Having a conversation with a prospect where the product is hypothetically free is different from giving your product away. One example: some prospects won't use

Having a conversation with a prospect where the product is hypothetically free is different from giving your product away. One example: some prospects won't use a product in their business unless it's supported (and they assume if it's free that they won't get reliable support). Giving it away won't allow you to assess how they value it. Also, as a rule of thumb it's easier to drop prices over time than raise them. See "The Penny Gap" for another perspective on the difficulty of starting free and charging later: http://redeye.firstround.com/2007/03/the_first_penny.html http://redeye.firstround.com/2007/03/the_first_penny.html