Never dump your prosumer/developer/enthusiast base, no matter what any business expert tells you. Keep them going in parallel.
CROs and VP of Sales types don't like the idea because they can't control the messaging and manage the sales funnel. But if you have people who genuinely love your product and will champion it internally, ignore these fools. Just keep delivering a quality product with value and if there is a market, the revenue will follow.
GitHub, Twilio, and OpenDNS all built their businesses off people taking tools to work.
This. Not least because some of us have invested effort in singing your praises, selling you to teams, and used our reputation to promote your business, indirectly benefiting because clients are happy.
I've been burned twice doing this; once with Fastly [0] and the second time with AppNeta APM, which they then dumped as it didn't fit with their "enterprise" portfolio.
CROs and VP of Sales types don't like the idea because they can't control the messaging and manage the sales funnel. But if you have people who genuinely love your product and will champion it internally, ignore these fools. Just keep delivering a quality product with value and if there is a market, the revenue will follow.
GitHub, Twilio, and OpenDNS all built their businesses off people taking tools to work.