Don't give access to your beta for free, swap it

blog.frontapp.com

16 points·mathouc··10 comments

This is a pretty stupid idea. I'm already helping you by trying out your buggy beta.

So much tunnel vision. Why is there a huge fixed header and footer?

All the commenters people saying that beta tester are doing you a favour and sending this is unreasonable are (imo) missing the point. This is a fun way to make beta users feel connected. It makes it feel kind of like beta testing for a friend.

"This is a fun way to make beta users feel connected. Its kind of like beta testing for a friend if you swap them."

I agree with you completely. I think that the dismissive comments are missing the fact that Front's customers are other startups. This technique would probably have been less successful if their product focused on consumers.

I don't really understand why everyone is pooh-poohing this; it's just a more creative way to rate-limit their signups than relying on the usual "you are number 123 on the beta invite list".

This doesn't seem like a very reasonable idea. The entire point of beta testing is to fix bugs. The beta testers don't owe you; they are doing you a favour if anything.

> Giving your product for free undermines its value.

Not if it's a fucking beta

It's a great idea. I want to swap something with you, are you still running this?

it's kind of similar to beerware: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beerware

Sounds like some kind of new socio-economic order

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