There’s nothing on the $50 a month package that seems even remotely worth it to me.
I’m willing to pay monthly for my Adobe subscription, and I also pay monthly for a ton of stock credits (but that’s because I’m a web developer who also does video work)
that said here’s the type of demographic I am:
If Glowforge wanted to turn it’s user base into a monthly revenue stream, here’s what I would say “take my money!” to…
$50 mo - You get a glowforge basic.
$150 mo - You get an upgraded model
$300 mo - You get the pro model.
(give or take let’s say 15-30% on each)
every membership includes full software access and the ability to send your Glowforge back to upgrade or downgrade to another model after, oh, let’s say 18-24 months. split the shipping with us 50/50. full warranty. lifetime.
Simple contract, probably some type of fee for people who just order for one month and send it right back (but there won’t be too many of those shenanigans)
If you want to get a little gimmicky with those monthly fees tack on X number of 'proof grade material credits" every month for $X + where someone can get some materials or save up their credits (pretty much the same way stock works). set up those credits so they expire after one year.
give people an option to ‘buy out’ or ‘lease’
If I’ve been leasing a Glowforge for over 22 months give me a buyout price.
now there is a never-ending revenue stream from the user base and an incentive to continually improve the hardware and software.
probably makes it a little bit easier to set up your corporate P&L statement or calculate your OPEX vs Revenue… should also help to smooth out payroll with a more reliable income stream…
there are way more people in the world who are willing to pay $50 a month then there are who can shell out $5,000… (I’d be willing to bet most people are probably paying off their Glowforge on a credit card)
That’s a model that might let you take your company public with a $1 billion dollar valuation after a few years and some product revolutions… that might even let you make 3D printers or your own desktop CNC machine
on top of all that you’ll be continually getting your quality hardware back in your hands so you can reuse it, repurpose it or resell it.
PS: The software shouldn’t be in the cloud. The software should be installed on our computers. Then you wouldn’t have to pay for servers… and people could use the machine without an internet connection (which would give you a bigger user base)
but in closing you shouldn’t do any of that unless you want a successful company with a never-ending revenue stream that might go public one day on OTC …or maybe… just maybe… the NYSE under a SPAC deal with the ticker: GLOW