> While I personally resonate with this sentiment, it's not accurate in my (very skeptical) experience.
So you want these messages? You're happy to see them?
Even if there are a few people who want these messages, I'm going to wager that you'll only be profitable if you're messaging a lot of people who don't (and accidentally agreed to get them).
> "many" consumers? "most" consumers? maybe. but I'd be slow to underestimate the size of the market here.
Your market is restaurants, and the market is certainly huge.
> As for boostly, I think it will only shoot ourselves in the foot to overstep (or even get close to) these important boundaries.
Depending on how much VC money you've taken or will take in the future, you won't have this choice. Your investors will demand growth, and the only way to get it will be to creep further and further out of your comfort zone. Marketing automation is full of dark patterns. The only company I know of that never really implemented them was MailChimp, and MailChimp also uniquely never raised capital.
I think there may be a false premise here. You seem to be framing this as medium objection: That "no consumer" wants text messages. Texting is really just an implementation detail here. Many people _want_ to save money and receive special deals for their favorite eating establishment. Many would prefer receiving these offers in the form of an ephemeral text message vs. downloading another app, for example.
In this context: yeah, I want these messages and am even sometimes happy to see them.
Ultimately (and this was my paradigm shift), it appears markets are far more diverse than I gave credit to and my personal preferences can't be applied as generally as I previously assumed.
> Your market is restaurants, and the market is certainly huge.
The market I was referring to, in this context, was people who would happily receive texts from restaurants if it meant they saved money.
> Depending on how much VC money you've taken or will take in the future, you won't have this choice. Your investors will demand growth
Valid point and concern(s). Can never really underestimate the power of these incentive dynamics and would be foolish to suggest we might be immune to them. FWIW we are bootstrapped outside YC participation to this point. Appreciate your reference to MailChimp. I'll look to take note on some of their practices.
So you want these messages? You're happy to see them?
Even if there are a few people who want these messages, I'm going to wager that you'll only be profitable if you're messaging a lot of people who don't (and accidentally agreed to get them).
> "many" consumers? "most" consumers? maybe. but I'd be slow to underestimate the size of the market here.
Your market is restaurants, and the market is certainly huge.
> As for boostly, I think it will only shoot ourselves in the foot to overstep (or even get close to) these important boundaries.
Depending on how much VC money you've taken or will take in the future, you won't have this choice. Your investors will demand growth, and the only way to get it will be to creep further and further out of your comfort zone. Marketing automation is full of dark patterns. The only company I know of that never really implemented them was MailChimp, and MailChimp also uniquely never raised capital.