Freemium to Premium: Amir Helzer Reveals Key Lessons from WPML's Business Model Transformation

04/09/24 • 41 min

Amir Helzer is the founder of OnTheGoSystems, the company behind WPML, a leading multilingual plugin used by over a million websites. Originally, WPML was a freemium plugin, but due to unfortunate — even somewhat controversial — circumstances, Amir and his team decided to make the product paid only. This business model shift would end up transforming his company for the better.

In this episode, we dive into the challenges and dynamics of taking a product from freemium to premium successfully, from community buy-in and market positioning to pricing models and retaining users. Whether you're a seasoned developer or a budding entrepreneur, this episode is a must-listen for anyone navigating the ever-changing landscape of software monetization.

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Thanks to Amir for joining us and providing such valuable advice about building successful distributed companies. Join us next week with Yoast founder Joost de Valk for his insights about the power of raising funds in bootstrapping ecosystems.

plugin.fm is brought to you by Freemius, your all-in-one payments, subscriptions, and taxes platform for selling software, plugins, themes, and SaaS. If you enjoyed this episode, head over to plugin.fm to check out previous episodes.

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Previous Episode

David vs. Goliath: Justin Ferriman on How Underdog Entrepreneurs Can Overpower Bigger Software Competitors

Justin Ferriman is the founder and former CEO of LearnDash, a platform that he grew from a simple blog to one of the leading solutions in the LMS space through a mixture of aggressive marketing and clever ‘guerilla’ tactics that helped him take on bigger competitors. He’s a non-technical founder who approaches business with a competitive streak that’s seen him go from underdog to top dog in the eLearning industry.

At the height of LearnDash’s success, Justin sold the company at 32% YoY growth with a whopping 76% profit margin. He’s since settled into the role of elite business coach at his company BrightGrowth, where he nurtures and guides the star entrepreneurs of the future.

Thanks to a combination of savvy business instincts, constant content creation, and confident competitiveness, Justin has realized great success. In this episode, we examine the specific strategies and tactics he used to take on bigger competitors with more resources to emerge as the victor.

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Thanks to Justin for joining us and providing such valuable advice about building successful distributed companies. Join us next week with Amir Helzer, the founder of OnTheGoSystems. His company is responsible for WPML, the leading multilingual plugin used by more than a million websites.

Next Episode

From SEO Maestro to Investing Magician: Joost de Valk on the Power of Raising Funds In Bootstrapping Ecosystems

Joost de Valk shaped the landscape of WordPress SEO with his company Yoast. What started as a small bootstrapped product grew into a 40-person enterprise with over 12 million websites using the flagship product Yoast SEO. Incredibly, this was just the beginning of Joost’s journey. In 2021, Joost and his wife Marieke van de Rakt exited Yoast, which set him on a new, exciting path into the world of investing with Emilia Capital.

In this episode, Joost shares his unique experience and perspective of the software creator ecosystem as seen from both sides of the fence. We explore his investment criteria, outcome expectations, and the intricate dance between profit and growth.

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Thanks to Joost for joining us and providing such valuable advice about building successful distributed companies. Join us next week with Jason Cohen, a serial entrepreneur and the founder of the renowned WP Engine, as we explore how to build and scale successful businesses.