On Dec 19, 2004, at 7:08 AM, John Rule wrote:
3. For your try-before-you-buy software, think addiction.
Sort of like a drug dealer...
Can we expect these same 'models' are going to be applied to your service?
Let us 'try it' (or you give it away for free), and we will pay for it if we
'feel' like it.
When people sign up for the Kagi service, a human at Kagi spends time reviewing their application and then we assist them in getting everything set up so that they can begin to attempt to sell their products. Plenty of other online stores like Kagi charge an initial setup fee because that setup process costs real money in the form of manhours. So yes, the same model is applied to our store. We give away the cost of reviewing new suppliers and getting them set up in the hopes that they will sell through us, and we will eventually earn money from the relationship. So yes, we do give a portion away for free, same as what I recommend for folks starting a software business.
I find it amazing that there are so many proponents of 'freeware', but they
are diligent in charging for their own services.
I'm not a proponent of freeware. I'm a proponent of trading what you have for what you need. When a software developer wants to build a software business, they have ideas, time, and programming expertise. They do not have marketshare or customers or an income stream. I am a proponent of trading ideas, time, and programming expertise for marketshare and then when the marketshare is high, converting that into customers and income stream. It's a marketing strategy that works quite well for people who do not have the funds that it takes to go the traditional route of getting products into shrinkwrap on store shelves, nor the funds to run massive advertising campaigns.
Programming is a service that needs to be paid for.
I totally agree that programming as a service needs to be paid for. We hire programmers and we pay for their services.
A software business is a different animal. I do not believe that it makes sense to complain when people do not pay for a product that they did not ask someone to build. A product is not a service, it is a product, and there is nothing that says that all products that are created must be paid for.
Programmers that trade what they have for what they need can over time build a successful software business. I've seen many examples where this is true.
My most important piece of advice I give to people who want to start a software business is "Don't quit the day job". Building a successful software business can take years of effort, some of which is programming, most of it is in taking the time to learn how best to build marketshare. Most people who quit a job to start a software business are doomed to run out of funds before they make enough mistakes to learn what they need to learn to be a success.
Regardless whether someone on this list uses Kagi or not, I'd be happy to spend some time engaging in a conversation with them about their software business. I don't know anything about programming businesses, but I do have some experience with software businesses.
Kee Nethery
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