My overgrown side-project, Maptio (the tool for mapping human ecosystems in nested circles) is not only a product, but a living laboratory for me to experiment with how we can work in more impactful, creative ways.

In the spirit of reinventing finance and working more artfully with money that’s covered in my book, I’ve been experimenting with radically inclusive pricing so the tool can be fully available to the most purpose-driven initiatives on the planet regardless of their financial means.

In the first experiment, we dropped the usual software pricing of a set of ‘plans’ that restrict customer access and instead suggested price points to customers based on their size and type of initiative, but let them self-select their price and even apply a 20% or 40% discount. To my delight, less than half of new subscribers took the cheapest possible option, and the average was twice the minimum. So much for rational self(ish) interest!

We’ve now gone further and simplified it to a sliding scale of pricing that goes even lower at the bottom end, and also higher at the top end (we hope that now and again, some financially fortunate people who love what we do will contribute more and help us to be sustainable). We’ve also introduced free accounts for those doing vital work yet have no ability at all to pay for a subscription.

It might work, it might fail, but valuable learning is guaranteed, so we’re giving it a try.

You can see how we’re positioning this new pricing approach here, and read more about the experiment side of things here.

And, of course, you can try Maptio free for 30 days ✌️