Recurring Revenue Is the Reward, Not the Prize
The first revenue model I built for our software platform charged a monthly fee on every line. Remote unlock, a fee. Extra users, a fee. Even the log showing who came through the door. On paper it was beautiful. Recurring revenue on everything.
I killed it before launch.
A lock is not an app. When someone buys a physical product for their front door, they’ve bought the whole product. Charging them monthly to use what they already own isn’t a service. It’s rent on their own front door, and people feel the difference immediately.
So we drew a line instead. Everything the product must do to be the product is free for as long as the customer owns it. The service tier charges only for what genuinely adds something beyond that.
The commercial effect surprised me. The question that used to hang over every sales conversation, what’s the catch, simply disappeared. Buyers stopped negotiating against a suspected trap and started evaluating the actual product. Trust converts better than lock-in.
Here’s what I’d say to any founder about to bolt a subscription onto their hardware. Nobody cancels a service attached to a product they love. They cancel the one that made them feel trapped, and they tell people why.
Recurring revenue isn’t the prize. It’s the reward.
My latest piece for Forbes Business Development Council is about why the subscription is a product decision long before it’s a business model decision.
Read More: https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2026/07/31/built-not-borrowed-recurring-revenue-is-earned-not-installed/
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