Cred & Clubhouse : Value First, Monetization Later

Apr 7

Cred & Clubhouse : Value First, Monetization Later

Journey

What if I look at my life holistically, set 5 goals that encompass everything I want to focus on and stop wasting my time on YouTube or Instagram.

I had a great time last week on my trip to Goa. I want to make sure that I do that more often while also being focused on my goals and optimizing my time for going after the things that I want.

I want to wake up everyday with the same energy to crush it at whatever I do and I want to have new experiences.

Last week sort of opened my eyes!

Btw if you’re planning a trip to Goa, definitely check out Thalassa.

Insight

Startups that began with no solid monetization strategy are now starting to experiment with generating cash.

In India, CRED – a credit card repayment platform – has brought millions of Indians on the platform with its aggressive IPL marketing.

BCCI announced CRED as official Partner for IPL for three years - CricAngel

It only allows consumers with credit scores higher than 750 to join the community and rewards them with discount points for paying their credit bills.

“Last year, Cred also strengthened its monetisation strategy with two new products — a monthly rent payment product called Rentpay and a personal loan product for eligible customers called Cred Cash. In December it launched Cred Pay, a payment checkout facility with Visa and RazorPay for select merchants.” – Economic Times

In US, Clubhouse is booming. The audio-based social platform brought people together during the pandemic to talk about everything from their passions to the mundane.

The First Rule of Clubhouse Is Don't Talk About Clubhouse | Jing Daily

Started with no clear monetization strategy, Clubhouse’s new feature allows the audience to send payments directly to the creator on the app. The platform takes no cut and currently, payments can only be received by a select number of users.

“This comes weeks after Clubhouse started its first creator accelerator programme, through which it aims to help 20 creators build their audiences and monetise their shows.” – Economic Times

These guys have validated the assumption that you can always offer value first and think about monetization later.

Again, a lot of intricacies are involved here which we need to keep in mind. Some startups cannot afford to not make money. Moreover, if your product actually finds product-market-fit and you take too long to monetize, a big guy could clone your product and now, you might not have enough funds to compete.

In both the cases, the founders of Cred and Clubhouse are second-time entrepreneurs, they’re aware of the competition from big guys and have built a product that people actually love.