---
title: "Freemium Model Woes"
id: "3485"
type: "post"
slug: "freemium-model-woes"
published_at: "2013-06-16T14:55:12+00:00"
modified_at: "2014-04-12T20:57:01+00:00"
url: "https://johnpoelstra.com/freemium-model-woes/"
markdown_url: "https://johnpoelstra.com/freemium-model-woes.md"
excerpt: "I listen to a variety of podcasts on startups and small business. It’s a great way to get ideas on the type of business or service that I could be successful at it. There’s also a tremendous amount of learning......"
taxonomy_category:
  - "Personal"
taxonomy_post_tag:
  - "Startups"
---

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# [Freemium Model Woes](https://johnpoelstra.com/freemium-model-woes/)

[http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/790404](http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/790404)

I listen to a variety of podcasts on startups and small business. It’s a great way to get ideas on the type of business or service that I could be successful at it. There’s also a tremendous amount of learning that comes from the experiences other people share.

One particularly good podcast I recommend is Rob Walling’s podcast [Startups For the Rest of Us](http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/)
. I really like his philosophy about startups–small is good and it isn’t all about getting venture capital funding or cashing out for millions of dollars. I’m more interested in finding something I can do on the side and having a good quality of life versus burning out for the big pay-off.

It was cool to see [Walling quoted in a Wall Street Journal article](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443713704577603782317318996.html)
 on the freemium model after I’d heard him discuss this same thing in a podcast. The big take away here is that the freemium model works well for some business models and not so well in others. According to the article usually only 1% to 2% of your free user base converts and as a result this model is best suited for a situation where you have a lot of users to make that one or two percent of the whole profitable.

Here’s the [iTunes podcast link](http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=366931951)
 if you’re interested.

#### John Poelstra

John Poelstra, CPA, coaches directors in finance and software. Certified and trained by the Co-Active Training Institute, he has coached for more than 10 years, with over 520 clients and 3,150 sessions, including people at well-known Fortune 100 companies. In over 30 years of professional experience, he spent 25 in technology and finance: software testing, project management and team leadership at Red Hat and Dell/EMC, and finance as a bank auditor at Wells Fargo and a CPA at Grant Thornton. He hosts The John Poelstra Show podcast and is based in Portland, Oregon.

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June 16, 2013

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