Dingman Bootstrapped Episode Tackles Monetization in a Freemium World

The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship produces Bootstrapped, a podcast featuring founders, investors and serial entrepreneurs. The podcast is hosted by Elana Fine, Managing Director of the Dingman Center, and Joe Bailey, Associate Research Professor at the Smith School. Each episode brings a different startup story to life with special guests offering advice and lessons learned on topics that range from fundraising and marketing to team formation and customer acquisition.

This week’s episode of Bootstrapped features Aviva Goldfarb, founder of the Six O'Clock Scramble. This online meal planner offers busy parents health-conscious solutions for the daily scramble of cooking a family dinner. Goldfarb admits "my biggest competitor is free." She monetized her idea through a membership model, offering dietitian-approved recipes that can be made quickly, along with a mobile grocery list. By requiring customers to submit a credit card to activate their free trial,  Goldfarb has managed to gain a sizable following with a 60-70% customer retention rate.

Since Godlfarb started The Six O’Clock Scramble in 2003, she has appeared on the Katie Couric show, the Today Show, NPR and PBS. She is a regular contributor to the Washington Post, and is regularly quoted in popular family and health publications and sites. Goldfarb is the author of 4 cookbooks, including the Amazon bestseller, The Six O'Clock Scramble Meal Planner published by the American Diabetes Association (Feb. 2016). 

To listen to this episode and gain further insights into the startup world, subscribe to Dingman Bootstrapped on iTunes or download the episodes on the Dingman Center website.