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Free until it isn't. If anyone could eat the cost of a free tier it would be Google but they decided that the Google apps for business free tier has to go after

Free until it isn't. If anyone could eat the cost of a free tier it would be Google but they decided that the Google apps for business free tier has to go after 12+ years.

mooreds 5y ago
Sure, but you can get great use of it for a long time, as long as they judge the viral growth outweighs the possible revenue they could get. I'd be more worried about the VC funding they've taken ($15M according to crunchbase). It may take years, but eventually, somehow, VCs will need to get their money back. That may be an IPO and then public market scrutiny, it may be acquisition, but if the company is a going concern, the VCs will want ROI.
- scarface74 5y ago
  I’ve only known one company that was customer focused that wasn’t ruined by VC funding - Backblaze.
- judge2020 5y ago
  Cloudflare, which went public in 2019, has done pretty well with their free tier, with their reasoning being[0]: > Our free customers create scale, serve as efficient brand marketing, and help us attract developers, customers, and potential employees... So for as long as they note that free Tailscale users are worthwhile for how they are effectively free marketing and attract clientele, it shouldn't be a problem. Tailscale doesn't proxy traffic either so the overhead of having free tier customers shouldn't be huge. 0: https://github.com/judge2020/cloudflare-connectivity-test/wiki/Explanation#why-is-there-a-free-tier-in-the-first-place https://github.com/judge2020/cloudflare-connectivity-test/wi...
dsl 5y ago
The worst thing Google did was put the highest potential source of new revenue (GSuite) and the product losing the most money (GCP) under the same executive and tie their compensation to performance. The former gets milked in every was possible rather than what would make the most sense as an individual business unit.
- mooreds 5y ago
  While I don't disagree that this wasn't helpful to GSuite, it is simply cross-subsidization in pursuit of a higher goal and a bigger strategic threat (AWS/Azure).
ac29 5y ago
According to Google, they havent offered free GSuite accounts since 2012: https://support.google.com/a/answer/2855120?hl=en https://support.google.com/a/answer/2855120?hl=en. Grandfathering in old ones for a decade after that seems about as generous as businesses get.
gowld 5y ago
12 years is longer than most startup free tiers. Longer than most startups.

Free until it isn't. If anyone could eat the cost of a free tier it would be Google but they decided that the Google apps for business free tier has to go after 12+ years.

mooreds 5y ago

Sure, but you can get great use of it for a long time, as long as they judge the viral growth outweighs the possible revenue they could get. I'd be more worried about the VC funding they've taken ($15M according to crunchbase). It may take years, but eventually, somehow, VCs will need to get their money back. That may be an IPO and then public market scrutiny, it may be acquisition, but if the company is a going concern, the VCs will want ROI.

scarface74 5y ago
I’ve only known one company that was customer focused that wasn’t ruined by VC funding - Backblaze.
judge2020 5y ago
Cloudflare, which went public in 2019, has done pretty well with their free tier, with their reasoning being[0]: > Our free customers create scale, serve as efficient brand marketing, and help us attract developers, customers, and potential employees... So for as long as they note that free Tailscale users are worthwhile for how they are effectively free marketing and attract clientele, it shouldn't be a problem. Tailscale doesn't proxy traffic either so the overhead of having free tier customers shouldn't be huge. 0: https://github.com/judge2020/cloudflare-connectivity-test/wiki/Explanation#why-is-there-a-free-tier-in-the-first-place https://github.com/judge2020/cloudflare-connectivity-test/wi...

dsl 5y ago

The worst thing Google did was put the highest potential source of new revenue (GSuite) and the product losing the most money (GCP) under the same executive and tie their compensation to performance. The former gets milked in every was possible rather than what would make the most sense as an individual business unit.

mooreds 5y ago
While I don't disagree that this wasn't helpful to GSuite, it is simply cross-subsidization in pursuit of a higher goal and a bigger strategic threat (AWS/Azure).

ac29 5y ago

According to Google, they havent offered free GSuite accounts since 2012: https://support.google.com/a/answer/2855120?hl=en https://support.google.com/a/answer/2855120?hl=en. Grandfathering in old ones for a decade after that seems about as generous as businesses get.

gowld 5y ago

12 years is longer than most startup free tiers. Longer than most startups.