April 2nd, 2020
I'm moving towards a freemium model with Pigeon.
I'm going against a lot of advice from people I know. A lot of people are telling me it's a bad idea.
If I didn't go freemium, then my MRR would probably not have dropped in the last couple of weeks.
It's a bit scary - I haven't had an upgrade in over a week now.
I have a whole new set of problems to figure out, like better onboarding, figuring out how to convert free users, and loads of more problems that I don't even know I have yet.
The reality is that I don't know what I don't know.
So why go freemium? After working on the project for a year and seeing a lot of things (customers, acquisition, competitors, the market), I honestly just have a "gut feeling" it's the right move. That's it. I wish I had a better answer.
There is a very good chance that I'm wrong.
I find it exciting though - I feel that it is a big step for my growth as a founder and how to build a software company.
I listened to a podcast with Ajay Goel - founder of Gmass - and one of the reasons he has done what he's done is because of his aspirations to have an impact on the world, and how that shows through his businesses.
I very much relate to that.
You can build a successful company that has 10 customers. You can also build an unsuccessful company that has 1M customers. Which one is better? I'm not saying one of them is, but I know that I personally would prefer the latter.
Why? One reason is that I get excited about what I would learn while building a business for 1M customers. It sounds like the "unknown" - maybe I won't like it? I don't know, but I have to find out.
It's a bit hard for me to put into words why all of this, and it helps to write it, but maybe it comes down to my ego. I want to have that "impact", I want to be "known".
It's just that I'm not really all that interested in building an indie business, getting successful, and then going on autopilot and sitting by the beach.
I see what I'm doing now as a vehicle/"experience" for my future - when I'm 35, and when I'm 40, and when I'm 50.
-
(these are developing thoughts, more to come soon hopefully)
I'm going against a lot of advice from people I know. A lot of people are telling me it's a bad idea.
If I didn't go freemium, then my MRR would probably not have dropped in the last couple of weeks.
It's a bit scary - I haven't had an upgrade in over a week now.
I have a whole new set of problems to figure out, like better onboarding, figuring out how to convert free users, and loads of more problems that I don't even know I have yet.
The reality is that I don't know what I don't know.
So why go freemium? After working on the project for a year and seeing a lot of things (customers, acquisition, competitors, the market), I honestly just have a "gut feeling" it's the right move. That's it. I wish I had a better answer.
There is a very good chance that I'm wrong.
I find it exciting though - I feel that it is a big step for my growth as a founder and how to build a software company.
I listened to a podcast with Ajay Goel - founder of Gmass - and one of the reasons he has done what he's done is because of his aspirations to have an impact on the world, and how that shows through his businesses.
I very much relate to that.
You can build a successful company that has 10 customers. You can also build an unsuccessful company that has 1M customers. Which one is better? I'm not saying one of them is, but I know that I personally would prefer the latter.
Why? One reason is that I get excited about what I would learn while building a business for 1M customers. It sounds like the "unknown" - maybe I won't like it? I don't know, but I have to find out.
It's a bit hard for me to put into words why all of this, and it helps to write it, but maybe it comes down to my ego. I want to have that "impact", I want to be "known".
It's just that I'm not really all that interested in building an indie business, getting successful, and then going on autopilot and sitting by the beach.
I see what I'm doing now as a vehicle/"experience" for my future - when I'm 35, and when I'm 40, and when I'm 50.
-
(these are developing thoughts, more to come soon hopefully)