From simplicity to spaghetti at Basecamp
Simplicity is something we all strive to possess, but as we work and find ways to make our business work more efficiently, we lose sight of that focus.
Transcript
We all realize and we all know that simplicity is something that we strive for. We want to do things simply. We don't want a whole mess of crapola. Crapola is one of the new words I've started to use.
So we like to keep things simple. Keep it simple is my mantra and I talk about it all the time. But there are times when we're doing some projects, they're never finished so we keep messing with it until it becomes what we want as simple as possible. So how I write basically is I write like hell and I delete a bunch of stuff and I end up with one paragraph and it's exactly what I want to do and say. I want to convey what I want to do. So we all strive for that simplicity. I know I do and many of the people that follow me kind of do as well.
So when I woke up this morning, I went on to the base camp community and I saw a post Someone posted something in the campfire about base camp changing their pricing now. I know Just like me they're going through this transition of how they're going to Price their products, right? So with base camp I use base camp and I use hay I really like them. They're simple and they make me do the shit that I need to do Simple.
And they've transitioned away from the one price of 99 bucks for unlimited everything. And they've transitioned into per user, which I never thought that they would do. Now I was on and off base camp because of the pricing.
It's like, well, I do use it, but I don't use it that much. So I don't need to pay 99 bucks. But I got a lot of clients to use it because they're in teams and so on. And for me, who works on my own, I couldn't quite justify it because I have different systems. So when they change their pricing to per user. I jumped on it and I'm using it and I'm using it day in day out and it's fantastic So woke up this morning as I said and I saw this post in campfire and they've changed their pricing again and It's a complete utter fucking mess to be honest.
I mean I Love who they are. I love what they do And I know they're going in in this Transition of pricing, but I don't think they thought this particular one through really It forget the pricing forget how expensive how cheap it is that it's nothing to do with the pricing It's more to do with it's not simple anymore Before it's this is the price. This is what you get Go and have fun now it's if you do this and maybe you need that and maybe this this three tiers now Studies have shown I got nothing to prove this but I know studies have shown having three different tiers generally people pick the middle one But their middle one is Double the price of what the original one was with less features It makes no freaking sense Again, it's not a pricing thing. It's a this It's a paradox of choice. There's three things now I guess there's no paradox because you can choose the things that you want But it's still a paradox in the sense of well, I may grow into this But I don't know if I can upgrade because base camp what they do is once you are within a price Tia They don't generally upgrade you, I think.
I might be wrong in that, but that's usually how it goes. So the fact that I'm paying less than everyone else is because I got in early, et cetera, I'm grandfathered in, which is great for me, but it's just a bit icky. I feel icky in a way because of the way that they've changed their pricing. But again, the price value is not what I'm talking about. It's more to do with the complications that they've created for themselves.
I understand trying to get the sweet spot. I get it, but this ain't it. I don't know who, well, we all know who, came up with this idea, is just pants.
It really is. It makes no sense from the simplicity standpoint. It just makes absolutely no sense.
I think personally you should have two tiers One for kind of concern that the two tiers are exactly the same for The features you get for the two tiers should be exactly the same, right? Go back to your original base camp one price all in right but have two tiers so you have the first one up to 10 or 15 or 20 people try to figure that out and then Everyone above that you have to pay this tier which is double the price or whatever it makes sense Because it's simple again go back to simplicity because right now Now, simplicity has been lost and spaghetti has taken over and it's complete mess, which is what I think. I think consultants like me, yeah, I don't mind taking a hit and paying a little more, but not as much as 99, but then you have double or triple to have people above 10 or 20. That makes sense.
So having a three tier thing is to me spaghetti and it's horrible to see from a simplicity standpoint where businesses need to make money, I get it, but going from how simple a product is, was and the product is great. Don't get me wrong, the product is fantastic and it is still worth it, but going from the simplicity of one price, here you go to pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick. That's absolutely no sense.