The goal is definitely to monetize -- the point is that they don't need to rush to monetize, so they can focus on growth right now.
If Helpful charged $x/mo and competed with other support tools on features and pricing, it could grow into a decent business. If it's a totally free, community owned (meaning customers can get involved in product direction) competitor to those existing companies, it has a much easier path to being a market leader. Once a product like this has huge distribution, the options for monetizing are plenty. (Build a marketplace of add ons, charge for premium features, etc)
I understood what the article said ... I was warning that this thinking hasn't worked out so well for some companies. In this case I'll admit that having (successful) paid competitors at least indicates there's a market that will pay (and in theory recognizes the value of this service vertical).
Certainly true that New Yorkers tend to cross more quickly than SFers, but can't most of them still be lumped into the OP's second group, as people who just follow?
If 30 people are crossing when the cars have passed but the signal hasn't changed, surely some of them are crossing because the group is, not "on their own terms," as the OP would put it.
Considering that Justin Kan is the pivot master and Exec's cleaning service has been so well-received, I wouldn't be surprised if they become a cleaning-only service.
Reminds me of Seamless.com. In the early days, it was trying to position itself as a B2B for all services: Catering, Overtime meals, Black Car Service, Flowers etc.
Turns out that food delivery and catering was the winning idea. Pivot till you profit.
OP, here. I agree with much of the criticism, and I have nothing to do with Milwaukee, their PD or this website. I just thought it was quite different from normal municipal websites, and would be worth discussion.
Perhaps they should take the idea of interesting and different design and decouple it from the militaristic attitude, and they'd be on to something.
If Helpful charged $x/mo and competed with other support tools on features and pricing, it could grow into a decent business. If it's a totally free, community owned (meaning customers can get involved in product direction) competitor to those existing companies, it has a much easier path to being a market leader. Once a product like this has huge distribution, the options for monetizing are plenty. (Build a marketplace of add ons, charge for premium features, etc)