Why Indie Masterminds is now FREE?

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Last week I announced that my premium community Indie Masterminds in now free..

And I got a lot of mixed reactions - confusion + curiosity.. so I had to write this post share my thoughts behind this move..

It's not technically free - it's freemium.

That's the first thing I need to clarify. There's still a paid pro plan where you get more access to me, more value, more content, more premium stuff.

There's an entire library of deep-dive content for premium members. So yes, it's freemium, not free.

I just posted this screenshot inside the community yesterday to share all the pro member perks

And here's what any smart entrepreneur will tell you: freemium is not a pricing strategy, it's a marketing strategy.

The Power of Letting People In

This is a way for me to get more people in the community, give them a taste of what the community is about, what I am about.

It helps them build trust, and once they see the value, they can upgrade their membership to get more value or a different type of value from the community.

We tried this with my SaaS (Elephas) last year.

We went from a paid-only model to a freemium model and saw a lot of new signups, better revenue, and better traction.

A lot more people started using our product, got a sense of it, could trust it, and then eventually upgraded to paid.

That's one reason for the change.

The Friends I've Made Along the Way

Over the last 3-4 years, as I've been active on social media talking about my journey, I've made many online friends via Twitter, LinkedIn, and my newsletter. People who’ve followed me for a while and sen me launch 15 different things over 4 years..

Faces I see and engage with every day online, and vice versa.

They may or may not benefit from the premium community features, but I still want them to be around.

I want to be in their orbit, want to be close to them so that whenever they need help - or just for communication - they can always reach out to me easily. And for that, they shouldn’t have to pay.

The Twitter algorithm, the LinkedIn algorithm - I don't trust any of those.

Many of these online friends don't need the pro options, but I still want them to be part of the work that I do.

So it makes sense to give them a free invite and ask them to come in. This way, whenever I want to reach out to them or they want to reach out to me, there's a clear space.

From Validation to Trust-Building

When I started Indie Masterminds 3 years ago, it had to be paid because I was looking for validation.

Whenever you start a new project, you can only validate it with a buy button. If someone doesn't pay for it, then it's not worth it.

So in that sense, it had to be paid.

But now, over time, I've seen that it is worth it.

The validation is there. People are paying for the membership, even on a recurring basis.

So now it's a matter of building trust. That's when moving to freemium makes sense.

Increasing my luck surface area

In the initial days, I was looking at community as a business model. But now I primarily look at community as a networking model.

There are other things I can do to make money, but there are not many other things I can do to build my network or have interesting friends, have entrepreneur friends.

For that, community makes sense.

I wanted to expand my surface area - the people who engage with me on a regular basis, who like my work, who can see my work.

Quality Without the Paywall

Another reason for keeping it paid initially was that paid ensures that people who are super interested come in, only people who are driven come in.

I thought that was the only way to ensure a quality audience - someone willing to pay.

But I've realized something: Paying money is not the only signal of intentionality or of being a quality community member.

I can hand-curate each and every person who comes in.

As long as I am good at my job of curation, the community overall will improve.

Even though it's free, it's not noisy or spammy because everyone who comes in gets a personal invite from me.

You have to fill out a form, and only if you match the vibe, do you actually get the invite to join the community.

I feel confident making it free because I still have control over who joins and who doesn't.

The Bottom Line

So yeah, broadly this is how I think about it.

Freemium as marketing strategy.

Building trust at scale.

Maintaining relationships with online friends without algorithmic interference.

Expanding my network while maintaining quality through curation rather than payment.

Does it make sense?

I think it does.. and if it doesn’t then I can always revert the decision in 6 months time..

Lets see..

Let me know what you think?

And join in if you think we’re a good fit