GigaOM » Free: a Tactic, not a Business Model
Is it necessary to remind people that they can’t run a successful business by giving everything away? This reminds me of the old joke about the company losing money on each product it sells. Their retort is, “We’ll make it up in volume.”
Every few months I see an article extolling the need to make a profit as a business model. This seems so obvious that I keep reading each of these articles thinking I’m going to find genius that’s obscured by the obvious title. I leave disappointed. It’s clear that free isn’t a business model.
Here’s my obvious statement for the day for which I hope TechMeme picks me up, “Writing a tech blog that has no way for customers or advertisers to pay you is not a business model.” =)