Comments on: If You Were 37Signals Would You Sell?

By: Wicked Digital Dreams » Blog Archive » Making Users Pay

Wicked Digital Dreams » Blog Archive » Making Users Pay — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 21:23:06 +0000

[...] Making Users Pay On Monday when I wrote about 37signals and other great Web 2.0 acquisition bait one of the general observations that was made was that most of the companies rely on advertising to get by. It seems that everyone is in a rush to add as many users as possible to their applications and services that they donâ€™t bother with a paid model and decide to rely on the advertising route. So the question is how hard can it be to get users to pay if they already find your service valuable? Could YouTube offer a pro version that provided you with more tools and a greater chance to gain exposure with your videos? Maybe they simply add pro accounts that allow you to upload larger movies ala Flickr. Looking at a lot of Web 2.0 services it is kind of surprising how none of them provide a pro version for any of their services or basically any special type of service that would entice users to pay. Now some services and applications do very will with the advertising model. Facebook is no slouch with bringing in revenue, but they have groups and communities that target niches that many advertisers are going after. WordPress.com does an excellent job of this by providing you with some excellent basic services that can become greatly enhanced by paying them a small fee. From last that I heard these services helped push them into profitability, but I canâ€™t say if that is still the case because so many new people have signed up since then. Do you think that companies fear that users wonâ€™t pay for their services? It does require a certain bit of bravado to think that you created a service so good that people are willing to pay for it. If you create a strong enough community though donâ€™t you think many of the members would be willing to pay for something that gives them just a little bit more? This year I am definitely looking for the companies to take that next step and begin to integrate multiple revenue streams into their systems. [...]

By: Making Users Pay » Wisdump

Making Users Pay » Wisdump — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 01:10:59 +0000

[...] On Monday when I wrote about 37signals and other great Web 2.0 acquisition bait one of the general observations that was made was that most of the companies rely on advertising to get by. It seems that everyone is in a rush to add as many users as possible to their applications and services that they don’t bother with a paid model and decide to rely on the advertising route. So the question is how hard can it be to get users to pay if they already find your service valuable? [...]

By: TheTopDots.com » If You Were 37Signals Would You Sell?

TheTopDots.com » If You Were 37Signals Would You Sell? — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 07:43:43 +0000

[...] Original post by Scrivs and software by Elliott Back Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]

By: somaking

somaking — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 16:52:58 +0000

A Bird in Hand is worth 2 in the Bush.

Don’t be a Jon Abrams or Mark Zuckerberg. These guys will be empty-handed for a long time.

By: Adam Thody

Adam Thody — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 16:10:11 +0000

I really don’t see what could motivate those guys to sell. They’re young, enjoy what they’re doing and do it well.

Even if they didn’t feel like developing the products any further, their whole philosophy is “simple”, so adding features isn’t part of the business plan anyhow. Not to diminish their efforts, but I think at this point the business could pretty much run itself with a few admins and be highly profitable…so there wouldn’t be much to gain by selling.

By: Devin

Devin — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 15:15:34 +0000

Haha, Mike, why must you guys always have that trace of anti-funding attitude? ;-)

Good point, I haven’t kept up with who’s getting money when but I still think they’re a bit more viable business than some may give credit for. Certainly more than MySpace. ;-)

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 09:20:56 +0000

The thing about money in general is that it gives you attention and gives your competitors something to grrr at. Even Gaia Online, the immensely popular anime community site got a mention on Mashable when it raised 8.93 million dollars in VC funding.

By: Mike Rundle

Mike Rundle — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 06:54:12 +0000

With as many employees as Facebook, who knows if their advertising partnerships and revenue are even enough to keep them in the black. If they were profitable than why continue raising cash?

By: Devin

Devin — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 04:00:25 +0000

Fake money? Facebook’s advertising and partnerships are fake? Are you saying ABC, NBC, all those guys are making fake money, too?

Just curious..

By: What Web 2.0 Can Learn From Apple » Wisdump

What Web 2.0 Can Learn From Apple » Wisdump — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 23:29:28 +0000

[...] Even though I have already pimped them out today, the only other company that comes to mind that has products and services that people flock around and can stage an event that gets people buzzing is 37signals. Granted, compared to Apple they do things on a much smaller scale, but you can see how they are built around a strong brand and community. Today’s Web 2.0 companies want to be built around VC dollars and TechCrunch links. [...]