Day 502: The Fourth Option
Yesterday, I described three major use cases for browser automation that I can dive into for Browserflow:
- Test automation
- Growth marketing
- Web scraping
Even though there’s an ick factor with growth marketing, I was leaning towards starting with that as it’s where I’ve seen the most demand.
Shiva and I had an amazing call this morning where we talked about my thought process and the ick factor of growth marketing, and he helped me remember something important: For me, this isn’t just about building a business but about doing it in a way that’s in line with my values and creating something I’m proud of.
When I looked at it from this lens, it became clear that I don’t want to prioritize growth marketing as my first flagship use case. I’m actually fine with having it be one of several major use cases, but I don’t want to have it be the first one I focus on because it could lead down a path where Browserflow becomes primarily a growth marketing tool. I want to be intentional about choosing the first primary use case because my initial customers will have the most influence in shaping the direction of Browserflow. I simply wouldn’t feel proud about my answer to “what did you spend thousands of hours building for the past year” being “helping people automate sending messages on social networks”.
So what then?
I thought that meant web scraping option was the place to start, but Shiva reminded me that there’s actually a fourth option on the table: personal productivity. The definitions here are fuzzy because everything could be classified under “productivity”, but I’m thinking of things like streamlining workflows within specific web apps (e.g. helping a customer support specialist streamline answering tickets within Intercom).
I had written off the personal productivity use case because I had planned to only charge for Browserflow Cloud while having the desktop client be completely free. Since my expectation is that the personal productivity use case would primarily happen locally (when the user is “on-session”, or present while the flow is running), that meant that it wouldn’t help me get customers for Browserflow.
But not charging for the desktop client was a self-imposed limitation. There’s actually a way to do it without limiting adoption by individual users due to concerns about ongoing costs: charge only for commercial use.
I’ve seen this done by Obsidian where they provide their product to everyone and have a policy where if you’re using it for commercial purposes, you’re expected to pay $50 per user per year. As far as I know, there’s no enforcement mechanism in place — someone could use it for commercial purposes without paying, but that wouldn’t fly at established companies due to the liability involved.
I like the idea of doing the same thing for Browserflow Desktop: It would be completely free for personal use, but it’d cost money to use it for commercial purposes. Browserflow Cloud would have its own pricing plan separate from Browserflow Desktop for businesses that want to run their automations on a scheduled basis.
I’m so glad I had this conversation with Shiva because it helped me see that there’s a path to building Browserflow as a business while prioritizing use cases that I feel great about rather than lukewarm about. To be clear, I think pursuing growth marketing as the flagship use case would likely be much more lucrative than personal productivity, but this isn’t just about making money for me. The question is not “Can I make a living?” but “Can I make a living building things I love?”
This is a great reminder of the benefit of building this independently as opposed to as a venture-backed startup where I’m beholden to investors: It’s much easier to make decisions based on values rather than on what would make the most money.
Litmus tests I thought about when evaluating the primary use case:
- Would I feel proud of this?
- Is this in line with my values?
- What kind of change would I like to see in the world?
- What kind of people do I want to work with?