Dear Jason and Distillery Solutions Team:
Great idea, and it looks like something I want for my distillery (once I get it up and running). Given that you posted an advertisement here, I think it is only fair to the community if I post my questions here.
1. According to the FAQ on your site, "Monthly fees are priced on a sliding scale, reflective of the size of your distillery's operation". What is the metric for "size of your operations" and will you post the scale on your website/publicly?
2. If you're pricing is based on the size of my "operation," why are there three feature packages? The features are already build, so your marginal cost to giving me access to all of them is negligible (perhaps even less than the cost associated with keeping track of three feature sets and who has what features). Also, this is a new product and more users means more and better feedback, which is golden when you're developing a product. What was the basis for putting a given feature in one package, versus another?
3. It looks like you'll be entering 1 year licensing agreements. If you plan to increase pricing, how much notice will you give customers? Does your licensing agreement provide you the ability to increase prices between renewals?
4. If a customer wants to cease their subscription, how can they port their information from your site. Once ported, will you keep a copy of it, and if so, for what purpose and how long? Can I expect any support once my license expires, or if I decide not to renew (if, for example, I get audited for a period during which I was a subscriber)? Will you charge for this kind of support, and if so, how much?
5. Will your full terms of use be available on your website/publicly? Will a copy of your software agreement be available on your website/publicly?
I don't want to give the impression that I am down on this product; quite the contrary, I think this is a fantastic idea and hope i can use it in my tiny "operation" once it gets fully up and running. I am, however, concerned with the preliminary pricing information I've seen so far. If I'm Stranahans, then $500 is probably a good deal, but if I'm Chris's-not-quite-extant-distillery, that's a crushing number. I'm also sensitive to the fact that when you are using a "cloud" service, your data "belongs" to another company, and they can really do some harm (and therefore extort some serious fees) if they want to. I don't expect that from Distillery Solutions, I'm just hoping you can assuage some of these fears so I can add your software as a line-item on my financial projections.
Thanks for developing this product, and thanks in advance for any answers you can provide.
Cheers,
Chris