Comments for nimbletoad blog

Comment on Web Applications – Part 2 – “Value Add” by Eric LeVine

Eric LeVine — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:18:50 +0000

Hey Drew,

Best of luck with VineCat.

The decision to make CellarTracker free with voluntary payment was actually the best decision I ever made. A cellar manager is a very sticky tool, and the longer people use it the more value they derive. So I have found that a rather large percentage of users are perfectly willing to pay, voluntarily, for CellarTracker on an annual basis. The business is thriving, people are fanatically loyal, and I am investing heavily in a massive redesign to take things to a whole different level.

Thanks,
-Eric

Comment on Web Applications – Part 2 – “Value Add” by Drew Hendricks

Drew Hendricks — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:48:29 +0000

Sorry, I had the marketplace confused with retail sales. I thought Vinfolio received some revenue from sales that occur within the marketplace. I am sure retail sales generated from Vincellar added to the bottom line, but not enough to save Vinfolio from the difficult economy of 2009. The January 17th blog post by Steve Bachman states, "...Vinfolio experienced a much more difficult sales environment during 2009." You say I am quite wrong, but If core customer sales stayed the same and the new customers did buy, why did Vinfolio have a difficult sales year? Increased overhead?

Comment on Web Applications – Part 2 – “Value Add” by Alder Yarrow

Alder Yarrow — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:02:44 +0000

I’m not the one who paid to have vincellar redesigned, just the guy who got paid to do it, but I’m fairly certain that the decision and investment to redesign the product and make it free was not based on the assumption that it would turn into revenue for the marketplace. It was based on the assumption that it would turn into retail sales and service (i.e wine storage) revenue. And it really really did. Your assumptions that core customers slowed down buying and new customers didn’t buy are quite wrong.

Comment on Web Applications – The True Price of Free by nimbletoad blog » Blog Archive » Web Applications – Part 2 – “Value Add”

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:04:02 +0000

[...] up a few points about the web application, Vincellar, much more succinctly than I could. He wrote, “[Vincellar] would never have generated the revenues required to justify the investment made [...]

Comment on Web Applications – The True Price of Free by Drew Hendricks

Drew Hendricks — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:55:23 +0000

Daniel, sorry for the typo(s). You are correct VinFolio does a fantastic job on “collector services.” They do an awesome job of active management, storage, acquisition, and sales of wine cellars. My point is that VinCellar is not a direct revenue generator. They use it as a lead generation tool for the services you mentioned.

Comment on Web Applications – The True Price of Free by Drew Hendricks

Drew Hendricks — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:49:13 +0000

Alder, (BTW great work on VinCellar) Yes this post was biased. Yes, Vinecat will be based on a subscription model. I don’t fault VinFolio for being in wine retail. I was for many years. As a business this is great. I just wanted to point out that the value add (mainly because of your company’s kick ass app) became a bigger draw than the retail marketplace in 2009. People got it for free, invested time into it, and now because it is “a value add” and not a reason for existence. Its future might stand in jeopardy.

CellarTracker might be free, but there is a pretty hard push for donations once you sign up. When do donations end and customer buy in and subscriptions begin?

Comment on Web Applications – The True Price of Free by Alder Yarrow

Alder Yarrow — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:20:16 +0000

Actually, you don’t know what you’re talking about, and given your work on VineCat (let me guess, a subscription model, right?) not exactly unbiased. Vincellar was originally a subscription model too, and would never have generated the revenues required to justify the investment made in its creation and redesign (which my company http://www.hydrantsf.com did) Vinfolio’s business model was always and has always been retail wine sales and wine storage fees, and Vincellar was merely a value add service on top of that.

It’s pretty silly to argue for a subscription model for wine cellar management with the existence of CellarTracker in the marketplace for free.

Vinfolio’s bankruptcy had nothing to do with Vincellar not delivering, and was a function of missteps in how cash was handled in the business. Over the past few years the company’s revenues grew significantly.

Comment on Web Applications – The True Price of Free by Daniel Valdo

Daniel Valdo — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:26:06 +0000

You say that Vinfolio is “not in the business of proving cellar management”. If you meant “providing”, then you are incorrect. As a Vinfolio customer, I can assure you that they are in the business of cellar management. They have several collector services for which they do charge, including an onsite inventory service which then extends into VinCellar.

Comment on The True Secret to a Better Google Page Rank by Omer Cuppett

Omer Cuppett — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:07:29 +0000

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Comment on HTML 5 Highlights by Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:40:43 +0000

Yo what’s up? I couldn’t help but notice that my band name has already been taken on twitter! Nice look I like the layout. What exactly do you guys do? Maybe we could collaborate sometime. Take care