“My job, my role has always been to not diminish the brand, not ruin the free product, and still produce sustainable growth and convince people that premium is where they should be — which I've got to tell you, it's a challenge because the free product is really good.”

Keep the free product exceptional — even when it cannibalizes paid

Paul frames the freemium constraint: the free product is intentionally excellent because mission fulfillment requires it. Premium has to earn its keep on its own merits, not via crippled-free tactics. That constraint forces better paywall positioning and messaging instead of feature gating.