Ask HN: How to monetize my startup
5 comments
Sounds like you are in demand . . . I would stay away from hourly billing. (Google Patio11, read his articles, listen to his podcast and track down his microconf talks they all relate to your question and contain great advice.)
Sounds like you could use a standard website and offer a subscription offering . . . for ongoing consulting via email . . . or packages that provide a block of your expertise via email . . . again I wouldn't offer hourly services.
If you're in demand I expect your value/knowledge is way larger than any hourly rate would work out to.
So maybe a standard website . . . and integrate Stripe.com for subscriptions/recurring packages (first choice) and maybe some fixed fee packages.
I wouldn't spend too much time developing anything special beyond that . . . unless your clients are asking for more features . . .
Another channel to sell your knowledge would be ebooks/packages of instructions/code for example . . . maybe even videos . . . (Google Nathan Barry, he does a lot of this well).
Good luck sounds like you're on the right track.
Sounds like you could use a standard website and offer a subscription offering . . . for ongoing consulting via email . . . or packages that provide a block of your expertise via email . . . again I wouldn't offer hourly services.
If you're in demand I expect your value/knowledge is way larger than any hourly rate would work out to.
So maybe a standard website . . . and integrate Stripe.com for subscriptions/recurring packages (first choice) and maybe some fixed fee packages.
I wouldn't spend too much time developing anything special beyond that . . . unless your clients are asking for more features . . .
Another channel to sell your knowledge would be ebooks/packages of instructions/code for example . . . maybe even videos . . . (Google Nathan Barry, he does a lot of this well).
Good luck sounds like you're on the right track.
Thank you, great advices. I regularly read both Nathan and Patrick. I love tehm. I think I'm already ready for the launch. On thursday ( -/+ 1 day) I'm going to post a Show HN post. I'm excited :)
Congratulations for being in such high demand :-)
I don't think you're going to be able to charge an hourly rate if the bulk of your correspondence is via email. It's going to cause more problems then it's worth.
Airpair.com provides 24 hour access to an expert, priced based upon the complexity of the problem (a proxy to how much work is actually required on your part). They also calibrate the expert assignments, making sure the more advanced professionals get the more difficult problems. This could be a possibility for you - unless you want to continue handling all requests yourself.
I wonder if you could use Slack as the primary platform for orchestrating the transaction.
1. User hits your website, becomes convinced, submits the inquiry, and deposits money into his account. Managing a balance adds complexity, but you always have a better chance of getting more money with one transaction versus smaller ones.
2. Upon payment (let's use Stripe, because that integrates with Slack) they are issued an invitation to your Slack instance. A private channel is also created that they will be restricted to. The private channel should correspond to some sort of customer ID - because you will want to use the same channel throughout the lifetime of the customer to maintain continuity,
3. Optionally you may also create a tracking ticket using something that integrates with Slack and Stripe. The ticket contains the stripe transaction information, the original inquiry, key info on the customer, and hopefully links to the customer's past interactions.
4. The advantage of Slack is all of the built in integrations. Most of your back and forth can be via the persistent chat - and you can have a bot reminding the user not to expect instantaneous responses. But if you do need to do screen sharing, video conferencing, etc...there is no leaving the environment - and it all gets tracked.
5. You may be able to fairly track time if Slack can measure your time in the channel and decrement the available funds accordingly. Just make sure you're only in the channel when you're either actively communicating or researching on the user's behalf.
6. Once the user's account hits a predefined threshold, issue a warning and suggest that they replenish their account in order to continue the conversation. Clicking the link or interacting with the bot would replenish the account via a charge out to Stripe. Tracking ticket is updated.
7. When the user shifts topics (after you satisfy one request and he moves onto the next), give a bot a command that updates the ticket by closing the last request and opening a new one. Of course we're getting a bit nuts with this level of tracking - but I think it will be valuable to keep them all separate as I am sure you get a ton of repeat requests. Hopefully you'd be able to trigger an email to the user with a full transcript of the exchange.
8. Eventually the user will be done asking questions and may likely have a balance. Even if the balance is zero, retain the private channel. It serves as a searchable log of the interaction and is a mechanism for the user to come back and reengage with you.
9. You may optionally add some public channels covering the topics you provide advice on. This may be useful to keep your users occupied while you answer questions as your day progresses.
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It's important to note that this is only worthwhile if the exchange between you and the customer is more discussion-oriented versus one-off answers to specific questions. Simpler interactions would remove the value Slack adds - and in that case I would fall back to a ticketing system you're comfortable with that has hooks into the payment engine you're using.
:-)
I don't think you're going to be able to charge an hourly rate if the bulk of your correspondence is via email. It's going to cause more problems then it's worth.
Airpair.com provides 24 hour access to an expert, priced based upon the complexity of the problem (a proxy to how much work is actually required on your part). They also calibrate the expert assignments, making sure the more advanced professionals get the more difficult problems. This could be a possibility for you - unless you want to continue handling all requests yourself.
I wonder if you could use Slack as the primary platform for orchestrating the transaction.
1. User hits your website, becomes convinced, submits the inquiry, and deposits money into his account. Managing a balance adds complexity, but you always have a better chance of getting more money with one transaction versus smaller ones.
2. Upon payment (let's use Stripe, because that integrates with Slack) they are issued an invitation to your Slack instance. A private channel is also created that they will be restricted to. The private channel should correspond to some sort of customer ID - because you will want to use the same channel throughout the lifetime of the customer to maintain continuity,
3. Optionally you may also create a tracking ticket using something that integrates with Slack and Stripe. The ticket contains the stripe transaction information, the original inquiry, key info on the customer, and hopefully links to the customer's past interactions.
4. The advantage of Slack is all of the built in integrations. Most of your back and forth can be via the persistent chat - and you can have a bot reminding the user not to expect instantaneous responses. But if you do need to do screen sharing, video conferencing, etc...there is no leaving the environment - and it all gets tracked.
5. You may be able to fairly track time if Slack can measure your time in the channel and decrement the available funds accordingly. Just make sure you're only in the channel when you're either actively communicating or researching on the user's behalf.
6. Once the user's account hits a predefined threshold, issue a warning and suggest that they replenish their account in order to continue the conversation. Clicking the link or interacting with the bot would replenish the account via a charge out to Stripe. Tracking ticket is updated.
7. When the user shifts topics (after you satisfy one request and he moves onto the next), give a bot a command that updates the ticket by closing the last request and opening a new one. Of course we're getting a bit nuts with this level of tracking - but I think it will be valuable to keep them all separate as I am sure you get a ton of repeat requests. Hopefully you'd be able to trigger an email to the user with a full transcript of the exchange.
8. Eventually the user will be done asking questions and may likely have a balance. Even if the balance is zero, retain the private channel. It serves as a searchable log of the interaction and is a mechanism for the user to come back and reengage with you.
9. You may optionally add some public channels covering the topics you provide advice on. This may be useful to keep your users occupied while you answer questions as your day progresses.
-----
It's important to note that this is only worthwhile if the exchange between you and the customer is more discussion-oriented versus one-off answers to specific questions. Simpler interactions would remove the value Slack adds - and in that case I would fall back to a ticketing system you're comfortable with that has hooks into the payment engine you're using.
:-)
Thank you for your great write-up
You used the word "annoying" twice. Pricing can be used to segment markets into annoying and less-annoying, for local definitions of annoying :)
In consulting, the goal is always to customize first-principles creative material for the unique needs of each client. Reusable written content is better than verbal content, unless you can remix audio/video snippets for customers. Over time, a growing library of content is a competitive advantage. A subset can be free = marketing.
Based on customer questions, you could ask them to watch a 1 hour training webinar, hand-curated from your library of N webinars, then send written questions, then escalate to live conference. Each tier is more expensive than the previous one.
In consulting, the goal is always to customize first-principles creative material for the unique needs of each client. Reusable written content is better than verbal content, unless you can remix audio/video snippets for customers. Over time, a growing library of content is a competitive advantage. A subset can be free = marketing.
Based on customer questions, you could ask them to watch a 1 hour training webinar, hand-curated from your library of N webinars, then send written questions, then escalate to live conference. Each tier is more expensive than the previous one.
I think you should build a super simple chat client or use something like whatsapp and integrate it into a browser. That way, a potential client can find you and immediately engage with you about their needs. This is frictionless. Someone can type in real time and then book them. You can use asynchronous tools like email or a video chat like appear.in.
You should prob consult/explain for 5 minutes free and then make your rates known. After 5 minutes have them do a quick stripe payment, and then run a meter. Something like this is quick, frictionless and unsophisticated. You could even put the price on the screen like a taxi meter but this could actually be negative. Transparency works tp a point though.
You should prob consult/explain for 5 minutes free and then make your rates known. After 5 minutes have them do a quick stripe payment, and then run a meter. Something like this is quick, frictionless and unsophisticated. You could even put the price on the screen like a taxi meter but this could actually be negative. Transparency works tp a point though.
Do you think it's a bad idea to put the packages on the website with pricing, rather than explaining the prices and rates every client in first 5 min. free conversation? Is it for consulting company a negative strategy?
If the prices are appropriate for the market, e.g. customers already pay those prices to your competitors, or have paid those prices to you in the past, there is no harm.
Clear pricing saves everyone time. However, as soon as you post pricing, you need to have good marketing material explaining the value of the service in each price tier. Presumably you are repeating that sales pitch now in the first 5 minutes - better to do it once and deliver online.
Clear pricing saves everyone time. However, as soon as you post pricing, you need to have good marketing material explaining the value of the service in each price tier. Presumably you are repeating that sales pitch now in the first 5 minutes - better to do it once and deliver online.
Design predefined packages based on your experience and charge fixed amounts per project, and sell additional hours for a known cost too. However, I've seen some well established consultation companies use freelancers platforms to market their services and get paid, so it might be worth trying.
what do you mean by "some well established consultation companies use freelancers platforms to market their services and get paid" ? how they use freelancer platforms?
This is a local services marketplace, not software, but it has good marketing.
http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/20/service-marketplace-thumbta...
http://www.thumbtack.com/
http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/20/service-marketplace-thumbta...
http://www.thumbtack.com/
Sorry for that. I've hired couple of consultation companies on freelancers or elance (can't remember which for sure), it think it was working quite well for them.
1. Most clients find me online and they want a consulting from me. Most of them can't come to the office and they want to communicate online. But online conferences have too many negative sides, most of clients are calling from other side of the globe, with dial-up speed. It's annoying, it takes too much time.
2. Communication through email is better because of its clearness, but the billing process is annoying. You can't determine how much you should charge.
The problem:
I don't know how to build the system, that
- the clients find me first on google, navigate my website and learn the process. How should I design the System?
- the clients pay me per hour in advance; Which platform should I use?
- how should I consult them online? written? voice? skype meetings?
PS. I can code, I have killer designer team, my website has a moderate google ranking (getting better with the time). I get daily 50-70 clients that want to pay.