We're working on validating our hypotheses and validating product solution fit.

The current idea will be offering the core product for free to consumers, with no intention of putting in a paywall for core features. There is likely to be strong networking effects and we have a number of ideas for potential monetization in the future: premium account features, packaging the product to businesses (this relies on sufficient engagement from consumers to be potentially valuable to businesses so won't be viable initially), click-through referrals etc.

Given that initially we don't expect monetization, we are likely to be looking at the VC route over bootlegging, but it also means we don't have a defined business plan or path to revenue & profitability.

Our plan currently is to find product solution fit through an MVP and its iterations. If we can do that and build a tight group of initial users we will look towards an accelerator (so we can focus on this full time) to work on product market fit before scaling. We anticipate testing and then selecting the monetization route along the way depending on user feedback and metrics.

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First question is, does that plan sound about right, or are we missing a trick?

Secondly, at what stage do we need to have a well-defined monetization strategy? E.g. for accelerator or VC? Right now we'll most likely need the funding before we can get to a strategy. I'm aware that high user growth can substitute for monetization but of course at our stage we are not scaling yet and probably won't for a little while.