Andreessen’s Social Startup Ning Gets Users to Pay for Service
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Ning Inc., the social-networking site co-founded by venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, did what many young Web companies only dream of: It got customers weaned on free services to start paying.
Since telling users in April it would stop offering the means to build and operate social networks for free, Ning’s paid user base tripled to 45,000, with memberships starting at $2.95 a month. The closely held company is adding paying subscribers at 5,000 a month, three times the rate it had before.