5 ms·

Just how many $10 /MOS subscriptions do startups expect us to sign up for?

13 points by jaggs 1y ago

Lately it seems like we're drowning in a tidal wave of new products, all expecting $10+ a month as subs. Is this really sustainable in the long run? Or am I missing something?

Oras 1y ago
Are you concerned that startups will not be able to continue with these cheap subscriptions, or because you have to pay $10/product?
- bhag2066 1y ago
  Not the OP but I personally would be interested in people's perspective on the # of $10 subscriptions the average person can sustain. Using Fermi estimation, is it: 1, 10, 100? I would say 1 because I don't believe businesses can create enough value (save them time or money) for the average person to justify spending $100/month on subscriptions. Another thought is how CISO's found themselves with 20 cyber subscriptions and found themselves wanting to consolidated down. So I would make this the absolute upper limit. So I have somewhere between 1-20 with the average across the consumer population being somewhere closer to 1 than 20. The implication being that there is a lot of pain coming for the long tail of startups trying to make it with a $10/month subscription model.
  - bhag2066 1y ago
    But hey, we're in a bubble so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  - mackenziebowes 1y ago
    Most startups are massively over capexed, yea. I think it’s still reasonable for solo devs or polymaths to shoot for solving small $5-$10/mo problems. Finding 1000 folks for $10/mo out of all 1,000,000,000 in anglosphere countries seems not hard, it just doesn’t make you a millionaire or afford staff.
owebmaster 1y ago
My expectation is that the LLM providers will also start to bill for the AI startups through their APIs
- chistev 1y ago
  They already do?
  - owebmaster 1y ago
    Yeah? Which one? You might not have understood what I meant
    - paulcole 1y ago
      As far as I know, OpenAI does charge for API usage. If that's not what you meant, clarify?
      - owebmaster 1y ago
        I meant OpenAI billing for me in the same charge, an external app integrating their API. So the user only pay once
        paulcole 1y ago
        I still don't follow you at all. The way I understand it is that: OpenAI bills people who use their API to build apps or whatever. OpenAI also bills people who use its non-API products (like ChatGPT). Am I missing something here or what is it that you dislike about this?
        stillatit 1y ago
        They're basically suggesting logging into a product with an OpenAI account and paying OpenAI directly for the product's AI usage. Presumably the product would get some cut of OpenAI's revenue. Like AI is the gas that powers the AI product. OpenAI sells the gas, the product gets commission. That was my understanding at least, since I've had the same thought.
runjake 1y ago
They don't think about it that way. They only think about you signing up for theirs.
jjice 1y ago
There's no requirement to maintain a subscription. Each individual should be making this decision for themselves based on the value they get from a service vs the cost. The broad "startups" in question are just businesses trying to sell a product. Not everyone is going to sign up, and not of those who do, most won't maintain their subscription forever. > Is this really sustainable in the long run? For who? For the startups? Maybe, depends on the value provided. For the users? Maybe, depends on if they feel they're getting value. I'm kind of confused as to what the question is really asking. Most people I know have a handful (making exception for things that have always been "subscription", like insurances): a streaming service or two, iCloud/Google One, and maybe a budgeting app or something more niche for a hobby of theirs. I'd argue that none of those are necessary, except maybe the cloud storage to retain information and backup their devices. User's can just vote with their wallets. As for it being sustainable for a startup: who cares - a good product will be worth paying for an it'll survive. (Hope the tone doesn't come off as rude, I'm just trying to shoot for brevity)
malfist 1y ago
$10/month is a lot. You have to be solving a very critical need for me to sign up for that. $3-$5, not that big of a deal, $8 I'll think about it. $10 better be a major benefit
farseer 1y ago
Most charge way more than 10/month. Most startups also die.
bruce511 1y ago
I feel like you're somewhat viewing this from the wrong direction. Let me paraphrase to make a point. I went into my supermarket yesterday. They have thousands of different products on the shelves. Worse, the products run out and I'm expected to come back next month and buy more. Is this sustainable? Do I have to buy one of everything every month? If you're drowning in new SaaS products then you're spending too much time looking at them. You're not expected to know most of them exist, much less subscribe. SaaS is no different to anything else. They are businesses selling products to customers. If you're drowning in those wait till I tell you how many shops want to sell you bread... (or how many species of bread there are.)
helij 1y ago
It's perfectly fine to ignore 99.999% of those. Whip out a script or an app that does exactly what you need without the bloat if viable. I subscribe to many newsletters and get loads of offers. I pretty much ignore all of them. Most of those $10/month tools are just clones of something or not useful at all in the trenches so to speak.
- pryelluw 1y ago
  Do you subscribe to any paid newsletters? If so, which? (If you don’t mind sharing)

13 points by jaggs 1y ago

Lately it seems like we're drowning in a tidal wave of new products, all expecting $10+ a month as subs. Is this really sustainable in the long run? Or am I missing something?

Oras 1y ago

Are you concerned that startups will not be able to continue with these cheap subscriptions, or because you have to pay $10/product?

bhag2066 1y ago
Not the OP but I personally would be interested in people's perspective on the # of $10 subscriptions the average person can sustain. Using Fermi estimation, is it: 1, 10, 100? I would say 1 because I don't believe businesses can create enough value (save them time or money) for the average person to justify spending $100/month on subscriptions. Another thought is how CISO's found themselves with 20 cyber subscriptions and found themselves wanting to consolidated down. So I would make this the absolute upper limit. So I have somewhere between 1-20 with the average across the consumer population being somewhere closer to 1 than 20. The implication being that there is a lot of pain coming for the long tail of startups trying to make it with a $10/month subscription model.
- bhag2066 1y ago
  But hey, we're in a bubble so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- mackenziebowes 1y ago
  Most startups are massively over capexed, yea. I think it’s still reasonable for solo devs or polymaths to shoot for solving small $5-$10/mo problems. Finding 1000 folks for $10/mo out of all 1,000,000,000 in anglosphere countries seems not hard, it just doesn’t make you a millionaire or afford staff.

owebmaster 1y ago

My expectation is that the LLM providers will also start to bill for the AI startups through their APIs

chistev 1y ago
They already do?
- owebmaster 1y ago
  Yeah? Which one? You might not have understood what I meant
  - paulcole 1y ago
    As far as I know, OpenAI does charge for API usage. If that's not what you meant, clarify?
    - owebmaster 1y ago
      I meant OpenAI billing for me in the same charge, an external app integrating their API. So the user only pay once
      - paulcole 1y ago
        I still don't follow you at all. The way I understand it is that: OpenAI bills people who use their API to build apps or whatever. OpenAI also bills people who use its non-API products (like ChatGPT). Am I missing something here or what is it that you dislike about this?
        stillatit 1y ago
        They're basically suggesting logging into a product with an OpenAI account and paying OpenAI directly for the product's AI usage. Presumably the product would get some cut of OpenAI's revenue. Like AI is the gas that powers the AI product. OpenAI sells the gas, the product gets commission. That was my understanding at least, since I've had the same thought.

runjake 1y ago

They don't think about it that way. They only think about you signing up for theirs.

jjice 1y ago

There's no requirement to maintain a subscription. Each individual should be making this decision for themselves based on the value they get from a service vs the cost. The broad "startups" in question are just businesses trying to sell a product. Not everyone is going to sign up, and not of those who do, most won't maintain their subscription forever. > Is this really sustainable in the long run? For who? For the startups? Maybe, depends on the value provided. For the users? Maybe, depends on if they feel they're getting value. I'm kind of confused as to what the question is really asking. Most people I know have a handful (making exception for things that have always been "subscription", like insurances): a streaming service or two, iCloud/Google One, and maybe a budgeting app or something more niche for a hobby of theirs. I'd argue that none of those are necessary, except maybe the cloud storage to retain information and backup their devices. User's can just vote with their wallets. As for it being sustainable for a startup: who cares - a good product will be worth paying for an it'll survive. (Hope the tone doesn't come off as rude, I'm just trying to shoot for brevity)

malfist 1y ago

$10/month is a lot. You have to be solving a very critical need for me to sign up for that. $3-$5, not that big of a deal, $8 I'll think about it. $10 better be a major benefit

farseer 1y ago

Most charge way more than 10/month. Most startups also die.

bruce511 1y ago

I feel like you're somewhat viewing this from the wrong direction. Let me paraphrase to make a point. I went into my supermarket yesterday. They have thousands of different products on the shelves. Worse, the products run out and I'm expected to come back next month and buy more. Is this sustainable? Do I have to buy one of everything every month? If you're drowning in new SaaS products then you're spending too much time looking at them. You're not expected to know most of them exist, much less subscribe. SaaS is no different to anything else. They are businesses selling products to customers. If you're drowning in those wait till I tell you how many shops want to sell you bread... (or how many species of bread there are.)

helij 1y ago

It's perfectly fine to ignore 99.999% of those. Whip out a script or an app that does exactly what you need without the bloat if viable. I subscribe to many newsletters and get loads of offers. I pretty much ignore all of them. Most of those $10/month tools are just clones of something or not useful at all in the trenches so to speak.

pryelluw 1y ago
Do you subscribe to any paid newsletters? If so, which? (If you don’t mind sharing)