Freemium / self-serve tier
Context
2026-03-25-pricing-workshop surfaced a recurring objection: prospects want to try Helix without a sales call. Tom modeled a freemium tier with conversion estimates of 3–6% to paid.
Proposal
Ship a self-serve free tier (5 rules, 50k requests/mo, no SSO) before end of Q3. Pair it with a no-CC signup flow.
Why
- Reduces the 90-day procurement ceiling for accounts like meridian-parts.
- Gives Marketing a top-of-funnel asset.
Open
- Is this above-or-below the line for what mid-market-thesis says is "our" segment?
- Self-serve onboarding requires a polished rules-engine-customer-ui — does that gate the launch?
Status
Proposed. Decision target: 2026-05-15. Marco is the tiebreaker if growth and product disagree.
Backlinks · 9
↪competitive/win-loss-q1…t timeline is a real loss vector — addressed (partially) by freemium-self-serve if it lands. - We have not lost a single design-partner-cla…↪competitive/zapier…ey have 6,000+ app connectors. - Self-serve onboarding (cf. freemium-self-serve). ## Where we win - Performance. Their automation is async…↪meetings/2026-03-25-pricing-workshop…rkshop. Outcomes feed pricing-page-refresh and freemium-self-serve. ## Decisions - Three-tier structure: Starter / Growth / E…↪people/jess-okafor…trategy/2026-okrs]] - rules-engine-narrative - freemium-self-serve ## Notes - Backfill for Head of Product is open; Maya shou…↪people/marco-li…mid-market-thesis - 2026-okrs - freemium-self-serve ## Notes - Wants product to lead with narrative — see [[st…↪people/tom-hayashi…ng-migration]] - 2026-03-25-pricing-workshop - freemium-self-serve ## Notes - The billing freeze in late May affects our [[pr…↪projects/pricing-page-refresh…2026-03-25-pricing-workshop]]. Currently paused pending the freemium-self-serve outcome. ## Why paused - Tiering depends on whether we add…↪strategy/2026-okrs…Lay rails for self-serve - **KR3.1**: Decide on freemium (freemium-self-serve) by 2026-05-15. - **KR3.2**: If accepted, ship self-serve s…↪strategy/mid-market-thesis…s too low. - Self-serve at SMB scale needs a freemium tier (freemium-self-serve) and a brand we don't yet have. ## What mid-market gives u…