Commentary from Launch: Silicon Valley

by K. V. Rao

It’s amazing how many companies are moving to a subscription model! Of course, we already knew this --- but after yesterday’s “Launch: Silicon Valley” conference, where Zuora presented alongside other innovative start-ups, we saw that subscriptions are no doubt the wave of the future.

Something interesting to note is that a number of start-ups feel that a freemium/ad-supported model is not good enough anymore and are offering premium services on a subscription/usage basis. These companies are differentiating themselves by offering innovative pricing and packaging models. Some examples are Grouply and Capzles. Another innovative company that got a lot of attention was TechShop, a company providing manufacturing facilities on a subscription basis, kind of Kinko’s for geeks.

Here’s a link to Rafe Needeman’s Webware article highlighting some of the companies from the show: http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9964755-2.html