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Remember when they shafted the free plan, laid off some good people and redesigned their website to look like some garish notepad? Pepperidge Farm remembers...

by outlore 11mo ago

impulser_ 11mo ago
Yeah, and they became an actual profitable tech company which is extremely rare today.
- rajatkulk 11mo ago
  Um well, they shouldn't have done that. "If it means they go broke and need to shut down for me to keep having my free tier DB for 3 tables and 2 users, so be it, go broke"
- bigyabai 11mo ago
  Wanna say I heard someone defend Oracle with this line of logic, a while ago.
gdulli 11mo ago
Sounds horrible. Trying to think of another tech company that scaled down a free offering or laid off staff. Coming up empty.
samlambert 11mo ago
I remember. It was a very painful moment for everyone involved. I still miss the people who aren't here anymore. I am not happy that it happened but I am also I am very glad to be at a profitable company. I get to work at a company that is growing sustainably surrounded by people I admire. I love our customers and I think in the long run people will root for a company that isn't just lighting money on fire at the alter of fake growth. Either way I don't care what you remember or think.
- outlore 11mo ago
  My apologies for sounding bitter. You stated you don't care what I think. Just wanted to say though that i've admired you and your company for a long time. I participated in user interviews so I could score one of your famous hats. I submitted copious feedback. I was an evangelist for branching workflows and recommended several colleagues to your product. I watched all the talks, interviews and devrel videos. I'm glad you are doing better now as a company, but as naive as it may be, I guess I would love to see an example of a company that consistently put people over profits, that is all
  - samlambert 11mo ago
    [flagged]
    - prussia 11mo ago
      > if you liked the company or product so much why would you take shots like that? Key word here is "liked". Seems like OP liked the company when it had a free tier, and no longer does after it axed the tier. They don't owe your company anything, in the same way your company doesn't owe anything to the non-paying "customers" it stopped subsidising. No foul play by either party. I wouldn't take it too personally.
    - mping 11mo ago
      Jesus dude,just say it was a mistake to call it free forever. How can you be a founder or whatever, have a product and not expect people to judge the words your website had, or the words you say? You should know it comes with the territory. Doesn't matter how hard you guys worked to be profitable, it's about building trust and relationship with your audience.
      - dardeaup 11mo ago
        He's horribly blind to this. His arrogance and ego prevent him from doing the right thing.
  - 11mo ago
undefuser 11mo ago
Can you share the Pepperidge Farm story?

Remember when they shafted the free plan, laid off some good people and redesigned their website to look like some garish notepad? Pepperidge Farm remembers...

by outlore 11mo ago

Remember when they shafted the free plan, laid off some good people and redesigned their website to look like some garish notepad? Pepperidge Farm remembers...

impulser_ 11mo ago

Yeah, and they became an actual profitable tech company which is extremely rare today.

rajatkulk 11mo ago
Um well, they shouldn't have done that. "If it means they go broke and need to shut down for me to keep having my free tier DB for 3 tables and 2 users, so be it, go broke"
bigyabai 11mo ago
Wanna say I heard someone defend Oracle with this line of logic, a while ago.

gdulli 11mo ago

Sounds horrible. Trying to think of another tech company that scaled down a free offering or laid off staff. Coming up empty.

samlambert 11mo ago

I remember. It was a very painful moment for everyone involved. I still miss the people who aren't here anymore. I am not happy that it happened but I am also I am very glad to be at a profitable company. I get to work at a company that is growing sustainably surrounded by people I admire. I love our customers and I think in the long run people will root for a company that isn't just lighting money on fire at the alter of fake growth. Either way I don't care what you remember or think.

outlore 11mo ago
My apologies for sounding bitter. You stated you don't care what I think. Just wanted to say though that i've admired you and your company for a long time. I participated in user interviews so I could score one of your famous hats. I submitted copious feedback. I was an evangelist for branching workflows and recommended several colleagues to your product. I watched all the talks, interviews and devrel videos. I'm glad you are doing better now as a company, but as naive as it may be, I guess I would love to see an example of a company that consistently put people over profits, that is all
- samlambert 11mo ago
  [flagged]
  - prussia 11mo ago
    > if you liked the company or product so much why would you take shots like that? Key word here is "liked". Seems like OP liked the company when it had a free tier, and no longer does after it axed the tier. They don't owe your company anything, in the same way your company doesn't owe anything to the non-paying "customers" it stopped subsidising. No foul play by either party. I wouldn't take it too personally.
  - mping 11mo ago
    Jesus dude,just say it was a mistake to call it free forever. How can you be a founder or whatever, have a product and not expect people to judge the words your website had, or the words you say? You should know it comes with the territory. Doesn't matter how hard you guys worked to be profitable, it's about building trust and relationship with your audience.
    - dardeaup 11mo ago
      He's horribly blind to this. His arrogance and ego prevent him from doing the right thing.
- 11mo ago

undefuser 11mo ago

Can you share the Pepperidge Farm story?