“a lot of people want to launch a premium product and I'm like no... prove to me there's going to be enough value and like there is another cohort here that isn't just like 1 or 2% that we're going to do a lot of work for maybe not a lot of return”

Prove the premium cohort exists before building a premium tier

Adoption rates for premium tiers run in the low single digits unless the product already has a clear superfan segment. Michael's test: before building a high-touch tier, identify whether the cohort is large enough to justify the operational lift, or whether the same LTV can be captured more cheaply through IRL events, merch, or post-purchase upsells. Most teams launch premium tiers too early and should optimize the base product first.