HN Explorer

Ask HN: Are there reasons to avoid a Sublime Text-like business model?

2 points by westoncb ↗ HN
Many times I've seen statements like, "it would not be viable to run our business without charging a recurring (e.g. monthly) fee for our software."

And I can see how for most businesses that might be true, or at least much more comfortable.

However, for certain products it just does not make sense to have a recurring cost (I have in mind a desktop utility someone might use a few times a year)—although charging for a major version upgrade may be possible.

What I'd like to read but can't find is something like: "What you'll wish you knew before starting a one-time-cost/pay-to-upgrade software business".

If anyone has general comments about this (on both negative and positive aspects would be great) or resources they could point too, that'd be much appreciated!

11 comments

[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 43.1 ms ] thread
memexy
What desktop utility do you have in mind? I haven't paid for desktop software in ages and I doubt I ever will. Everything I use is either cloud based or has a cloud component for backup or some other type of processing.

I doubt desktop software is coming back. If you can make it a website and accessible over the web then that will always beat desktop software. The only exception I can imagine is something like multimedia editing which requires access to actual hardware for crunching numbers (coding and decoding audio and video). Everything else can run in the browser these days.

westoncb
You can see what I have so far at https://diskatlas.com

I’m thinking of charging something like 5 to 10 dollars per copy. Then maybe in a year or so releasing a much enhanced version 2 that would have to be purchased separately.

memexy
Looks interesting but I have 3TB SSD or something close to it. How would this help me? I guess I'm trying to say space is not a problem for me. When I run out of space I move my documents to another drive. More specifically, my storage needs are modest and I organize everything into Downloads, Pictures, Videos, Code and all my space is usually taken up by one of those folders. Reducing the need for any kind of space analysis.

I can see this being useful for some people that want to re-organize how they use their disk space but you'd need to add some heuristics to the software to make it useful for such use cases. For example, if you group all images together and suggest to automatically move them to a single folder or a set of sub-folders in another folder I can see that being useful.

westoncb
It’s not for everyone, but as an example, DaisyDisk was the number one app in the Mac App Store last year under the utilities category. There is a demand for this kind of thing—not clear whether there is for my particular implementation of course ;)
memexy
Yes. I guess I'm not the target demographic for this. I suspect many people on HN aren't either. You'd need to figure out how to market this to the people that would want/need it.

If it is for Windows I'd look into putting it in their app store if you haven't already.

westoncb
That's definitely my target market. Ideal scenario would be to get Microsoft to feature it in Utilities in the Microsoft store—but that's somewhat of a moonshot of course. Without that, or some other super effective marketing ploy, it seems unlikely to earn a non-trivial amount. I've been thinking about targeting gamers also—the aesthetic I've arrived at (somewhat by accident) seems like they might be into it, and often times they need a lot of HD space.
memexy
Sounds like a reasonable plan.
GFischer
Honestly, I don't think it's that much of a moonshot :) , they're probably starving for things to showcase in the store.

You probably need to contact some evangelists and maybe they'll point you in the right track!

They also like to send "success stories" on e-mails and such, aim for something like that!.

westoncb
I was kinda hoping that. I mean the offerings were pretty bare when I last looked. Then again, the process of getting Microsoft’s attention remains very mysterious to me at this point.

Could you say more on what you mean by an “evangelist”? One thing I thought of doing is talking to websites and youtubers who do app reviews, figuring if it got enough attention someone from the Microsoft store might take notice.

GFischer
Microsoft has people whose job title is literally "evangelist", which are tasked with engaging with the tech community.

They get paid to produce tech demos, give talks, engage with the community, alpha and beta test the latest and greatest tech, etc...

https://careers.microsoft.com/professionals/us/en/c-evangeli....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJMuh0ZiDZQ

If you connect with people who are Microsoft MVPs, they can probably put you in touch with them. I think engaging with some through Twitter would be the way to go.

GFischer
I use TreeSize for this problem, which does use the business model you're mentioning.

https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free

I have not paid for it, but I probably could have been convinced to pay for it AFTER using it, with the right psychological appeal (and not during the current crisis unfortunately, I'm on furlough).