[albertchung]

Yep, we have thought through a number of different monetization strategies including sponsored challenges, private games / events, virtual goods and paid / ad-supported versions. The most important thing right now for us, though, is building a product that people love. With that in mind, we'd love any feedback you might have from that perspective.

[clarky07]

I'm not sure I'm your target market as I'm not much for photo sharing type stuff. That being said I think the app looks great and was pretty interesting for the brief time I browsed it.

I'm just a bit annoyed at all the, "We'll get a few million users and then worry about how to make money." When I see a service I like that doesn't have any way of making money I'm scared it will go away. Note this isn't how the masses think, but it is how software devs think.

http://blog.pinboard.in/2011/12/don_t_be_a_free_user/

[albertchung]

I agree, I think it's unfortunate when services get shut down post acquisition.

I also agree with you that all startups should have a clear path to monetization. I would assume that institutional investors would require as much before investing, but I think that would probably be assuming too much these days.

However, I don't think that all startups should "turn on" the monetization immediately. For those us trying to build two-sided platforms, we need to get one side of the platform on first. Typically this will be the users as brands and retailers are still very much focused on reach and are very slow to make decisions.

[clarky07]

while i agree, in most cases I personally believe the monetization should start at the beginning. If it's going to be ad supported, adding that later will annoy users for example.

Some of the other things you mentioned I don't think would hinder growth at all. i.e. maybe in app purchase for the private section or sponsored challenges etc. It just seems to me too many good services get shut down because people don't think about how it is going to be profitable.