[NameNickHN]

[...] those tasks were never common/important/etc enough to justify even an hour writing up a tool to automate them.

I can't agree more. It took me a while to get there but in the end it's exactly what everybody should do.

As of right now I'm manually creating the accounts of new customers (has something to do with creating new database tables which is done half-automatically). Right now there is only a trickle of new customers (due to the lack of marketing) and it's not worth it (yet) to program a fully automated registration process which would require a registration form, payment processing and above mentioned account creation.

[patio11]

A major "aha!" moment for me was 37Signals writing "If you have a 30 day trial anyhow, launching with billing code written means you've swapped something customers actually will notice today for something they won't." I don't endorse that specific advice (because you should probably auth cards on launch day) but the kinda relentless scope-cutting it implies has been a major win for me.

[wulczer]

We launched with billing code, but did not have code to actually do something with accounts that did not pay until they were into their 35th day of a 30 day trial (a slight estimation error, you know how software development works).

"Hey, you lucky guys, we're extending your trial period by five days! Ain't that cool?"