Quietdesk hit 600 euros MRR. The unglamorous retrospective

Second product, fewer features, first one paid off a car. Quietdesk is a help desk for a team of one: inbox, canned replies, done. No automations, no AI, no reports. 600 euros from 41 customers at 12-19 euros.

What worked: selling to people exactly like me (solo founders drowning in support), a 9-minute setup video with no editing, and replying to every ticket within the hour for the first six months. Speed was the feature.

What did not: a lifetime deal launch that brought 200 users and 3 conversions to monthly. Never again. The free plan that 900 people use and 4 pay for. Cutting it next month, scared and decided.

Next: raising the entry price to 19 and adding exactly one thing (collision detection, two people answering the same ticket). Then silence and support.

Congratulations. The lifetime deal lesson is one everyone pays tuition to learn. 41 customers who chose you at full price beat 200 who chose a discount. What is the churn?

4.1% monthly logo churn, mostly year-one solos quitting their products, not quitting me. Revenue churn lower, the annuals stay. Cutting free should help: support load is 60% free users.

"The free plan that 900 people use and 4 pay for" is going on my wall. Queuekind has the same shape. How are you telling the free users?

Thirty days notice, export tool, discount for the first year, and I answer every angry reply myself. Expecting 30 angry replies and 5 conversions. Both are fine.

Ignore the free-plan debate for a second. Real question: why collision detection as the one thing?

Because it is the only ticket where a solo founder looks unprofessional in front of a customer: two replies, two answers. Everything else can wait. Chosen by support tag frequency, not by gut.