Why do a HN launch with "request an invite"?
This seems like a common anti-pattern.
This seems like a common anti-pattern.
Most of their visualizations - while useful in their own right - are pre-built reports that serve a different role than the flexible reporting capabilities in Heap (and Google Analytics et al).
We tried to include as much tangible product as is possible with an invite-only product.
My reaction anymore to consumer "sign-up required" sites or saas "request an invite" products is usually to close the tab, even if my interest is piqued.
I do believe that this used to be a powerful design pattern (Gmail, and as pointed out elsewhere Dropbox) but its prevalence has also become its undoing for me personally.
Start up founders often worry about becoming too popular too quickly -- when usually they should be worried about not becoming popular fast enough.
They may just not have the infrastructure to support a widely available service yet.
Good point, thus those customers might be "load test" and "POC" and not necessarily paying...
Just that on my first post I saw "customers" thinking they may have been more traditional customers.
But after being informed they were YC - it made sense they were more likely load-test and POC customers that help participate in the product evolution.