That's seems immoral and just wrong.
The angry customers you get can ruin your reputation very very quickly. Angry customers are the ones that usually go out of their way to write bad reviews.
The angry customers you get can ruin your reputation very very quickly. Angry customers are the ones that usually go out of their way to write bad reviews.
The reality is: Yes, angry customers are never good for business or brand building. Neither are bad reviews. Trust me when I say that I hate the fact that I had angered even one individual.
That said, I interacted with every one of the angry customers and explained the rationale behind the decision. I managed to resolve the emotion to the extent that they were appreciative of my explanation / reasoning and would even consider becoming a customer in future.
I stick to what I've said though, which is that putting up a landing page with an e-mail signup and a "Request Early Access"-kinda thing is similarly deceptive. The only difference is that I actually asked for CC details. To that extent, I'm willing to do whatever I need to do to see my startup succeed.
This is obviously not for everyone and that's why I posted the quote from Lincoln.