Early users can be a key source of legitimacy and feedback for a startup. But it’s important to keep in mind that how they behave could depend on how much it costs them.
“Free users behave very differently from users that will pay you money for things,” said Len Markidan. “If you build your product and get user feedback and make changes based on what free users want, you’re going to delineate from what actually is going to make your product valuable to paid users.”
That’s one of the insights the Baltimore-based head of marketing at online help desk software startup Groove and other entrepreneurs share in Technical.ly’s Tomorrow Toolkit, an ebook on how to build a business.
Read it
The 20,000-word effort was part of the Tomorrow Tour, a six-city event and reporting series Technical.ly produced with Comcast NBCUniversal.
For Baltimore entrepreneurs, there’s also lots of chances to learn about other cities in Tomorrow Tour recap articles. Consider these three:
- Despite its national reputation, Detroit has lots of young, entrepreneurial residents looking to create their own way forward for a city that has struggled from a major industry downturn. A deep-pocketed entrepreneur is creating spaces to further help entrepreneurs.
- Building on a history of tech successes, tech leaders in Atlanta are working to extend entrepreneurship to the entire population and address infrastructure issues in the urban core.
- Denver’s tech history is partially tied to a nearby sister city with a high-profile investor, and a long history in federal government projects. A big boost of 20- and 30-somethings relocating have given the Denver scene momentum of its own.
Startup cities have a lot in common, so steal some of these ideas and make them Charm City’s own.
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