Ask HN: How do I price a limited, inferior product?
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18903013
I entered into this project because I wanted to learn some software skills, and by several strokes of good luck and help from the hn community I have a rough prototype actually working. I am so excited by the progress that I want to try and market this.
I did some market research (I'd rather still be vague, so as not to embarrass myself yet). I have discovered there are basically 3-4 products that compete in this space and they are so niche that they each charge between $500 and $5000 a month for a license per user or by site. Pricey stuff.
I basically have no cost in this yet other than whatever AWS is going to bill me and some of my own time. I am considering something like charging $5 a month per user just to get a bunch of users onboard and traction established. I don't want to get in the habit of other freemium companies because I don't ever want to cross that chasm.
To be fair I think I am looking at a segment of the market that has far more users of what I am making that these other groups are not addressing. They are going after some huge "cookies", while I am looking at going after all the "crumbs" that are left over.
My goal is to get this to the point that it provides a nice side income that can maybe someday take over my main source of wages. I'm a contractor and consultant by nature so it's just another piece of the pie chart overall I guess.
What do you think, HN? I value your opinion.