Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by DarrenDev 939 days ago
As a solo developer who has built B2C software in the past, 1600 sales in your first year is outstanding.

But I have to say your pricing is terrible - from all perspectives.

For you, unless you sell in the hundreds of thousands (which I've never heard of for B2C software) it's unlikely to ever be a day job replacement.

For the consumer, before they even decide to try your software you're telling them it has the lifetime value of a cup of coffee and a donut.

Price is one of the things consumers look at to determine something's value. You've priced your product so cheaply and many will view your product in the same way.

It's not much harder to sell a $99 product as it is to sell a $9 product to consumers. And the users you get at the higher price point will be better users.

But that 1600 user sales figure - for a one man shop in year one - is fantastic.

What would your yearly profits have been if your price was $49 or $79 or more?

1 comments

I would never buy this app for more than $9 - there are free alternatives such as Rectangle. $9 is low enough I'd consider it if it has some extra features or polish, but definitely not $49 or $79.
Which means you are not a customer worth having. Good data point.
Sure. Though if it turns out that there are no customers worth having due to free/cheaper competition, your business has a problem.
FWIW I paid roughly $25 USD for a lifetime license for BetterTouchTool about 5 years ago, and I still use that daily. Only going off the description, BetterTouchTool seems like mostly feature overlap (not fully) and more flexible version of OP’s app. With a free trial model like what BetterTouchTool uses I could easily see myself spending $49 USD on a tool like that today. It would obviously have to be as mature as BetterTouchTool and not brand new without as many features and polish like OP’s tool, but probably OP can start to increase the price over time to something more in that ballpark as more features are added without much chagrin.

Also FWIW, I tried the free/FOSS tools like Spectacle and Rectangle before eventually deciding on BetterTouchTool for its flexibility with key bindings and wide swath of api’s that they can be bound to.

> Though if it turns out that there are no customers worth having due to free/cheaper competition, your business has a problem

Yes, which also a fantastic thing to learn as soon as possible!

I've been steady user of Rectangle for years - coming from windows, it still amazes me how native Mac doesn't have a good built in system.

OP - Rectangle is pretty well known, open source, and maintained - it might be worth adding a comparison chart so prospective users can understand what makes your paid product worth choosing a free offering.