Ask HN: How should I monetize this app? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How should I monetize this app?

10 pointskristiandupont13 comments

Hi HN'ers,

I made this app based on the Pomodoro Technique: http://www.beatpoints.com/cherrytomato - it's a timer that helps you concentrate for 25 minutes at a time. It sets your skype and messenger status to busy and afterwards, it shows you what app's and websites you have spent your time on in order to let you rate your own productivity.

People seem to really like it but I am not sure which direction to take it in. If I am going to keep working on it, I need to monetize it somehow. I have the following ideas:

1) charge for the actual app. Doesn't seem like the best idea because it is so small and easily replaceable

2) sell plugins. I have made a firewall plugin that blocks Hacker News etc. when in pomodoro. I can think of a number of different plugins that I could possibly charge for..

3) create a site that stores a history of your productivity. You could compete with your friends etc. I could make some sort of fremium model for this

..others?

I think #3 is the most promising option, but also the most demanding and this is just a hobby project that is not supposed to take up too much of my time :-)

I think #3 is best, especially if you let users rate individual sessions or integrate with something like Rescue Time: http://www.rescuetime.com/developers

There are good options for monetizing a free-version:

1) Show sponsor sites instead of wanted site when visiting Hacker News etc. while in pomodoro

2) Open an interstitial or show adds in some other way when pomodori ends.

I think #1 is actually quite a fun idea. However, if people define their own prorstination sites (which they do at this point), they would avoid the ads simply by not defining any sites.

I think your 3 option would be the best way to go, thats a great way to add a added payable version for - especially if you could add somekind of analytics to the time spent - in general and perhaps in relationship to other users (lets you see how you rate to others (all/friends), or might come with suggestions how to optimize your productivity). So your local version would save data and show you them there, but the storage of data and analytics would be on the website. Fantastic visualizations of the data will probably be a great way to build fans of the app - allowing a user to very easily understand their productivity level...

This would also allow a company to test it across all its staff, to see how time is used - of course this is a little big brother'ish, but might be a added value option to sell.

-PiP

Yeah, while analytics would be great, I think that competing with your friends would work pretty well ("Wow, I am behind with 30 productivity points today - I need to focus!").

Analytics would be a differentiator from other such services, being able to give actual advice, would be a great premium service.

A competition among friends is a good idea, but I think without a driver at the end - say a virtual brag award, it doesn't drive the competition. Look at foursquare and their badges - that in itself is a driver for a lot of folks - it would also give the service, in an initial phase where friends might not be present on the service, a better driver (indirectly the badges aim at bettering your productivity).

So, maybe there should be an accompanying Facebook app that allows you to show off your historical productivity?

Hmmm, I think FB apps are a hard added value sell with the current placement of apps on the FB website, perhaps an option to simply post from the your cherry app (i.e. a FB button) to showcase your productivity - when you want.

My sense is auto posting through an FB app, might be counter productive - of course it is easier, but doesn't a post demand that you were somehow productive? And how do you keep the frequency up, in order for FB to show that you are "a productive person" - to far between posts, and you are automatically not productive - or are you?.

If you work on the badges concept, that might be a better approach to FB app, simply having the badges post vs. a index number or other "simple" indicators.

Hmmm, will hum a bit over this...

1. Bundle your app with the ask or yahoo toolbar. People get an option to install those toolbars too while installing your app on their desktops. You get paid per install of those toolbars.

2. Sell private label rights to the software. Other productivity websites can attach their logos to your app. And give it away for free to their audience.

3. Sell Corporate accounts. Basic accounts are free. But if a corporate wants to track how productive their employees have been - you make money out of that.

Clickable link: http://www.beatpoints.com/cherrytomato

If you want to try out the firewall, you can download it here: http://www.beatpoints.com/cherrytomato/cherryfirewall.zip - it only works with Windows Vista or higher, and possibly only on x64. Just unzip the files into the program folder.

Go for 1)

Have it also set your email client to not receive messages in that time (or close altogether).

Your app is then a pretty awesome get-some-damn-work-done distraction-eliminator. You could sell to businesses too (perhaps even more successfully) - teach them about the loss of productivity due to distractions - particularly from email and instant messaging - and sell them your app as a solution.

Well, the firewall is not a browser-plugin, it uses the Windows firewall api, so you could easily block your mail (webmail as well as pop3/imap) and IM services..

Well there you go. Make it easy for them though - just a tick-box in settings to block email. And another tick-box to block all network activity (so no web browsing).

I think something like that would be very cool both for individuals and for businesses. It's quite like http://macfreedom.com/ which is very handy.

I also think you'll find it easier to sell a productivity enhancement to businesses than a procrastination-stopper to individuals.

4) Sell _short_ audio ads that play when the timer goes off.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com