Since most of the people who are going to be your customers will likely not be in the business long (let's be realistic), why not charge a large up front fee for them to purchase the software as opposed to letting them pay a monthly subscription? The daily deal business is extremely difficult (I work at livingsocial) and most of those clones won't last more than a couple months.
Because that's not in our interest long term. If we charge upfront a large amount (and inevitable disincentivize ourselves from providing great support and upgrade to them thereafter -- which are crucial since it's an "extremely difficult" business), we will get negative word of mouth that will not be great for our sales and marketing.
This looks great. I'm curious as to how long on average people who sign up for your site stay with it? Thanks for sharing, and the best of luck with your venture!
Some startups are more demanding than others. There may be a difference depending if you're a founder, early employee, or regular employee. 40 may be too much for some and too little for others.
One of the startups I founded required 10 hours a week from day one. Made my first million. That's when I realized that the number of hours you put in to something doesn't necessarily reflect what you will get back from it.
Another startup I founded required 60 hours a week in the beginning, and 5 hours a week down the road.
These days? RescueTime says I'm at 61 hours this week so far. Obviously not sustainable, but it's what needs to be done to reach my goals. I know where I want my startup to be, and what it will take to get there. It's important to be honest with yourself.
I keep my significant other in the loop so that she understands what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and why I'm putting in long hours. She knows that right now I'm working hard, but there will come a time when I won't have to put in long hours. Communication is key.
There's something to say for efficiency too: make better use of the time you do have. My personal efficiency hovers around 92% — While I'm at the computer, I'm unproductive only 8% of the time. If you're working 40 hours a week and you improve your efficiency by 25%, now you can do 40 hours of work in 30.
The biggest thing is to remember that they can't read your mind, so speak up. There's a big difference between, "I'm working 80 hours a week so I can make lots of money" and "I'm working 80 hours a week so I can help with my sick relatives nursing home bill" or "I'm working 80 hours a week because I'm self concious about my teeth and want to get them fixed." - they can tolerate it more when they understand. If you don't give them enough detail, their imagination will fill in the blanks with things like "they don't care about me" and "they don't want to make time for me." that's when the relationship falls apart.
I fully agree with you. I feel like I'd be as productive at 20 hours as I am at 40 hours. ~30 hours is probably the apex of of the weekly productivity curve.
