4 ms·

Just an FYI: This is not the mental model of people who actually pay money for software. I've been at the table where Balsamiq has been purchased before. Here

by patio11 15y ago

Just an FYI: This is not the mental model of people who actually pay money for software. I've been at the table where Balsamiq has been purchased before. Here's a conversation I've had three times. Me: So here's my concept for a redesign of the $FOO page. You'll notice that I moved the conversion buttons to ... Engineer: Oh that's cool. What did you do that in? Me: Balsamiq Mockups. It is a design tool written by a buddy of mine which... Engineer: How much? (and/or Why not just use Photoshop? and/or You didn't pay for that, did you? You can do it in Excel.) Decisionmaker: Doesn't matter. Get a copy for everyone, put it on the company card. You were saying, Patrick? [Addendum regarding strategic use of freebies: Peldi emailed me a license key when asking for a review way back in like 2007. I don't think I ever actually blogged a formal review, but that email has been a big win for both of us over the years. He's got a Marketing For Startups blog post where he discusses that technique in detail. It's still one of the best actionable posts I've ever read. http://blogs.balsamiq.com/product/2008/08/05/startup-marketing-advice-from-balsamiq-studios/ http://blogs.balsamiq.com/product/2008/08/05/startup-marketi... ]

izak30 15y ago
Thank you for constantly bringing reason to this type of comment on HN. I don't read names first for some reason, but reading this, I thought to myself, "heh, sounds like Patrick". You're consistently great.
- dschobel 15y ago
  I appreciate Patrick's intent and mission to get engineers to value their wares more but I don't think his anecdote makes the most compelling argument. For a counter-anecdote, I will say that in +10 years of a software career I have never, not even once, seen a "decision maker" say anything near "Doesn't matter. Get a copy for everyone, put it on the company card." ¥ ¥ Most likely because that would be a stupid and reckless thing to say.
  - tptacek 15y ago
    The presumption is that a piece of wireframe-sketching software that a consultant has brought on their laptop is not going to cost enough to be worth talking about.
  - msellout 15y ago
    It happened to me recently. A large team found that Dropbox made things easier. The program manager told everyone to buy themselves the 50MB subscription and expense it.
  - king_magic 15y ago
    I have seen it several times. And it's not stupid/reckless - it's incredibly helpful to have someone who sees the value in a tool willing to purchase it for their employees.
shantanubala 15y ago
Excellent explanation! It's also really obvious marketing -- Balsamiq now has exposure on a site that is its target market. Every visitor to the UX StackExchange is a potential customer, so it makes perfect business sense to integrate. As soon as someone thinks, "I wonder where I can make mockups like those really cool-looking ones on StackExchange?" Balsamiq wins.

by patio11 15y ago

izak30 15y ago

Thank you for constantly bringing reason to this type of comment on HN. I don't read names first for some reason, but reading this, I thought to myself, "heh, sounds like Patrick". You're consistently great.

dschobel 15y ago
I appreciate Patrick's intent and mission to get engineers to value their wares more but I don't think his anecdote makes the most compelling argument. For a counter-anecdote, I will say that in +10 years of a software career I have never, not even once, seen a "decision maker" say anything near "Doesn't matter. Get a copy for everyone, put it on the company card." ¥ ¥ Most likely because that would be a stupid and reckless thing to say.
- tptacek 15y ago
  The presumption is that a piece of wireframe-sketching software that a consultant has brought on their laptop is not going to cost enough to be worth talking about.
- msellout 15y ago
  It happened to me recently. A large team found that Dropbox made things easier. The program manager told everyone to buy themselves the 50MB subscription and expense it.
- king_magic 15y ago
  I have seen it several times. And it's not stupid/reckless - it's incredibly helpful to have someone who sees the value in a tool willing to purchase it for their employees.

shantanubala 15y ago

Excellent explanation! It's also really obvious marketing -- Balsamiq now has exposure on a site that is its target market. Every visitor to the UX StackExchange is a potential customer, so it makes perfect business sense to integrate. As soon as someone thinks, "I wonder where I can make mockups like those really cool-looking ones on StackExchange?" Balsamiq wins.