Fantastic write up! A couple of nice take aways from this:
1) Give away the product -- I love how you started up a GoToMeeting and got the product running on a site right there. I know you mention that conventional wisdom says to get the customer to validate by paying first, but that seems like a brilliant move.
2) Don't give away the farm -- I would have stopped right there, I imagine. "Hey, they loaded up my stuff on their site. I'll get 'payment' from them in the form of a testimonial for the site. That's validation enough." Nope, you turned them into a paying customer. Even better, and you can still get the validation.
3) Don't over think everything -- Even though I have been successful in the past, I often over think things. I have to figure out all of the models before I can launch. The actual model rarely looks anything like what I thought up because in reality, it takes running the business/product to really understand the model.
At first, they said (on a Friday) "we'll talk about it *next Monday" (which was almost two weeks).
I casually said "ok that's fine. For now though, let's take it off the site since we know it's working - that will give you guys some time to make the decision without any pressure."
They made the decision by Sunday, paid Monday, and we were back online quickly = )
It's ok to push, if you're providing value and it seems to be working
"ok that's fine. For now though, let's take it off the site since we know it's working - that will give you guys some time to make the decision without any pressure."
This tactic is likely to be useful to more than just those working in the early days of a startup. Nice move!
1) Give away the product -- I love how you started up a GoToMeeting and got the product running on a site right there. I know you mention that conventional wisdom says to get the customer to validate by paying first, but that seems like a brilliant move.
2) Don't give away the farm -- I would have stopped right there, I imagine. "Hey, they loaded up my stuff on their site. I'll get 'payment' from them in the form of a testimonial for the site. That's validation enough." Nope, you turned them into a paying customer. Even better, and you can still get the validation.
3) Don't over think everything -- Even though I have been successful in the past, I often over think things. I have to figure out all of the models before I can launch. The actual model rarely looks anything like what I thought up because in reality, it takes running the business/product to really understand the model.
I'll be watching for the future updates!