As a bootstrapper who just launched a product in this space[1], I was VERY strongly advised not to implement any freemium model.

I don't know their history, but from the article, it seems like they started out free to get the massive user base and were hoping to convert free users into paying customers with the sales team they hired. Once people are used to something for free, it's very difficult to get them to pay. If there's more stories like this, I wonder if VC's will start to demand less freemium-type models.

[1] https://touchingbase.io