Jen and I have been running Quill for over a year -- and despite the demand, we've never raised our prices. Why would we?
What we charge therapists covers the costs to run the business. And we don't have investors to please -- the closest thing we have to a board room is our dining room table, which is typically covered with crayons, half-completed LEGO sets, and a variety of Pokemon cards. And unlike investors, our kids are not demanding unsustainable growth, just... more LEGO sets and Pokemon cards.
We have no intention of 1) pricing our service at a loss in the hopes of quickly gaining market share in the short-term or 2) pricing our service higher just because we could possibly get away with it.
You'll see lots of VC-backed startups in the mental health space doing the above -- or sometimes worse, offering something as "free". And believe me, there are always some strings attached -- maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but there will be a catch. Providing software-as-a-service always has some operating costs, so... it is 100% reasonable to charge something for providing that service. (And if it's providing value, folks will be okay with paying for it too!)
Anyway, thanks for listening to my TED talk.
Sincerely,
Jon
