Instead of saying that "free" plans don't work outright, I argue that they work for some type of products and don't work for other products.
He provided examples of niche products that so far, serve small markets. LessAccounting, Crazy Egg, - what is their user base numbers? One example he gives has a user base of 5,000 users. If you are a niche product, I don't think the free plan is ideal since you are serving a small market and need to build a user base before it makes sense.
Conversely, if you have an app that is going to get a really large user base, and I'm talking 'millions', then it probably will work (i.e. google, twitter, facebook, ect.). The example of those are far and few.
The other comment I would make is, maybe you aren't creating a compelling enough product to get a user demand that supports a 'freemium' biz model.
He provided examples of niche products that so far, serve small markets. LessAccounting, Crazy Egg, - what is their user base numbers? One example he gives has a user base of 5,000 users. If you are a niche product, I don't think the free plan is ideal since you are serving a small market and need to build a user base before it makes sense.
Conversely, if you have an app that is going to get a really large user base, and I'm talking 'millions', then it probably will work (i.e. google, twitter, facebook, ect.). The example of those are far and few.
The other comment I would make is, maybe you aren't creating a compelling enough product to get a user demand that supports a 'freemium' biz model.