

When is a right time to start monetizing a web app? - stulogy

Hi,
I'm new to HN, so I'll quickly introduce myself - I'm Stu, a web developer and designer from the UK.<p>I am starting a family of web apps which are supposed to be really easy to use tools for freelancers and small businesses. Project Bubble (http://www.projectbubble.com) and Invoice Bubble (http://www.invoicebubble.com - it's younger brother which is hasn't been launched yet).<p>At the moment Project Bubble is free, and has been since it launched in November. It's getting a lot of great reviews, probably mostly because it's very fluid in its development and I'm constantly bringing out cool updates. It's also very popular because it's free.<p>Obviously I can't keep it this way because I want to introduce SSL, Trustee certification, and work full time for the business. I want to launch a monthly billing plan for premium use but I'm not sure how to charge (though I have some ideas such as limiting the amount of projects). Most importantly though, I'm not sure when to charge.<p>A friend of mine who is an entrepreneur from DC (and avid HN reader) suggests that I just start charging now, even though my 'power users' are only about 10% of the nearly 3000 users that I have, and they are the ones bringing the buzz in. If I start charging that 10% will they carry on raving on about how great the product is? If they don't then I lose a lot of my marketing.<p>Any advice would be appreciated.<p>Thank you<p>Stu
@stulogy
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stulogy
Hiya, Well yes you could say that there are definately features worth charging
for. The fact you can manage unlimited projects, assign tasks to
collaborators, upload files to projects and submit invoices for those projects
are all features that could be charged for. I don't think its right to take
some features out for 'standard' users and only allow 'pro' users to use them
because the features are dependent on each other in my opinion. So the best
thing to do is limit the use, to say 10 projects and invoices.

Thanks for the comment.

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icey
I don't think there's anything wrong with basing your payment plans on the
number of projects. Lots of companies do that with great success.

Do you have many users who already have more than 10 projects? How will you
handle transitioning to payments for them? It might be worthwhile to give them
N months of free premium access to thank them for using your site.

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stulogy
Yes, I like this idea. I think that users love being valued, and feeling
special. I would offer a killer deal to those that have been 'power users'
since the beginning as they have contributed a lot to the success of the app.

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eraad
Additionally to "Getting Real", I strongly recommend you reading "Just don't
roll the dice: a usefully short guide to software pricing". It's free:

<http://www.neildavidson.com/dontjustrollthedice.html>

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stulogy
Wow really useful. Thanks for this, it will make good bedtime reading tonight.
:-)

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icey
Do you have features that you could be charging for? If the answer is yes then
you should probably be charging for them.

If you haven't read "Getting Real" by 37signals, it might be worth your time
to spend an hour or two reading it. 37signals are big advocates of charging
ASAP, and it seems to have worked out pretty well for them.

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donna
My suggestion would be to introduce payment by 1) allow a set of usage free
(e.g. up to 10 forms) 2) create individual small payments for each use (e.g.
after cost 3¢ ea. initial start charge is $20 until $20 is used up) 3) offer
monthly subscription based on unlimited usage

Treat it similar to the Virtual Goods model.

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stulogy
Interesting. I suppose you could buy credits, similar to Skype. I think people
might get a bit frustrated though having to purchase additional project. I
like the KISS ethos, so having a Free and Premium option certainly makes
things a lot more simple.

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Ras_
Sooner than later.

