This is of course not an actual stat, but I don't think we should discount the value of being part of a network (any network) that can get you actual paying customers in the door.

I don't believe that the feedback of free users, or "friends & family" is worth even a fraction of what you get when someone's spent a four-figure sum on your software, while knowing that it's imperfect, and they need it to _really_ work.