Comments on: Time to Fade 'Freemium' and 'Biz Dev'?

By: Alexander van Elsas

Alexander van Elsas — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:51:42 +0000

Thanks Howard, next time you’re in the center of the world I’ll buy you a coffee :-)

By: howard lindzon

howard lindzon — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 11:31:03 +0000

With you on this alexander and also amsterdam is the center of the world

By: Alexander van Elsas

Alexander van Elsas — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:37:12 +0000

Hi Howard,

The web 2.0 free (but ad-based) business model is fundamentally flawed. It is fuelled from the wrong side. Not from the user value but from the network value side. It leads to walled gardens, and ad based network monetization. IN the end such a business model will fail. It is much better to go for a user value business model. Users will pay for value (although they have been severely spoiled by the “free” model). The million $ question is which service provider and which investor is willing to take on the current business model and start monetizing user value?

By: Raanan Bar-Cohen

Raanan Bar-Cohen — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 04:33:21 +0000

@ howard — your plan worked !

But seriously, I do think the freemium model is working well for some companies out there like 37signals & flickr, and they would tell you that their growth is directly attributable to the free sampling strategy.

For companies going free all the way, aggregating eyeballs and hoping to monetize via advertising is clearly a model that is attractive especially given how difficult it has been for some traditional media companies to attract large audiences online.

My bet is that you’ll see more companies using a mixed model of freemium & ad monetization to keep revenues diversified and to be able to offer tiered services to different kinds of customers.

By: Howard Lindzon

Howard Lindzon — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 04:16:46 +0000

wordpress was a bad example actually and I know ranaan well so was just egging him on.

i think you all know what I mean though.

damn post cost me $240 bucks.

By: Scoble: Whoever Designed This Product Should Be Fired! (re:Kindle) »TechAddress

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 03:59:51 +0000

[...] Lindzon wrote a fairly straightforward and blunt post about “Freemium“ and “Business Development” yesterday that I would have to mostly agree [...]

By: michael galpert

michael galpert — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 03:55:07 +0000

i agree with you howard that there are too many companies that are trying to build something cool and hoping ppl will pay later. but i also agree with raanan that if wordpress would have charged people from day one they wouldnt have the great ecosystem of developers who have made wordpress as a whole better. Therefore I dont know if wordpress is a good example of why freemium should die.
maybe all those free hosting sites are better examples.

By: I Want My Slice of the Pie: A Look at Startups and Ad Spending »TechAddress

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 03:32:17 +0000

[...] Lindzon wrote a fairly straightforward and blunt post about “Freemium“ and “Business Development” yesterday that I would have to mostly agree [...]

By: Herman’s Eyeball War

Herman’s Eyeball War — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 03:31:42 +0000

[...] response to to a rant by Howard Lindzon, Darren throws some numbers at startup entrepreneurs which should have them retooling their [...]

By: Howard Lindzon

Howard Lindzon — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 20:45:08 +0000

i think someone from wordprss or your list should be calling me and offering me insight. There has to be a way to make me a CUSTOMER as james outlines above and not just a user.