Show HN: I built a zero-cost, ad-free alternative to LinkedIn

Re:Show HN: I built a zero-cost, ad-free alternative to Link... by macspoofing on Tuesday March 16, 2021 @05:04PM (#26482948)

>I built a zero-cost, ad-free alternative to LinkedIn

Zero-cost and ad-free FOR NOW you mean. At some point you're going to have make money and the only viable options are 1) charity/donations 2) subscription 3) ads and data selling. #2 means you're not 'zero-cost' and #3 means you're not 'ad-free'. So you're going to rely on donations?

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Re:Show HN: I built a zero-cost, ad-free alternative to Link... by arnaudsm on Tuesday March 16, 2021 @05:31PM (#26483315)

Imagine if LinkedIn was administered like Wikipedia : non-profit, and ultra-optimized to cost $0.007/active_monthly_user (vs ~1$ for FB)

It's hard for successful founders to turn down a multi-million acquisition offer, but they should never forget the cost for society.

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Re:Show HN: I built a zero-cost, ad-free alternative to Link... by 4sellff on Tuesday March 16, 2021 @05:27PM (#26483257)

With all due respect, there are additional options to choose from. We are still very early in this, but I will "take the bait" since monetization seems to be an issue that people care about.

A percentage of revenue is I think a fair option. I am not referring to the previous comment about 30% [or even 10%]. I hate fees as much as the next person and taking a giant cut of your customers income is not the way to grow a business.

Also, as it relates to zero-cost, using your Visa card is free to you, but not the merchant. However, those fees are being included in the price you pay for the products/services.

A question for you: If you are making $100 per month from a service, what is a "fair" price for you to pay to continue having usage of that service? - Are you OK to look at ads, so long as your cost is zero? - Are you OK to pay $5.00 per month, so you do not have to look at ads? - Or, do you prefer to have no ads and pay a % of your monthly income that you generate from using the service?

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Re:Show HN: I built a zero-cost, ad-free alternative to Link... by wpietri on Tuesday March 16, 2021 @07:18PM (#26484481)

I'm sure you mean well, but "we'll figure out sustainability later" has huge negative trust value to me. That's basically what LinkedIn did and it has not worked out well for me. The incentives for eternal revenue growth are incredibly strong, and I have no reason to think you're uniquely capable of resisting them for the next 20 years. I'm am unlikely to go through all the switching cost just to help create a different hegemon.

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Re:Show HN: I built a zero-cost, ad-free alternative to Link... by macspoofing on Wednesday March 17, 2021 @10:12AM (#26491487)

>We are still very early in this, but I will "take the bait" since monetization seems to be an issue that people care about.

There's no 'bait'. I don't have issues with ad-supported or subscription-supported services. I do think you should set realistic expectations, namely, today you are 'zero-cost' and 'ad-free' because you're starting out and need to get users for your social network. This is how every social network started as well. At some point, that will change because you have bills to pay.

>A percentage of revenue is I think a fair option.

Can you elaborate on that?

>A question for you:

I actually have no issue with the linkedin model: Free/ad-supported tier, and subscription tiers for those who want extra functionality. I'm not sure about taking a cut of revenues. That would be a logistical nightmare unless you're also the payment processor.

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Re:Show HN: I built a zero-cost, ad-free alternative to Link... by disiplus on Tuesday March 16, 2021 @07:02PM (#26484354)

that's not zero cost, and would be closest to the subscription model.

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