Ever tried to get paid before launch?

I read this as "paid before lunch" and was confused.

You may want to read this: https://blog.bufferapp.com/idea-to-paying-customers-in-7-weeks-how-we-did-it

Buffer started with a landing page where you could click on pay, then a message would follow saying something like "You caught us before we are ready but thank you for your interest"
It is not a paid before launch but at least you can measure interest in a paying service instead of just vague interest.

I’m currently doing this - we have 5 customers that have pre-paid based on wire frames. I’ve chosen to build a business in the b2b space purely because the sales are easier. We found all of our current pre-paid clients via a cold email campaign.

We launched WPMRR a couple weeks ago and did pre-sale for it for ~2 months before.

We made ~$2,500 in pre-sale which covered the cost (and maybe even more) of putting the course together. So that was cool!

Also to be noted is that we already had an email list for WP Buffs that we were using to help sell the course, so that was helpful.

If you're trying to validate if people will buy something, it might be a good idea to do pre-sales. If you just want a launch list, maybe just collecting email addresses is enough. I think it's always smart to give people a discount in exchange for signing up and paying before launch because it 1) gets money in the door, 2) proves people will buy it, and 3) gives you a good start to experimenting with pricing since you're seeing what people will pay for.

Boom! :)

Yes. Currently pre-selling my app https://threedo.app

It’s a reminder app with a future Pro version that will cost $20 (now sold at $13) and also a $3/mo subscription plan (now sold at $75 for lifetime). A unique kind, so I guess that was the key.

As crazy as it sounds, I’ve managed to get to the sweet 2% conversion already and a lot of love and anticipation for my app. It’s worth noting though that the free version (sorta MVP-PoC) is already there, so I’m not collecting money while only showing people a shiny After Effects prototype — the actual live app serves as a good proof of being able to deliver. Besides, I polished my MVP-PoC quite a lot before publishing, so that was important as well.

I recently did this for the first time for two separate products I'm interested in developing. Both sales were to people I already had relationships with though. In both cases the terms I gave them were basically, "pay me $X now and I'll either build it in 6 months and you'll have full access or I'll give you your money back." Then they just sent me the money via Venmo.

Getting paid first is definitely the best validation, but I would be surprised if you could get people to pay from a landing page alone. If you had an audience where you had built trust with people over time through content that would be different. But if you're starting fresh it will probably be tough.

I think it could work quite well if you are building a B2B startup where you ask for advance customer payment/deposit before you deliver some of the promised features.

I think it could work in some niches with a huge rush of users and lack of ready to use solutions. Haven't met such niches for a long time.

I've read and listened to a lot of people who say it's the best validation. Even if you don't charge them, or refund the money, you know someone is truly interested if they don't just give their e-mail, but their credit card as well.

But, sorry, never actually tried it. Sounds scary and I think I'd feel a requirement to launch a non-beta product if I did. That's a personal problem though :)

Getting paid before launch works; rather, a deposit. What are you trying to sell?

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