

How Divvy got to #1 on reddit for just $14 - dot
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/ckcbr/mizage_a_small_development_company_that_made/

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jasonkester
Always do this.

If you sell software, your marginal cost to produce one more unit is zero. I
give away free licenses to all the products I sell to pretty much anybody who
takes the time to write with a hardship story.

Usually, you just gain one devoted fan for life who will tell everybody he
knows how cool you are for hooking him up with a free license. Every once in a
while you score big like these guys did.

And incidentally, the title of this post is wrong. At no point did Divvy spend
$14 or even pass up the opportunity to earn $14. The total cost of this for
them was the time taken to write that email.

~~~
generalk
I'm curious, does this ever snowball into a bunch of people emailing in with
hardship stories asking for free licenses? It seems like it would, and that's
the standard counter-argument: "If we give it to you, we have to give it to
anyone, and once people realize that licenses are free if you email us, we'll
never sell another copy."

~~~
jasonkester
The awesome thing about running your own business is that you don't _have_ to
do anything if you don't want to.

I make a point of giving out free Twiddla subscriptions for educational uses
(on the assumption that students eventually become young executives who have
to sit in a conference room while people in suits waste an entire hour trying
to get WebEx to work _at all_ , and might theoretically chime in about this
cool online thing they used in school that just plain works.)

Anyway, that promise is in writing on the website, and I get to field a dozen
requests a day (and the subsequent stream of thank you mails that come back),
but every once in a while somebody will write in asking for a free license to
run their online tutoring business. I don't feel bad at all pointing those
folks to our API page and explaining how they can get their site up and
running as soon as they buy a subscription.

So no, if you give it to one person you don't have to give it to everybody
else.

~~~
anamax
> So no, if you give it to one person you don't have to give it to everybody
> else.

However, if you give it to someone, you have to give (same) it to the US govt.

It's illegal to charge the US govt more than you charge anyone else.

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olalonde
If this was a PR stunt, thumbs up. If it wasn't... thumbs up anyway :)

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dot
Direct link to screenshot: <http://i.imgur.com/rejpI.png>

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sharpemt
A request for student pricing to Panic was denied last March :(

It would be awesome if more smaller dev companies remembered what it was like
to be college students.

<http://imgur.com/46bQA.png>

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anoved
Divvy seems like a neat utility, too, at least for my taste in window
management tools. I've been using Cinch (drag windows to top or sides of
screen to cinch to full or half screen size -
<http://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/cinch/>), but I think I'll give Divvy a
try.

~~~
LiveTheDream
SizeUp (also by irradiatedsoftware) is like cinch but with hotkeys instead of
mouse management. It handles full, split, vsplit, quarters, multi-monitor, and
multi-"space". I've been using it for a while now.

Divvy has an edge with the customizable zones; the 66/33 split from the video
is a good example. SizeUp has the edge by being 100% usable mouse-free OOTB.

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hugothefrog
So, that's a pretty cool story. The feedback loop on these sorts of things is
insane. Does anyone have any anecdotes of this sort of thing that don't result
in #1 on reddit (or something similar!).

Also - does anyone know of a program that does this for Windows?

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briancooley
It's masterful negotiation once you realize that the user had already
demonstrated that $9 had more utility than the time it took to write the
email. Further, he demonstrated loyalty to the product and a lack of shame.
Sounds like the perfect WOM advertiser.

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chwahoo
Was the original emailer telling Divvy that he won't pay $14 dollars for
something that continues to have pop-up ads? Or was he saying he can't pay the
$14 dollars (and the price was quoted on a pop-up)?

~~~
qeorge
Apparently the only difference between the unregistered and registered
versions is a pop-up. The OP was telling Divvy that removing the pop-up was
worth $5 to him, but not $14.

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jluxenberg
Can someone explain to me how giving away "free" licences with strings
attached is good PR? Makes me skeptical of the integrity of someone
recommending their product.

~~~
seabee
The good PR comes from harnessing somebody's enthusiasm for the product (how
many people have you ever seen bother to make this kind of contact?) rather
than turning them towards the 'Buy' page and ending it there.

The guy could easily have taken the licence and done nothing. Instead, he got
it to #1 on reddit. Seems like a good PR move to me.

