Comments on: Last Chance – GoGrid Free Trial Credit Ends July 2nd!

By: Wagner Silva

Wagner Silva — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:59:19 +0000

Obs2: Besides, we still waiting the ability to scale the RAM up and down just clicking an arrow. The idea to delete a server and create a new one using the same MyGSI is not so good. If one day this feature should be used, the auto-scale up or down will be very welcome.

By: Wagner Silva

Wagner Silva — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:51:24 +0000

I think GoGrid offered a trial period for a incomplete product.
Now when you will finally release the MyGSI feature you intend to stop the free credit.
How will custumers trial the real product.

Obs.: I consider GoGrid as a Full Product only when release MyGSI.

By: Michael Sheehan

Michael Sheehan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:50:02 +0000

John,

Thanks for your comments.

To answer your last question first: If you sign up for GoGrid before July 2nd, 2009 and you get your $50 free trial credit and don't deploy any servers until months later, you will still have your credit. We have stated that as long as you have signed up with a valid credit card, your account will receive a credit: "Your credit card will not be charged until you've used $50 worth of our cloud computing services."

In terms of your other thoughts (e.g., the 5 positives), here are a few to think about:
1) Many SaaS and other companies while in beta frequently offer free trials or discounts during that period. This is used to attract a critical mass. We have done this and have 1000's of customers.
2) I don't believe that any of the other IaaS or Cloud Computing hosting providers currently have a free trial. As we are an established Cloud Computing provider, we believe that our product features and reputation stand up just fine without the free trial.
3) "Giving away" service does cut into the bottom line. This money could be spent elsewhere on building up the GoGrid product, getting more features out sooner, enabling us to do more and bring more to our current and new customers.
4) When you give away service, the quality of the customer is potentially lower than with premium services. While "tire-kickers" were good when the Cloud was new, it is rapidly becoming mainstream.
5) For any company, a recurring revenue model is better than a one-time trial and abandon model. Even compared to AWS (who frequently tout the "use and discard" example of the NYTimes), we believe that the longevity of customers is more critical. For example, as we pitch to IT professionals or SysAdmins, it's important to think about people doing longer lasting products, who can then capitalize on volume discounts, which, in the end benefit both sides of the equation (cheaper costs and longer revenue cycles)
6) Credits are not going away altogether, the leads just need to be more qualified if and before credits are granted.
7) Especially in this day and age, there is no such thing as a perpetual "free lunch".
8) While we have pretty robust checks for fraud and spammers, removing the trial helps to cut down on the possibility of misuse of the GoGrid cloud, thus enabling us to truly service legitimate customers and not chase down hackers who potentially bring down the quality of service for others.

That is just a quick brain dump…I'm sure there are others. Hope that helps.

-Michael

By: John

John — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:49:35 +0000

What I mean is, I know people that are simply waiting for the MyGSI feature before they sign up to get there free credit to trial GoGrid, if they sign up before the 2nd, will the credit sit on there account until they use it up, anotherwords, will it be there waiting for them when the MyGSI feature is available, or will it simply vanish before they can use it with the MyGSI feature?

Thanks,
John.

By: John

John — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:44:00 +0000

Absolutely terrible, who is making this decision?
In companies there are the smart people that know what there doing and bring positive changes, and then there are damaging employees, usually the latter get fired and removed over time, but you can tell them apart because the former can always argue there changes will be positive effect on the companies future with prepared summaries and lists of positive and negative effects, and the later are exposed when they attempt to create this list and summary after they have made there decision, because had they made the list and summary, they would have realised it brings no positive changes, or the positive changes are severely outweighed by the negative effects, and I think it's like a damaging employee that made this decision.

I would love a brief summary from them of the intended positive effects that will be attributed directly to them that they foresee there decision and actions having on GoGrids long and short term Growth, Goals and Conversion Rates, including a list of no less than five positive and any potentially foreseeable negative effects there actions will have on the short and long term company growth and sales conversion rates, with a mention of how it fits with the goals and upcoming services & features at GoGrid.

I think it would make an interesting blog post Michael, but it's unlikely you will be able to create it
BTW, if people sign up before the 2nd, will any free credit vanish and be unavailable for the release of the MyGSI feature??