Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by menzoic 2801 days ago
Free means you're the product
1 comments

It doesn't. We will not sell data. Right now we are really focused on the best product and we will find a fair and sustainable business model when it's ready.
Right, so free means you are bootstrapped or VC-funded and later on... your users are the product ?

I can understand not wanting to communicate on a business model that isn't ready but could you maybe point out some leads other than the usual ads or data-selling business ?

Or if you don't want to be specific maybe you can point out that you are definitely against selling user data later on even if it means saving the company ?

I was happy to find a "How does Coffee Chat make money?" section but it's content isn't very helpfull if you're a user fearing data collection and adds.

Sorry, haven't seen this question :-O We will not sell data and we will create a business model without it. Also, we firmly believe that the GDPR is a great step forward for humanity and that privacy should be a fundamental human right. We will build a business model that accounts for that.
I'm all for a product in that space.

I've participated in a number of schemes aiming at sharing expertise in the past and would be glad to share and get some on your platform but, as others have stated, I think that to see traction, you'll need to specify a business model else everyone will be inclined to "if it's free, you're product" mentality.

I'm not distrusting your current statement of "no data sharing" and, if I may, "won't do evil" mentality but in this day and age, customers will need a clearer statement right on the product page for it to be trusted.

A quick and easy alternative would be "Currently in beta and free for all until December 31, 2018" would probably assuage some fears, with expectation of a coming bizmo, whatever that would be.

I guess the silence is an answer too :(.
Take a look at my answer above :)
That's really great, thank you!

Edit: maybe you can make it official on the website?

So as yet, no business model, exploring viability?
Yes :)