Our thinking is that it's an efficient way to grow responsibly while still gathering user feedback early and often.
We tried to include as much tangible product as is possible with an invite-only product.
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.