Looks like very few (or none) of the people here have actually used Sortfolio as paying customers. I believe a lot of the doubt wouldn't be here if you would have done that.
As for some background information, then I run a small Ruby on Rails development agency called PerfectLine (http://www.perfectline.ee) that caters specifically to startup founders who need to create their minimum viable products.
We have been paying for Sortfolio since the beginning of 2010 and actually couldn't be any happier with the kind of leads it brings in. I can say that quite a big chunk of our customers have actually found us first on Sortfolio and they usually convert to actual sales pretty well. It might be that our price and quality of service is in the right spot but on the other hand there's a good chance that the people coming through Sortfolio usually have a decent knowledge about what they want and what to expect.
I believe that Sortfolio has actually helped quite a few small design or development teams get off ground. It worked really well for us and I don't see why anyone else should see any worse return rates. That $99 per month is so little when compared to actual return it will get you.
I noticed that Sortfolio currently has around 10,000 free users and I believe that with little upselling it would be possible to convert a good portion of them to paying customers thanks to the value it actually provides. So from that perspective it shouldn't be too hard to earn back the $480,000 37signals is asking for Sortfolio.
As for some background information, then I run a small Ruby on Rails development agency called PerfectLine (http://www.perfectline.ee) that caters specifically to startup founders who need to create their minimum viable products.
We have been paying for Sortfolio since the beginning of 2010 and actually couldn't be any happier with the kind of leads it brings in. I can say that quite a big chunk of our customers have actually found us first on Sortfolio and they usually convert to actual sales pretty well. It might be that our price and quality of service is in the right spot but on the other hand there's a good chance that the people coming through Sortfolio usually have a decent knowledge about what they want and what to expect.
I believe that Sortfolio has actually helped quite a few small design or development teams get off ground. It worked really well for us and I don't see why anyone else should see any worse return rates. That $99 per month is so little when compared to actual return it will get you.
I noticed that Sortfolio currently has around 10,000 free users and I believe that with little upselling it would be possible to convert a good portion of them to paying customers thanks to the value it actually provides. So from that perspective it shouldn't be too hard to earn back the $480,000 37signals is asking for Sortfolio.