
Web Revenue Models - stickhandle
https://hackpad.com/EgXuEtSibE7#Web-And-Mobile-Revenue-Models-%28final%29
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IsaacL
There's a best practice acronym for creating lists like this - MECE: mutually
exclusive, collectively exhaustive.

I'm not sure this list passes the "mutually exclusive" test - for example,
eBay fits into both the "marketplace" and "auction" category. "Freemium SaaS"
is clearly a strict subset of "SaaS". Might seem like a minor quibble, but a
categorisation system isn't very useful if the categories are all jumbled up.

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stfu
I am wondering how you really apply MECE in a complex environment like this.
Any suggestions on how to adjust the list so it becomes MECE?

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IsaacL
I'm not sure. One first step would be to define whether you're talking about
simply _revenue models_ or _business models_. (I see revenue models as how you
make money, wheras business models also incorporate elements like marketing.
So "freemium" is a business model but not a revenue model, because being
freemium doesn't make you money, but it does help you find customers).

I'd probably focus on pure "revenue models" as they're easier to define. Then
you can ask: who pays you (all your users / some of your users / someone other
than your users), how often do they pay you, and how much do they pay you? The
benefit of this scheme is you can plot different revenue models on a
2-dimensional or 3-dimensional graph. Eg, if all of your users regularly pay
you a little, you have a B2C subscription business. If someone other than your
users occasionally pays you a lot, it's likely you're selling user data or
high-end advertising. If your users pay you a one-off, medium amount, it's
likely you're in ecommerce or equivalent.

I'd also look at the most frequently used revenue models first, because I
think people are sometimes tempted to find "innovative" ways of making money
when boring old banner ads would do better. Advertising, subscriptions and
selling physical or virtual products seem to be the most proven business
models. Affiliate marketing or transaction fees can work, but they're harder
to pull off. Stuff like "selling user data", contrary to popular belief, only
works if you really know what you're doing (I briefly worked on one of those
"subscription food service" ideas with the bright idea of selling customer
feedback data - turns out there's a ton of enterprise companies like BrandView
already selling far more detailed customer data).

That kind of info is more useful imo because it actually helps people figure
out a model that's more likely to work.

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pessimism
I hope you don’t mind, but I couldn’t stand reading that list and cleaned it
up in a gist instead: <http://pygm.us/cjvjHnCi>.

The list itself is amazing and just what I have been looking for, though. :)

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stickhandle
Credit should go to avc.com's Fred Wilson
([http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2012/12/mba-mondays-revenue-
models.h...](http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2012/12/mba-mondays-revenue-models.html))
... this provides a good map.

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SonicSoul
he posted it himself. <https://hackpad.com/ep/profile/-2QvfuRcguKs4h2YzNropQf>

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tinco
Do these revenue models need to be sustainable? I noticed 'Donations' is
missing. An example could be Wikipedia, which afaik has donations as only
revenue.

Some other opensource projects also fund parts of their development through
donations, either from businesses or consumers.

It won't make you rich, but it might bootstrap you into some better revenue
model.

Also awesome list, definitely saved for later :)

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kmfrk
Wikipedia is in the list - under "Subscription", whatever that means. :)

It says the last update was five days ago, so I take it that you missed it.
Either that or the "last update" feature is borked.

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tinco
Eh oh that's strange, I didn't expect it to be under subscriptions so I just
glossed over it I guess.

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kmfrk
I can't really wrap my head around why the list is entitled (final). More like
(abandoned). :P

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kjhughes
Fred Wilson explains in his blog post,

[http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2012/11/mba-mondays-the-revenue-
mode...](http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2012/11/mba-mondays-the-revenue-model-
hackpad.html)

that he wanted this "final" version to be edited by invitation only and wasn't
sure how to make the change to the original version.

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ghc
The page seems totally broken in Android. They need to turn off that "join the
conversation" modal.

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feplusce
Trying to add something without logging in, it lets me type a few letters and
then I keep getting this really annoying pop-up. Either allow people to edit
without login or don't. This teasing is really frustrating.

Anybody can edit Wikipedia without logging in, why not this?

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bconway
I don't know if this is an actual discussion or a "launch" for a site, but
using page down just bounces you back to the top of the page. (Chrome beta, OS
X).

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verysofttoilet
Which ones have a higher revenueAmount/effortPutIn ratio?

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smartwater
The amount of effort you have to put in is going to be different than someone
else. It would be a much better idea to choose something you are familiar
with. Something you can can get excited about.

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verysofttoilet
That is good advice but, I'm interested in knowing, which revenue models are
known for generating higher amounts of money, generalising and removing the
specificities of the people who might be implementing the model.

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rhizome
You and everybody else are interested in that. However, if that knowledge
existed the list would probably be a lot smaller.

