The Paid Beta
I like calling them “early access” periods instead of betas, but I won’t hold that against Bryan. He makes some great points about having people pay as soon as possible.
At its core, a paid beta is just a more dynamic version of an MVP. The mechanics are incredibly simple:
- You mock out a simple product or even just a promise.
- You let people make small, flat payments (think $1 to $5) for access and in return you continue building out core product features.
- Over time, the product will grow under the proper evolutionary pressure of what users will pay for.
via Bootstrapping an Idea: the Paid Beta.