[adrian201]

I agree with the author that some apps are overpriced. Case in point, how many people do you know that are running legitimate copies of Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop? For a true bootstrapped entrepreneur - who needs project management, site hosting, graphic design, etc. - it's near impossible to afford “top of the line” products. Instead you're left to use Open Source software that at times can be good (Open Office) or unusable (if you've ever used Fireworks, don't even try to use Gimp on a Mac unless you're masochistic).

You're other option is to become a pirate (ARRhhhhh). Here in NYC, piracy seems to be such a pandemic that they're running Ad campaigns for people to report software piracy at small businesses (https://reporting.bsa.org/r/report/add.aspx?src=us).

Here's a business model I've been thinking of that I hope developers will adopt. I call it “Entrepreneur lay-a-way”. Basically if someone is a-self described entrepreneur you give them a full 1-year license to your software for free. At the end of the 1 year you charge that users credit card for the full license plus interest. The thought being if the entrepreneur is successful, in 1 year he'll be able to afford your software with interest. The entrepreneur benefits deferring payment for a year, and can use that money for other purposes (marketing, etc). He can then utilize you're wonderful tool to create value for his users and the world. It's a win-win all around.

[lukev]

Unless (as in the majority of cases) the startup fails, in which case you now have an already broke entrepreneur getting a large charge on their credit card, which they probably forgot was coming.

[adrian201]

Haha true. A monthly reminder would be key. Maybe a VC or Angel can chip in to back any defaulted charges. VC/Angels could only allow entrepreneurs to join their "secured" group after they are vetted.

Or maybe this could all be tied to a public profile like AngelList or Facebook, to ensure people aren't gaming the system. I'm just theorizing at this point...

[sireat]

Isn't this pretty much what BizSpark from Microsoft does? Your startup gets pretty much full MSDN for $100, then you start paying regular prices.

Disclaimer: haven't used BizSpark personally

[adrian201]

Maybe, I haven't checked it out (I'm a diehard Apple Fanboy). But what I'm envisioning is that this model could be applied to various desktop software and SAAS sites.