The 5 criteria for freemium by Slack's @far33d:

1. Do you have low-cost distribution?
2. Is there a fast activation path?
3. Does your product have growth loops?
4. Does your user have purchasing power?
5. Is there a clear value metric?

1. Do you have low-cost distribution?
If not, start by building an acquisition engine

An acquisition engine requires a deep understanding of users: content, competition, cross-company virality

"Paid marketing & freemium are oil and water"

2. Is there a fast activation path?
If not, make onboarding a core priority

Free users require fast activation or else they'll churn or remain dormant forever

"Free can attract the wrong users, activate the right ones ASAP"

3. Does your product have growth loops?
If not, expand into multi-player features

Build features that enable collaboration, cross-team visibility and unlock value for managers

"Teams are inherently collaborative, but we have to productize it."

4. Does your user have purchasing power?

If yes, remove as much friction as possible

- Optimize your pricing page
- Self-serve add-ons & upgrades
(no sales rep needed!)

If no, find ways to work around procurement and manager approvals

5. Is there a clear value metric?

Determine your first value metric and create a conversion at this moment

Value should increase over time, but start you need to start somewhere!

"Premium features are hard to anchor on!"

This talk was created for SaaS School, an invite-only program for entrepreneurs to learn from the fastest growing software companies like Airtable, Dropbox, Drift, Slack and more.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get an invite to the next one on 1/16! http://briannekimmel.com/