Hey everyone,

I hope you're doing well.

We’ll be talking about cool stuff!

In today's email we're going to talk about:

• The first Wide Event Speaker

• Why free plans are not always as helpful as they look

• Why onboarding often matters more than the next feature

Let's go! 🔥

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The first Wide Event Speaker

I’m really excited to announce the first speaker of The Wide Event.

It’s Alen Malkoč.

And honestly, I think this is a big one.

Very few people have seen the Shopify ecosystem from as many angles as he has.

He built 3 agencies, reached Shopify Platinum Partner status, scaled and sold HulkApps with more than 20 apps, helped operate Shop Circle, and employed more than 500 people across the ecosystem.

He has also been close to brands representing more than $5B in ecommerce GMV, worked on more than 1,000 Shopify projects, and built products used by more than 150,000 merchants.

And he’s currently building 10x.ai and FlyRank

At some point, that kind of experience gives you more than stories.

It gives you pattern recognition.

You start seeing what keeps working, what keeps breaking, and where complexity really begins.

That’s exactly why I wanted him on stage.

Not for theory.

For real lessons from someone who has operated at serious scale.

I think this session is going to be very special.

GET YOUR TICKET TO THE WIDE EVENT IN PARIS → https://wide-event.com 

Why free plans are not always as helpful as they look

This is one of those topics where the obvious answer is often too simple. A free plan sounds attractive because it seems to remove friction, and in some cases it really does.

More installs. More people trying the app. More chances to grow.

That part is real.

But I think many founders stop the analysis there. They look at the extra installs and assume the business is getting stronger.

Sometimes it is. Sometimes it is not.

Because a free plan does not only change conversion. It changes who comes into the product, what they expect from it, and how much energy the company has to spend serving people who may never pay.

That is where it gets more nuanced.

A free user can still open support tickets. A free user can still get confused during setup. A free user can still leave a review. A free user can still push the product toward extra complexity.

So the question is not only whether free brings more users.

The real question is whether it brings the right users, in the right proportion, with a model that still makes the business healthier over time.

I think that distinction matters a lot.

There are products where free makes complete sense. The setup is simple, the support load is low, the path to paid is clear, and the product naturally filters serious users from casual ones.

In that case, free can be a strong engine.

But many Shopify apps are not built like that. They need education, setup, context, and support. They need the user to understand the value before the relationship becomes profitable.

And when that is true, free can create a strange kind of growth.

The dashboard looks active. Install numbers go up. The business feels busy.

But inside the company, things start to get heavier.

Support expands. Edge cases increase. The roadmap starts reacting to noise. You spend time serving usage that does not really strengthen the business.

That is the hidden cost.

Not because free users are bad, but because every pricing model shapes the company in a different way. It shapes the type of attention you get, the kind of product decisions you make, and the level of clarity you have about where value is really coming from.

That is why I still think trials are healthier for many Shopify apps.

Not always. But often.

A trial usually creates better intent. The user understands they are testing something with real value. The founder gets feedback from people who are more likely to convert. Support stays closer to revenue.

And that changes the relationship from the beginning.

Of course, the uncomfortable part is that trials often make weaknesses more visible. If people do not convert, you cannot hide behind install numbers.

You have to ask harder questions.

Is the value clear enough. Is the product painful enough to solve. Is the onboarding strong enough. Is the offer positioned well enough.

Free can delay those questions.

A trial forces them to appear earlier.

That can feel brutal, but I also think it can be useful. Because clarity is one of the most valuable things a founder can have.

So when I see apps adding a free plan just because many other apps have one, I think it is worth slowing down.

Not to reject the idea automatically.

But to ask what kind of business you are actually trying to build.

Why onboarding often matters more than the next feature

Something I keep seeing with Shopify apps is that founders are often very ready to build the next thing.

That makes sense. Building is tangible. Shipping feels productive. A new feature creates momentum, and momentum feels good.

I understand that instinct because I have it too.

But I also think it can be misleading.

When growth feels slower than expected, the default reaction is often to assume the product needs more. More functionality, more flexibility, more reasons to stay.

Sometimes that is true.

But many times, the issue is earlier in the journey.

People install the app, start exploring, then get stuck before they reach the value clearly enough. A step feels confusing. The setup takes too long. The outcome is not obvious fast enough. So they leave before the product really gets a fair chance.

And when that happens, the next feature does not fix much.

Because the user never got far enough to care about the current product, let alone the future version of it.

That is why onboarding deserves so much attention.

It is not just a setup flow. It is the moment where the user decides whether the product feels clear, safe, and worth continuing with.

That judgment happens very quickly.

And once the first experience feels heavy, everything else becomes harder. Support goes up. Activation goes down. Reviews suffer. Retention gets weaker. Growth becomes more expensive than it should be.

That is the pattern I keep noticing.

Founders often look at the roadmap for leverage, when the real leverage is closer to the first ten minutes of the user journey.

That is not always exciting work.

Improving onboarding rarely feels like a big launch. Sometimes it is just rewriting one sentence. Sometimes it is removing one field. Sometimes it is changing the order of one step so the value appears sooner.

Small changes.

But they happen in the most sensitive part of the whole experience, which is why they matter so much.

And honestly, this is one of the areas where watching real user behavior can teach you more than almost anything else.

You start seeing the hesitation. You start seeing the confusion. You start seeing the moments where the product makes sense in your head but not yet in theirs.

That difference is everything.

Because once you see where people slow down, the roadmap starts to look different. The most valuable thing to build might not be another feature. It might be a clearer path to the value that already exists.

And that usually compounds in a much healthier way.

Acquisition becomes more valuable. Support becomes lighter. Reviews improve. Retention has a better chance to improve too.

Not because the app suddenly became more complex, but because it became easier to understand.

I think builders naturally want to add.

Add features. Add options. Add depth.

But a lot of growth comes from reducing friction instead.

That is why I think the better question is often not, what should we build next.

It is, are users reaching the current value fast enough.

If the answer is no, the roadmap might not be the priority yet.

In a world full of AI, don’t build more, build better.

Thanks for reading!

I’ll see you in the next email, in 14 days. Until then, take care!

Mat.