How V1 Sports grows

Replaced the consumer freemium model (basic video telestration free, advanced paid) with a free trial into the paid Golf+ subscription (~$60, now $70/year). Long-time free users were not grandfathered; the change applied to future use and did not hold data hostage. The only free carve-out is students interacting with their own instructor. Decided on instinct because no one could reconstruct why freemium existed; the team accepted the backlash after wargaming complaints and betting that for every 4 complainers, 10 would subscribe.

Students of instructors on the B2B platform can join the consumer app and send videos to and interact with their coach for free; the paywall never interrupts this. The pro pitches it as 'the free app you use to interact with me'. Users are segmented by whether they came through a pro; the ~3/4 who didn't are the ones asked to pay.

Added a short (under a minute) onboarding question, framed like a clerk at a 'golf improvement store': how do you want to improve? Choices cover the few ways to improve (work with a coach, watch your own swing, analyze it, content). Accepts the extra friction ('positive friction') to filter out non-ideal users. Show the full menu of options even when a user names one goal.

Told users plainly that subscribing lets V1 deliver a better product, with little more. The lesson: when a message has three nuanced points, only the first is heard, so extra weeks polishing the announcement (a fifth email) go unnoticed. Still explain changes; guest opposes silent price increases that users find later on a bill.

Before a disruptive decision, play out the conversation with a real person (e.g. the one-star reviewer who had it free for 9 years) as if it happened face to face, like a bartender or dry cleaner. Ask: would we be comfortable having this conversation, and with others overhearing it? Go ahead only with conversations the team is comfortable with.

Looked for assets only V1 has: ~100K summer MAU at 21 min/month plus ~30% of North American instructors. Now building ways to connect coach-seeking golfers with instructors. More golfers wanting help attracts more instructors.

When moving B2B pros onto new software and pricing, the team has full autonomy to make it right, within guardrails set ahead of time: nobody keeps using it free forever; they must pay something and move toward the goal. Ask 'why' to find the real reason; avoid anyone leaving angry.

The core swing video analysis is commoditized, so the $70/year Golf+ price is set as an entry step rather than the price that maximizes first-purchase revenue. The pitch: same core tool as everyone else, plus extras (coaching, content) only V1 offers, so users grow with it. The approach comes from the B2B side, where adding upsells changed how V1 priced the first purchase.