2 ms·

xobni - has a business model - charge users, auctomatic has a business model - subscriptions weebly could have a business model - pro features virtualmin has

xobni - has a business model - charge users, auctomatic has a business model - subscriptions weebly could have a business model - pro features virtualmin has a business model - charge users whitenoise networks - charge bands & managers View 3 - licensing Buxfer - subcriptions/pro features Justin.tv - build userbase & eyeballs - advertising (traditional tv model)

SwellJoe 19y ago
Octopart - Order aggregation, take a cut (or sell company to highest bidder and move on...rumor has it this may have already happened). And going back into previous YC groups: Wufoo - upsells to larger accounts TextPayMe - Something to do with Amazon, apparently. (But even if that's a misunderstanding, they can take a cut of all transfers.) Inkling - Charge businesses Loopt - Partnerships ("I know where you at!") But there are a number of YC companies for whom ads will be a significant portion of revenue. Up-selling to premium services can be a challenging business. We (Virtualmin) basically are in the up-selling to premium services business, as well, because we have millions of users of our Open Source software and currently only hundreds of paying users. It's not as hard as I'd feared it might be, however...if there's a compelling value in the upgrade, it's a no-brainer for anyone that uses the product to make money. Anytime buying a product for a few bucks can make your job easier and your customers happier, it's a win, and most successful business people know that. Upselling individuals is much harder--they value their time differently. So, I believe free-to-premium works great for business-oriented services and products, and not so much for consumer-oriented businesses. I'd be curious to know how much flickr was making on its premium service before the acquisition, as it's one of the "knock out" success stories for the free-to-premium model, but I wonder if they were actually making enough to make payroll and sustain growth.
- keiretsu 19y ago
  freemium models ain't that great. i read somewhere, i think it was that vitaminxxx site by the dropsend founder, that the average % of premium subscribers is a pathetic 2%.
  - sbraford 19y ago
    think it's even less than that =)

SwellJoe 19y ago

Octopart - Order aggregation, take a cut (or sell company to highest bidder and move on...rumor has it this may have already happened). And going back into previous YC groups: Wufoo - upsells to larger accounts TextPayMe - Something to do with Amazon, apparently. (But even if that's a misunderstanding, they can take a cut of all transfers.) Inkling - Charge businesses Loopt - Partnerships ("I know where you at!") But there are a number of YC companies for whom ads will be a significant portion of revenue. Up-selling to premium services can be a challenging business. We (Virtualmin) basically are in the up-selling to premium services business, as well, because we have millions of users of our Open Source software and currently only hundreds of paying users. It's not as hard as I'd feared it might be, however...if there's a compelling value in the upgrade, it's a no-brainer for anyone that uses the product to make money. Anytime buying a product for a few bucks can make your job easier and your customers happier, it's a win, and most successful business people know that. Upselling individuals is much harder--they value their time differently. So, I believe free-to-premium works great for business-oriented services and products, and not so much for consumer-oriented businesses. I'd be curious to know how much flickr was making on its premium service before the acquisition, as it's one of the "knock out" success stories for the free-to-premium model, but I wonder if they were actually making enough to make payroll and sustain growth.

keiretsu 19y ago
freemium models ain't that great. i read somewhere, i think it was that vitaminxxx site by the dropsend founder, that the average % of premium subscribers is a pathetic 2%.
- sbraford 19y ago
  think it's even less than that =)