Why I chickened out of lifetime pricing (and I think I was right to)

I was designing BuildSignal's pricing page today and had a genuine moment of panic.

For context: BuildSignal (https://buildsignal.cc) is a startup ideas database, but not the usual "here's a list of ideas" kind. Every opportunity brief goes through 15 sections of deep validation, AI-powered research, and human review. There's a GO/NO GO verdict at the end. It's expensive to produce.

I was watching Noah Kagan's tweets today and started thinking about lifetime deals. AppSumo. The whole "pay once, use forever" play that so many indie hackers use for launch traction.

And for about an hour, I was genuinely excited about it. Cash upfront. Social proof. A burst of users to validate the product.

Then the nightmare scenario: what if I get one buyer? One person on a lifetime plan, and I'm running expensive AI research for them indefinitely. No recurring revenue to offset the cost. Just a promise I can't afford to keep.

The thing nobody talks about with lifetime pricing: it works beautifully when your marginal cost is near zero. A note-taking app, a design tool, a static resource. But when every unit of usage costs you real money, you're essentially betting that you'll get enough volume to average out the cost. And at pre-launch, that's a bet you can't verify.

So I went with subscription pricing. Pre-launch discount available, but monthly/annual recurring. It felt like the less exciting choice. But I'd rather build a sustainable business than a generous graveyard.

I'm still considering AppSumo as a channel though. The difference is volume: one lifetime user is a liability, but a wave of them through AppSumo at least gives you the numbers to make the math work.

Curious: has anyone here done a lifetime deal on a product with real per-unit costs? How did it play out long-term?