Ask IH: How would you price my startup?
Hey Indie Hackers!
I need some help on the pricing for my startup. At this moment, I have it set to three pricing plans.
I summarized the current pricing plans below, If you don't want to read everything. Just take a look at the linked pricing page.
The first one being free, you are able to create an account, add information about you and the type of co-founder you are looking for. You are also given access to the community of founders that are also looking for a co-founder. You can view the projects that founders have posted. Lastly, founders will have the opportunity to message founders in-app(still a work in progress, but will be available soon).
The second is $15 a month, this plan includes everything that the first does. Including, Improved search for projects and founders(coming soon). The ability to add projects that you are working on - to help gage interest from other founders. You will also be added as preferred founder, meaning you are taking the effort of finding a co-founder more serious than others.
The third option is a annual payment - $150 a year. I don't like this option, and honestly plan to completely get rid of it entirely. This offer includes, everything from the last two plans, all access to beta features that I will be testing and implementing into the platform. Engage, a interactive way to connect with founders and to test their ability to be your co-founder. I also added 24/7 support for this offer.
My question is, What would you change? How would you approach this differently and what could be improved to offer the best possible value for the people signing up?
Thanks for taking the time to add your input. I appreciate your answers!
My wife has a photography business and their well-worn wisdom is to have 3 plans: a cheap, a medium and an expensive. Everybody buys the middle because (1) nobody wants anybody to know that they are a cheapskate yet (2) everybody wants "the best deal". Yet you still have to have 3 plans so that people can feel like they are choosing, even though they all choose the same thing.
Maybe you could do the same thing: show three pay options and then label the middle one with "limited time only" and "best deal!".
Your site seems to have some dating characteristics as well. You might look at the dating websites to get ideas.
I definitely want to be able to stick with the three choice pricing option. Doing so gives the users flexibility on what they feel is important and what isn't important to their search for finding a co-founder.
I will most likely at some point add a banner to the middle option, stating that it is the most likely bought subscription.
Good idea. I'll take a look at some of the pricing options that tinder and bumble offer. Maybe that will provide some insight on what I should do.
I appreciate your response. Thank you!
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The problem I see between the two paid pricing plans is that, I don't want to make people pay for one year. I want them to find a co-founder in the shortest amount of time possible. So sucking them into a one year plan from the start doesn't seem reasonable.
I made sure that there was a difference in overall paid value that the founder has to pay in a certain time. I wanted to make the annual a smaller price in order to get users to invest more into their search and for the platform.
I agree with not having the limited feature set. I want every founder to be able to have access to whatever they need. So, i'll have to give this some serious thought.
Thank you for your insight! Genuinely appreciate it!
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I think that would be better. Adding a one month, three month, and six month plan would give enough flexibility for people to decide which plan would work for them. At the same time, saving people money and giving them all the features. So they don't have to pay for an annual plan if they find a co-founder in a couple weeks.
The discount/pricing would work something like this, one month at 24.99/mo , three months at 19.99/mo, and six months at 14.99/mo. All three options would have access to the premium features that the product offers.
That's what I want. I will have to initialize that, making sure the user knows that the intention of them signing up is to find a co-founder as quickly as possible. Not waste their time and money.
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I do. Thanks for your help!