About four years after it launched, Meetup decided to charge for its services, which allow users with common interests to organize face-to-face meetings offline.
Immediately, the startup lost some 95% of its activity.
CEO Scott Heiferman says that startups need to implement such risky strategies to elevate their products, and to see what the real demand for such services is.
Despite the initial backlash, Meetup went on to attract close to 14 million members who organize about 400,000 meetings a month in 196 countries.
Watch below Heiferman talk about the dangers of layering too many features onto a product and losing focus, and how entrepreneurs should give their companies enough time to evolve and adapt rather than throwing in the towel at the first sign of trouble.
Produced by Daniel Goodman and Kamelia Angelova
SEE ALSO: How 12-Person Startup SurveyMonkey Became A Billion Dollar Company
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