I currently have 0 users
I am building an AI SaaS, Cheatsheet (https://cheatsheet.to)
Currently, I have planned to onboard only paid users at a small price of $2/month/user
And avoid free users from the fear of them diverting my feedback loop in the wrong direction
But yesterday, a user said that he wanted the product a lot, but is broke and can't pay
As I have 0 users, and no one for any feedback, should I onboard him? Or avoid?
That said, if you have 0 users and want feedback you may need to take what you can get.
These are ways to gate your product while still being able to provide users with a way to experience and validate it for free. I hope this helps
If this is AI, presumably you're farming out to OpenAI or Anthropic or something, which would cost you some money right? $2/month really isn't much money, and I think giving unrestricted free access sets a bad precedent and will make it harder to make money in the future.
I think it might make sense to have a generally-available one month free trial though. That way, you can get some users to give you feedback without making special exceptions for individuals.