When is a right time to start monetizing a web app? | Hacker News Reader

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

3 pointsstulogy9 comments

Hi, I'm new to HN, so I'll quickly introduce myself - I'm Stu, a web developer and designer from the UK.

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).

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.

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.

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.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you

Stu @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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Sooner than later.

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