I was pleased to have been invited to speak at the first Freemium Summit last Friday, March 26, 2010 in San Francisco, California. It was a standing-room only crowd and I must give serious props to the organizer Charles Hudson for pulling together such a phenomenal range of speakers and topics.
While I was the lone contrarian in the group, speaking on "Freemium and the Enterprise: Proceed with Caution" and warning those in niche B2B markets especially of the fact that Freemium is likely not even an option for you, all of the speakers had some form of caution for the audience. Universally they said Freemium is not for everyone and it is risky.
The part of my presentation that got the most tweets and I think the biggest reaction was was the back of the napkin math that I encourage those wanting to try Freemium to do. This starts on slide 14, but slide 16 really nails the point home. Everyone says Freemium is a numbers game; indeed, but if the numbers aren't there to begin with, its a non-starter. Check it out.
The other big reaction was perhaps my giving big ups to Biggie Smalls and the complex concept of "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems". Overall, what a fun, energetic, and very receptive audience at the Freemium Summit.
I welcome your comments, feedback, questions, or attacks... ready, aim...
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Author: Lincoln Murphy (@lincolnmurphy on Twitter)