revenue. Given that this is perpetual licensing (and again - you need to decide whether this will be for all versions forever, or limited to +K major versions), you need to balance 12-18month runway (cost-feature) planning against any margin you're hoping to generate (maybe none if you're aiming for ramen profitability). Feel free to reach out if you want to discuss further.
    - HenriNext 7y ago
      I hope I didn't (again) express my self badly... Of course I'm not expecting to be spoon-fed with a ready made pricing model, but was just trying to get overall sentiment.. You make a lot of great points, and this is one area where I definitely need help, so thank you for your offer. I'll get in touch after I've survived today :)
      - jsjohnst 7y ago
        Somebody else suggested this already, but I’d probably do something like the following: $100 - personal license, must be bought by an individual (not company), but can be used for commercial purposes. Best effort only support, pushing folks to use a support forum. $200/seat - business license version of above, but including email support, just without an SLA. $400/seat or $15/seat/month - enterprise license, includes priority support. Based on experience, providing support is the most “expensive” and time consuming portion, so make sure you are pricing high enough to cover that, especially with perpetual licenses.
  - ccleve 7y ago
    Have a look at other developer tools like IDEs (IntelliJ) or profilers (YourKit). Look at what kind of value you provide relative to what they do. You should definitely charge for upgrades. Make the license for a particular version perpetual, but no upgrades after a year unless they pay again. Most of your money will probably come from large corporate licenses. Think about how to structure them.
    - HenriNext 7y ago
      Thanks. My current plan is pretty much exactly that: perpetual license for $ X including 1 year of updates, then $ 0.5X for additional year of updates/maintenance. The main thing I'm uncertain about is the value of X :)
  - derefr 7y ago
    Keep in mind what this tool replaces. Sure, most obviously, this tool might "be" a debugger, but if by using it you suddenly don't need separate static analysis/reverse-engineering tools in your debugging workflow, then it's in competition with those tools, too. Imagine everything you'd have to buy+install in order to get the same effect as this tool, and then charge more than that (because probably there's at least a few use-cases where, without this exact tool, you just can't do it at all.)
    - HenriNext 7y ago
      Thanks, really great point. BugJail actually started life as internal tool for dynamic analysis, not for debugging. The longer term vision is merging of dynamic and static analysis, so not exactly, or only, "better debugger".
  - nvr219 7y ago
    $100
    - lallysingh 7y ago
      $200 for large companies (revenue over $1MM), $100 for smaller + devs. Maybe $50 for students if you want to spoil them in their youth.
      - jsjohnst 7y ago
        Many legal/finance teams hate licensing costs based on revenue numbers. I’d suggest avoiding that and instead tying something of value to larger companies to the higher priced license, like priority support.
  - blobbers 7y ago
    Nobody sells perpetual licenses anymore.
    - HenriNext 7y ago
      Well, I will :) I'm doing this mainly to help other developers, so I don't care that much if my monthly recurring revenue or whatever doesn't please Sandhill Road.
      - barrkel 7y ago
        Tech that disappears because it isn't profitable enough (or at all) is even worse. A successful business model is in everyone's interest. Don't unilaterally rule anything out, look at it rationally.
        HenriNext 7y ago
        Very sensible viewpoint, thank you. Perhaps perpetual licenses and subscriptions could co-exist as alternatives, and customers can choose whichever they prefer.
        HenriNext 7y ago
        I considered this overnight. I was naive. If the goal is to help as many developers as possible, then being profitable and/or well funded makes achieving that goal easier, through hiring more employees and developing better product faster. Which in retrospective sounds obvious. I'll still keep perpetual license as option, but stop being arrogantly non-commercial.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- evmar 7y ago
  "cheap" in English means both "low cost" and also "low quality". To convey what I think you want to convey you could use the word "inexpensive" or "low cost" (but I also agree with the parent comment's advice).
sofaofthedamned 7y ago
Happy to proofread and fix it in a PR, looks like a nice tool.
- HenriNext 7y ago
  Thanks, actually I'd gladly accept your offer! Seems I really need help with my English :) My email is in the contact page :)

otoburb 7y ago

>>I hope you can also brutally criticize everything else beyond the surface! :) I recommend removing the word "cheap" from your landing page. I understand the sentiment (and love it), but what may be "cheap" in one part of the world is likely "expensive" in another. It also cheapens (no pun intended) your value proposition from an enterprise perspective. Be confident and drop the word. Also, perhaps in some fine print (or even better - a clearly visible and simple explanation) defining the scope of the perpetual license -- limited to +K (where K ≤ 0) major software versions or all future releases (K = ∞)?

HenriNext 7y ago
Again fully agreed, thank you. What do you think would be reasonable price for perpetual license?
- otoburb 7y ago
  You need to do a market analysis yourself as developer tools are not my area of market expertise. As a general strategy, given this is a new tool you might want to start with just two dimensions/factors: introductory vs. long-term (to drive adoption), and consumer vs. enterprise. For the purposes of answering your question in the short-term: you might end up with a perpetual license single-developer price knowing that this initial set of customers will be innovators and an "investment" that will be on your books for quite some time. You could even time or quota-limit if you're looking for a specific growth trajectory and initial burst of revenue. Given that this is perpetual licensing (and again - you need to decide whether this will be for all versions forever, or limited to +K major versions), you need to balance 12-18month runway (cost-feature) planning against any margin you're hoping to generate (maybe none if you're aiming for ramen profitability). Feel free to reach out if you want to discuss further.
  - HenriNext 7y ago
    I hope I didn't (again) express my self badly... Of course I'm not expecting to be spoon-fed with a ready made pricing model, but was just trying to get overall sentiment.. You make a lot of great points, and this is one area where I definitely need help, so thank you for your offer. I'll get in touch after I've survived today :)
    - jsjohnst 7y ago
      Somebody else suggested this already, but I’d probably do something like the following: $100 - personal license, must be bought by an individual (not company), but can be used for commercial purposes. Best effort only support, pushing folks to use a support forum. $200/seat - business license version of above, but including email support, just without an SLA. $400/seat or $15/seat/month - enterprise license, includes priority support. Based on experience, providing support is the most “expensive” and time consuming portion, so make sure you are pricing high enough to cover that, especially with perpetual licenses.
- ccleve 7y ago
  Have a look at other developer tools like IDEs (IntelliJ) or profilers (YourKit). Look at what kind of value you provide relative to what they do. You should definitely charge for upgrades. Make the license for a particular version perpetual, but no upgrades after a year unless they pay again. Most of your money will probably come from large corporate licenses. Think about how to structure them.
  - HenriNext 7y ago
    Thanks. My current plan is pretty much exactly that: perpetual license for $ X including 1 year of updates, then $ 0.5X for additional year of updates/maintenance. The main thing I'm uncertain about is the value of X :)
- derefr 7y ago
  Keep in mind what this tool replaces. Sure, most obviously, this tool might "be" a debugger, but if by using it you suddenly don't need separate static analysis/reverse-engineering tools in your debugging workflow, then it's in competition with those tools, too. Imagine everything you'd have to buy+install in order to get the same effect as this tool, and then charge more than that (because probably there's at least a few use-cases where, without this exact tool, you just can't do it at all.)
  - HenriNext 7y ago
    Thanks, really great point. BugJail actually started life as internal tool for dynamic analysis, not for debugging. The longer term vision is merging of dynamic and static analysis, so not exactly, or only, "better debugger".
- nvr219 7y ago
  $100
  - lallysingh 7y ago
    $200 for large companies (revenue over $1MM), $100 for smaller + devs. Maybe $50 for students if you want to spoil them in their youth.
    - jsjohnst 7y ago
      Many legal/finance teams hate licensing costs based on revenue numbers. I’d suggest avoiding that and instead tying something of value to larger companies to the higher priced license, like priority support.
- blobbers 7y ago
  Nobody sells perpetual licenses anymore.
  - HenriNext 7y ago
    Well, I will :) I'm doing this mainly to help other developers, so I don't care that much if my monthly recurring revenue or whatever doesn't please Sandhill Road.
    - barrkel 7y ago
      Tech that disappears because it isn't profitable enough (or at all) is even worse. A successful business model is in everyone's interest. Don't unilaterally rule anything out, look at it rationally.
      - HenriNext 7y ago
        Very sensible viewpoint, thank you. Perhaps perpetual licenses and subscriptions could co-exist as alternatives, and customers can choose whichever they prefer.
      - HenriNext 7y ago
        I considered this overnight. I was naive. If the goal is to help as many developers as possible, then being profitable and/or well funded makes achieving that goal easier, through hiring more employees and developing better product faster. Which in retrospective sounds obvious. I'll still keep perpetual license as option, but stop being arrogantly non-commercial.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
evmar 7y ago
"cheap" in English means both "low cost" and also "low quality". To convey what I think you want to convey you could use the word "inexpensive" or "low cost" (but I also agree with the parent comment's advice).

sofaofthedamned 7y ago

Happy to proofread and fix it in a PR, looks like a nice tool.

HenriNext 7y ago
Thanks, actually I'd gladly accept your offer! Seems I really need help with my English :) My email is in the contact page :)