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NeetoCal, a calendly alternative, is a commodity and is priced accordingly

blog.neeto.com

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Re: NeetoCal, a calendly alternative, is a commodity and is priced accordingly

#61

Post by kwanbix »

carlosjobim wrote: post #57
kwanbix wrote: post #34

I use TidyCal. It costs 29 one time. More than fair. 4 dollars per month seems still pretty excessive for the very low resource intensive work of such an app. In relation to the prices of Office365/Google Workspace, I don't think this should cost more than 1 euro/dollar per user per month. Even if you compare it to much more resources intensive app like Disney Plus, which costs 8 euros per month, how can this cost 4?

People who won't pay 4 dollars per month will never ever pay 1 dollar per month or even 50 cents per month. They will however argue for weeks online about how it's too expensive.

I wouldn't pay 4 dollars, but I would happily pay 1, which I consider a fair price.

Re: NeetoCal, a calendly alternative, is a commodity and is priced accordingly

#62

Post by latchkey »

zcal is great, but is missing one (actually two) critical features that keeps us on calendly.

This is the feature... the ability to create a meeting 'poll' with all the members on your team, including external people, and it automatically takes into consideration everyone's availability.

https://help.calendly.com/hc/en-us/articles/223146447-Let-in...

The second feature is that I tried to reach out to the zcal support to ask if they had this feature and I could see they read my message, but I never got a response. So, having some sort of decent customer support is another crucial feature.

Re: NeetoCal, a calendly alternative, is a commodity and is priced accordingly

#63

Post by neerajdotname2 »

TravelTechGuy wrote: post #60

I do not understand why people keep building in that space. Not only is it a niche market, but it can be completely decimated by Google/MS adding a feature to their interface. Add to that the non-existing costs of switching between these offerings. I was using the Calendly free tier, and when a feature I wanted was moved off the free tier, it took me all of 30 minutes to move to zcal (most time spent fixing web site,…

I'm part of the team that built neetoCal. Here is my take.

I 100% agree that the switching cost from Calendly is pretty low. There is very little stickiness. I agree that Google/MS adding this feature to their calendar will wipe out a huge portion of the market.

If we take this analogy that Google/MS can add feature X then it would be hard to build anything new. They are gaints and they can build anything.

However being a really big company also means that they might not be able to pay attention to the requirements of individuals. They needs to be in the game where millions of folks are using it.

You can see that in google form. It's simple and it works. Still typeform, jotform and neetoForm are thriving. That's because folks want more than what google form is offering currently.

Re: NeetoCal, a calendly alternative, is a commodity and is priced accordingly

#64

Post by local_crmdgeon »

mxuribe wrote: post #14

Didn't the Basecamp folks (DHH, et al) start out this way too? I commend these folks, and for their transparency on this topic! If they can grow at the pace they wish, then good on them. Kudos and best of luck!

Doesn't DHH have a history of chud opinions? Why are you commending him?

Re: NeetoCal, a calendly alternative, is a commodity and is priced accordingly

#65

Post by neerajdotname2 »

xnx wrote: post #17

Google Calendar recently improved appointment scheduling (including through a public page): https://workspace.google.com/resources/appointment-schedulin... Rough reminder for Calendly (and similar) that it's a feature, not a company.

I've updated the blog to mention that this feature is offered by Google Calendar.

Re: NeetoCal, a calendly alternative, is a commodity and is priced accordingly

#66

Post by nafey »

neerajdotname2 wrote: post #63
TravelTechGuy wrote: post #60

I do not understand why people keep building in that space. Not only is it a niche market, but it can be completely decimated by Google/MS adding a feature to their interface. Add to that the non-existing costs of switching between these offerings. I was using the Calendly free tier, and when a feature I wanted was moved off the free tier, it took me all of 30 minutes to move to zcal (most time spent fixing web site,…

I'm part of the team that built neetoCal. Here is my take. I 100% agree that the switching cost from Calendly is pretty low. There is very little stickiness. I agree that Google/MS adding this feature to their calendar will wipe out a huge portion of the market. If we take this analogy that Google/MS can add feature X then it would be hard to build anything new. They are gaints and they can build anything. However be…

Have you considered flat pricing for lifetime access? You can easily calculate the likely value a subscriber is going to provide over lifetime with discounted cashflows. Then you can ask for that money upfront. Do you think that will be a differentiator?

Re: NeetoCal, a calendly alternative, is a commodity and is priced accordingly

#67

Post by neerajdotname2 »

grhac wrote: post #58

Its incredibly hard to build a "product" and also run a services business. Ultimately the services business will take priority, simply because each deal represents significant $$. I predict this product will become a sideshow, generate $50-100k/yr over a few years and be sold off, of course unless you start to focus on the product and get rid of the consulting gigs. If you do turn into a product business you will qui…

All good points. Here is my take.

Churn is so high because the cost is high. Cost is high because they spend money on marketing and sales. They need to spend that money to have growth because product is the only thing we are doing.

You could be right that with consulting on the side neetoCal might not be able to grow. It's also possible that because of consulting neetoCal would be able to grow. We are not going to spend money on marketing on sales because we are earning so less. We will rely on marketing blog like this one and the word of mouth from our users.

Once we have reached a certain level and neetoCal is mentioned as a "Calendly alternative" in most discussions then the need to spend on marekting is even less.

Lasly we are ok with having a life style business. Important thing is to be alive and not die. That's why we are prioritizing being sustainable over the growth.

Re: NeetoCal, a calendly alternative, is a commodity and is priced accordingly

#68

Post by neerajdotname2 »

KnobbleMcKnees wrote: post #43

>What about marketing and Sales? Won't that cost a lot? Sure, that would cost a lot if you are looking for hypergrowth. Then you need to spend money on ads. We are looking for sustainable growth without spending any money on ads. It means slower growth, but it also means fewer expenses for us. This makes us more sustainable. Companies aren't looking for hypergrowth until they are. And that's when prices rise. I think…

Absolutely. We are optimizing for sustainability. The important thing is not to die. As long as we are alive and we are serving our customers well then we are in "business".

Re: NeetoCal, a calendly alternative, is a commodity and is priced accordingly

#69

Post by neerajdotname2 »

kwanbix wrote: post #34

I use TidyCal. It costs 29 one time. More than fair. 4 dollars per month seems still pretty excessive for the very low resource intensive work of such an app. In relation to the prices of Office365/Google Workspace, I don't think this should cost more than 1 euro/dollar per user per month. Even if you compare it to much more resources intensive app like Disney Plus, which costs 8 euros per month, how can this cost 4?

Credit card companies charge 2.7% + 30 cents for each transaction. It makes it very difficult to charge for anything less than $4.

I'm with you on your ask for 1 euro/dollar per user per month. And that's what is reflect in our yearly billing which is $2 per user per month.

Re: NeetoCal, a calendly alternative, is a commodity and is priced accordingly

#70

Post by Closi »

TravelTechGuy wrote: post #60

I do not understand why people keep building in that space. Not only is it a niche market, but it can be completely decimated by Google/MS adding a feature to their interface. Add to that the non-existing costs of switching between these offerings. I was using the Calendly free tier, and when a feature I wanted was moved off the free tier, it took me all of 30 minutes to move to zcal (most time spent fixing web site,…

The feature already exists for MS... (Microsoft Bookings, free with 365)
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