Comments on: Fact: You Can Sell Online Services

By: David Beckemeyer

David Beckemeyer — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 05:27:17 +0000

Regarding “if [twitter] charged $1/month” I’d bet that the amount is not the main issue - the overhead of another billing relationship is too much for a large percent of their users, whether it’s $1 or $5 or $25. Same for facebook.

Given that the measure of success is an “exit”, most likely in the form of acquisition, the VCs cannot be charged with making a mistake (yet). If Ebay never gets their $4b worth out of Skype, VCs still win (they already won). Given how many of these companies have been sold BEFORE revenue, of course VCs are going to seek out more such sweet deals. So what if some of those companies fail (particularly if they don’t fail until AFTER they’re acquired). As long as these kinds of startups keep getting sold off for silly amounts, the VCs will keep investing in them. Who can blame them.

By: abusinessman

abusinessman — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 01:55:20 +0000

Since the free online classified is getting popular, many business owners are seeking every single free marketing channel to help boost the sale, http://www.boxforyou.com is another free classifieds site like craigslist, allow you to buy & sell new or used goods, look for a car or job, find local events… promote your business, and you can do it all for free!

By: Mark Evans

Mark Evans — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 01:19:33 +0000

Cyndy,

I guess the question is what will people pay for online. How many people, for example, would leave Twitter if it charged $1/month to send more than three direct messages?

By: Cyndy Aleo-Carreira

Cyndy Aleo-Carreira — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 01:10:14 +0000

It’s true, Mark, and I also think that Google has played a huge part in it as well. When I was first blogging, I used Blogger Pro. I’m one of those folks who paid and got a sweatshirt for my trouble. There used to be an expectation that you’d pay for an application or service you really liked. I paid for my feed reader because I love it and I can do more with it than I can with any free service out there. But that’s becoming “old school” now as people move from one shiny thing to the next.

By: Mark Evans

Mark Evans — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:10:14 +0000

Cyndy,

Unfortunately, too many people don’t see the value in paying for online services - even if these services are superior and more feature rich.

By: Cyndy Aleo-Carreira

Cyndy Aleo-Carreira — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:06:27 +0000

Mark, I disagree.

Look at how many copycat services launch every week. The mentality of the users is “I don’t NEED to pay for it” because they know that another VC is going to fund a company right behind the Twitter or the Facebook that they can jump to if someone starts charging. With the “build it now, figure out money later” mantra, they have fostered a culture where the expectation is that everything should be free.

SmugMug is an exception rather than the rule in this space, and I think that Hank Williams is right; we are going to see an awful lot of fails until the situation rights itself again.