“I love these direct models and especially subscriptions because it reinforces the ongoing evolution of the product... when you look at an ad supported product you're constantly trying to drive more and more ad revenue and then people wonder why did this thing get so crappy over time.”

Subscription Model Aligns Company Incentives With the User — Ad-Supported Does the Opposite

Val saw this dynamic firsthand at Mint: once acquired by Intuit, the product stagnated because the real customer was the advertiser, not the user. Building Monarch on a subscription model from day one meant every product decision aimed at making the user more successful — not maximizing ad impressions. The alignment is not just ethical; it compounds as a competitive moat over time.