Ask HN: Should I charge for a closed beta?

[alanchavez]

I'm about to finish an application that I've been developing for about a month, and I have a list of 2,000 qualified leads that are waiting for my application to be released.

My question is, should I charge for a closed beta? I feel like I shouldn't charge for a closed beta, but I also want to have a reward for my hard work, at least to break even with my expenses.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

[fmilne]

Personally I wouldn't charge during the closed beta because the insights you will gain from your first customers is worth more than money.

That being said, if you need to keep the roof over your head, let a few people try the product for a short amount of time, and ask them how much they would be willing to pay. You can fine tune the amount as you add more customers and get more feedback.

[byoung2]

I work for a startup and we didn't charge for our closed beta. I think it is better to get feedback from everyone, including people who would have been scared away by a price tag.