????最近，游戲《憤怒的小鳥》（Angry Birds）的開發商Rovio和在線音樂服務商Spotify這類以消費者為中心的公司大獲成功，證明免費+增值這一商業模式在消費領域無往不利。問題在于：這種模式的魔力是否能對企業級用戶奏效。

????這一問題也是今早財富科技頭腦風暴（Fortune Brainstorm Tech）圓桌早餐會所討論的議題，參加該討論的主要人員包括在線網絡調查公司Survey Monkey的首席執行官大衛?哥德伯格、社交網絡Ning公司首席執行官杰森?羅森賽爾、Index Ventures科技風投公司合伙人邁克?沃爾皮以及ccLoop軟件公司首席執行官邁克?沃爾非。

????“我覺得這種模式與用戶是企業或還是消費者無關，”羅森賽爾說。他的社會媒體公司（很大程度上）已經從消費者轉向了公司客戶，相應的，其運作模式也由原來的靠廣告費支撐的免費模式變為單純的收費模式。這一轉變帶來了豐厚的回報。Ning去年的付費客戶數量由17，000名增加至100，000名。在會上，羅森賽爾還透露，公司的年收入增加了500%。

????人們普遍認為付費高級用戶模式同樣也適用于以業務為中心的企業和服務業，但是前提條件是公司需要有一個合理的架構。對于Ning來說，它的免費服務之所以沒有取得很好的成績是因為公司提供的免費服務的價值太高。這一理論也得到了其他與會人員包括職業社交網站Linked In（LNKD）公司產品及用戶體驗部高級副總裁迪普?尼沙爾的響應。

????“如果你給予客戶的價值是十分有限的，而且免費與收費之間的界限設置得不合理，（這種模式肯定行不通），”尼沙爾說，“我認為問題在于這個界限的設置，如果免費模式能為消費者帶來恰到好處的甜頭，就能打動人們接受免費+增值模式”。

????此次討論曾多次提及文件共享服務商Dropbox公司，將其視為免費+增值模式的成功典范。Dropbox公司是由朱?休斯頓和阿瑞希?弗道斯共同創建的公司，主要提供文件同步服務。據最近的報道顯示，該公司深受用戶的青睞，已擁有2，500萬名用戶，其中包括美聯航（United Airlines）、紅牛（Red Bull）、甚至哥德伯格的Survey Monkey公司。Dropbox公司的運營模式就是：用戶可免費獲得2G初始存儲容量，每月付費9.99美元即可獲得50GB的容量，每月付費19.99美元即可獲得100GB的容量。沃爾皮說這個模式之所以能行得通是因為其一，簡單明了；其二，不同的價格對應不同的容量，因此客戶對于花錢所享受到的服務也就一目了然。像Dropbox這樣的公司在提供免費服務時會確保適可而止，因為提供的免費項目越多，對付費項目感興趣的用戶就會越少。

????“放之四海而皆準”的免費+增值模式是不存在的，但是有幾點必須銘記于心。其中之一要杜絕的是這樣的點子：用戶可免費試用本產品30天。對于用戶而言，他們更愿意為核心功能之外提供的附加功能掏錢，而不是在試用期內湊合使用某款產品。

????做好準備，開始嘗試——而且是反復嘗試，盡管這一觀點看起來可能很抽象。

????沃爾夫曾說過：“人的行為很難預測，所以每次都得嘗試不同的做法。”

????With consumer-focused companies like Angry Birds developer Rovio and Spotify proving that freemium is a valid business model in the consumer space, the next question becomes: can freemium also work its magic with enterprise?

????That was the theme of one breakfast roundtable earlier this morning at Fortune Brainstorm Tech, featuring Survey Monkey CEO Dave Goldberg, Ning CEO Jason Rosenthal, Index Ventures partner Mike Volpi, and ccLoop CEO Michael Wolfe.

????"I don't think it's a business or a consumer thing," said Rosenthal, whose social media company (largely) pivoted from consumers to corporate customers, and in doing so, also switched from a mostly free ad-supported model to a an all-paid premium one. The gamble paid off: Ning went from just 17,000 paid customers last year to 100,000, and Rosenthal said during the panel that revenues are up 500% year-over-year.

????The general consensus appeared to be a "freemium" model can work for business-focused companies and services, but only if it's structured just right. For Ning, the reason its free tier didn't work was because the company offered up too much value for free, a theme echoed by others in attendance, including Deep Nishar, LinkedIn (LNKD) Senior Vice President of Product and User Experience.

????"[It doesn't work] if your value is very finite in terms of what you're giving users, and you don't draw the right boundary to get over that critical threshold," said Nishar. "I think there's a critical threshold issue, and if you give just enough of a taste of what's possible with that free model, then you can move people to freemium."

????Dropbox came up several times during the discussion as a freemium-based success story. The popular file-syncing service co-founded by Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi recently reported 25 million users -- including businesses like United Airlines, Red Bull, and even Goldberg's Survey Monkey -- relying on a model where the first two gigabytes of storage is free, $9.99 a month for 50 GB, and $19.99 a month for 100 GB. Volpi says that model works because it's very simple, and each price plan represents a big step up in storage so users can easily justify ponying up more money. A company like Dropbox also doesn't give away too much utility for free because as he sees it, the more a company generally gives away gratis, the smaller their potential paid userbase becomes.

????There isn't a "one-size fits all"-type freemium model to follow, but there are a few things to keep in mind. One idea to seriously avoid: giving users say, a 30-day limited-time free trial. Users are more comfortable eventually paying for services that say, offer additional features around a core utility, rather than having a short time frame to tinker with a product.

????And while it may sound abstract, be prepared to experiment -- a lot.

????Said Wolfe: "People don't behave the way you think they might, so you'll have to test everything."