I'm curious, do you always launch your products with subscriptions first?
I've thus far ignored the common indie hacker advice of "launch with a one-time payment then MAYBE move to subscriptions" just because I find the one-time payment thing not very motivating.
In other words, if someone only pays once and expects me to update the app forever, I want to get paid for each additional update and not get taken advantage of. I suppose when I was growing up I was taught "never ever work for free" and giving away a lifetime of updates feels a lot like working for free, so it just feels "wrong."
The one exception has been #simpleotp where I have people pay once for the source code. But the expectation there is that there's only basic support provided and they need to host everything themselves, so it hasn't really been much of a burden.
Come to think of it, I think it also comes across as dishonest to offer lifetime deals. I mean, I can barely predict what I'm doing over the next 5 years let alone the next 50 years.
When I'm 83 and (probably) have a declining mental state, am I really going to want to or be able to ship features for someone I promised a lifetime deal to 50 years ago? I think not heh
I'm curious, do you always launch your products with subscriptions first?
I've thus far ignored the common indie hacker advice of "launch with a one-time payment then MAYBE move to subscriptions" just because I find the one-time payment thing not very motivating.
In other words, if someone only pays once and expects me to update the app forever, I want to get paid for each additional update and not get taken advantage of. I suppose when I was growing up I was taught "never ever work for free" and giving away a lifetime of updates feels a lot like working for free, so it just feels "wrong."
The one exception has been
#simpleotp where I have people pay once for the source code. But the expectation there is that there's only basic support provided and they need to host everything themselves, so it hasn't really been much of a burden.
Yeah I don't do lifetime deals. I think it attracts the wrong customer (= wrong product feedback) and sets the wrong incentives.
Come to think of it, I think it also comes across as dishonest to offer lifetime deals. I mean, I can barely predict what I'm doing over the next 5 years let alone the next 50 years.
When I'm 83 and (probably) have a declining mental state, am I really going to want to or be able to ship features for someone I promised a lifetime deal to 50 years ago? I think not heh