Cost
Build time
Run time
Offering a product or services at a discounted rate for a limited time before you launch.
Sponsor
Hacker Cabin is the community for remote workers, digital nomads and bootstrapped founders.
Offering a product or services at a discounted rate for a limited time before you launch. Users pay in advance for the product or service and either get an early version of the product or given an approximate launch date when the product or service will be available. As the name says most people tend to offer the product/service for a discounted price for a limited amount of time. Typically a few weeks.
Measurable items
• Number of paid conversions • Conversion rate • Conversions based on traffic source
Business model
Advantages
✅ Allows you to gauge interest before creating the product or service in some instances. ✅ The up-front payments act as a form of validation ✅ The up-front payments can fund the creation of your product or service in advance.
Disadvantages
❌ You are taking payment up-front in some cases for a product which is yet to be created or fully defined. You need to ensure you can deliver that product or service in advance ❌ If you don't get enough paid conversions you will need to issue refunds ❌ Can be seen as a grey hat validation technique ❌ Takes longer to set up due to payment processing, shipping, customer support etc.
Useful links