Status: Brainstorm
Companion docs: Rollout Plan | Revenue Projections
Why this page exists
Pricing without personas is just numbers. To know whether the tiers are priced right, you have to know who sits in each tier, why they pay, and how they got there. This page maps the user persona to each tier and walks the journey from “never heard of High IQ” to “lifetime Founder evangelist” so we can pressure-test the model against real human behavior. There is no free logged-in tier in this model. Guest is the only free path. Every account that exists is a paid account.The personas
Guest — Casey the Curious
| Trait | Value |
|---|---|
| Cannabis behavior | Casual or occasional consumer |
| Spend / month | $0-100 |
| Cares about | Quick lookups, “what does this strain do?” |
| Touchpoint | TIWIH website via SEO (“Blue Dream effects”, “best strains for sleep”) |
| Friction tolerance | Very low — won’t sign up just to read |
| Conversion target | 5-10% to Pro/Studio over 30 days |
- Lands on a strain detail page from Google
- Reads, scans the label of something at the dispensary, listens to the soundtrack
- May come back 2-5 times for different lookups
- Eventually wants to save something they liked → that’s the conversion moment
Pro — Pat the Patron
| Trait | Value |
|---|---|
| Cannabis behavior | Regular, intentional consumer |
| Spend / month | $100-300 on cannabis products |
| Cares about | Tracking patterns, automating data entry, AI insights without effort |
| Touchpoint | TIWIH SEO + word-of-mouth from Founder/Pro referrals |
| Lifestyle | Busy professional, parent, or middle-aged consumer with consistent habits |
| LTV target | ~9.99 with 5% monthly churn) |
- Buys from one or two regular dispensaries
- Wants Gmail Sync to auto-import orders without typing
- Generates a notebook on every new strain to understand what they’re trying
- Checks Stats Dashboard monthly to see what’s working
- Doesn’t want to fiddle with chat or research — wants the AI to surface insights automatically
- Gmail order sync (saves 10+ minutes per order entry)
- AI Notebooks on every new strain
- Stats Dashboard showing where their money goes
- Receipt parsing (snap a photo, done)
Studio — Sam the Specialist
Studio is the high-LTV tier. There are five distinct sub-personas, each with different reasons to pay $19.99/mo. Designing Studio for all of them is what justifies the price.Studio Persona 1 — The Industry Insider
| Trait | Value |
|---|---|
| Job | Dispensary budtender, brand rep, cultivator, ancillary cannabis biz |
| Cannabis spend | Less personal; uses High IQ for work |
| Cares about | Depth of strain data, multi-menu cross-analysis, industry trends |
| Why Studio | Shopping Agent + Menu Reports cross-analysis are work tools |
Studio Persona 2 — The Medical Patient / Caregiver
| Trait | Value |
|---|---|
| Cannabis behavior | Treating a condition (chronic pain, anxiety, sleep, cancer adjuncts) |
| Spend / month | $200-1000+ depending on dose |
| Cares about | Precise terpene + effect tracking, evidence, education |
| Why Studio | Cannabis Coach (persistent memory) + unlimited Deep Research |
Studio Persona 3 — The Heavy Spender
| Trait | Value |
|---|---|
| Cannabis spend | $500-2000+/month |
| Demographic | High-income consumer, often urban, often connoisseur-leaning |
| Cares about | ROI on spend, knowing what they liked, finding new things |
| Why Studio | Studio at $19.99/mo is rounding error; Stats Dashboard justifies the spend |
Studio Persona 4 — The Content Creator
| Trait | Value |
|---|---|
| Platform | YouTube, TikTok, Instagram cannabis creators |
| Audience | 1K-1M cannabis-curious followers |
| Cares about | AI media to share (when shipped), vanity referral code |
| Why Studio | Vanity URL drives followers; AI media is content they can post |
highiq.app/ref/yourhandle) is built for them. AI media (when shipped) gives them shareable content. Phase 1 Studio captures them before AI media even ships, on the price-lock pitch.
Studio Persona 5 — The Connoisseur
| Trait | Value |
|---|---|
| Cannabis behavior | Cares about cultivars, lineage, terpene science, novelty |
| Spend / month | $200-500 |
| Cares about | Deep education, unique strains, research |
| Why Studio | Cannabis Coach + unlimited Deep Research + Daily Stories Premium |
Founder — Frankie the First-In
| Trait | Value |
|---|---|
| Demographic | Subset of Studio — connected, vocal, networked |
| Cannabis behavior | Could be any of the 5 Studio personas |
| Cares about | Status, community, building the product alongside us |
| Spend at signup | $499 one-time |
| Lifetime value | 3,000-5,000 in attributed referrals |
- Active in r/trees, r/cannabis, cannabis Twitter, cannabis Discord servers
- Loves being early on something
- Takes pride in “founding member” status (Hampton, Public, Substack, Roam — all built on this energy)
- Posts about products they care about without being asked
- The 30% rev share + custom URL means they’re paid to evangelize
- Sees launch announcement
- Recognizes scarcity (“100 Studio Founders, this’ll sell out”)
- Pays $499 in a day
- Posts about it on Reddit / X / their podcast
- Drives 5-10 signups in first month
- Continues to evangelize for 3-5+ years
The 0-to-100 customer journey
This is the path from “stranger” to “Founder evangelist.” Most users don’t make the full journey. The point is to know what each stage looks like and what triggers movement to the next.Stage 0 — Stranger
Never heard of High IQ. Searches Google for cannabis info.Trigger to Stage 1: Lands on a TIWIH SEO page (strain detail, terpene guide, etc.).
Stage 1 — Guest Browser (Day 0)
On TIWIH, reading a strain page. Maybe scans a label at a dispensary. Listens to a strain soundtrack. No commitment yet.Friction: Zero — Guest tier is free and login-free.Trigger to Stage 2: Comes back for a second lookup (within 7 days).
Stage 2 — Repeat Guest (Days 1-7)
Returns 2-3 times for different strain lookups. Brand awareness building. May download the iOS app for label scanner convenience (still Guest in-app).Trigger to Stage 3: “I want to remember this.” or “I should track what I bought.”
Stage 3 — Want-to-Save Moment (Day 7-14)
User wants to save a strain to favorites or track an order. Hits sign-up wall. Sees pricing.The fork:
- 90-92% bounce (no free trial, this is a hard paywall)
- 6-8% pay for Pro
- 1-2% pay for Studio (often Heavy Spender or Industry Insider personas)
Stage 4 — Direct Paywall Conversion (Day 14)
User pays 19.99 for Studio. No free trial — it’s a real credit card commitment from minute one. This filters out low-intent users at the door.Risk reversal: Apple’s automatic 14-day refund window covers any regret. We don’t market it as a trial, but it functions as one for users who feel buyer’s remorse.The hook: First AI Notebook on a strain they actually have, generated within their first session. Real value, immediately, on a real paid account.
Stage 5 — First Billing Cycle (Days 14-44)
User is now a paid subscriber. The first 30 days are the highest-churn window — this is where most refund requests happen.Retention lift levers:
- Day 1 onboarding tour that explicitly highlights the AI Notebook flow
- Day 3 in-app notification (“You’ve added 4 strains. See your full picture with Stats Dashboard.”)
- Day 7 first-week summary email with their personal stats
- Day 28 “your first month is almost up” email celebrating what they tracked
Stage 6 — Habit Formation (Months 1-3)
User logs orders weekly. Generates notebooks. Checks stats. Tells 1-2 friends.Studio cross-sell trigger: Pro users see “Locked” badges on Shopping Agent, Cannabis Coach, multi-menu Reports. Each one is an upgrade hook.
Stage 7 — Pro Power User (Months 3-12)
User has exhausted Pro features. Notices Studio benefits constantly. 15-25% of Pro users upgrade to Studio in this window.Common upgrade trigger: They hit the 10/mo Ask AI cap and want unlimited research.
Stage 8 — Studio Subscriber (Year 1+)
Power user. Influencer in their friend group / social circle. Refers 2-3 new users. Lifetime value is ~19.99 with 3% churn).
Stage 9 — Studio Founder (small subset)
During launch, user pays $499 for Founders Lifetime. Becomes evangelist. Drives 5-10+ referrals.Founders are recruited, not waited for. Pre-launch outreach to ~30-50 cannabis influencers, podcasters, dispensary owners, popular Reddit voices. Personal DMs offering Founders deal before public launch.
Stage 10 — Industry Advocate (rare, very valuable)
Subset of Founders who become public advocates. Posts on Reddit, hosts on cannabis podcasts, runs YouTube reviews. Drives organic acquisition for free for years.High IQ should explicitly identify and amplify these advocates — feature them in the app, give them direct product input, fly them to events.
What each persona pays — at a glance
| Persona | Tier | Monthly | Add-Ons | LTV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casey the Curious | Guest | $0 | $0 | $0 (acquisition target) |
| Pat the Patron | Pro | $9.99 | Historical Import ($25 avg, one-time) | ~$225 |
| Sam the Insider | Studio | $19.99 | — | ~$500 |
| Sam the Medical | Studio | $19.99 | — | ~$700 (lower churn) |
| Sam the Heavy Spender | Studio | $19.99 | — | ~499) |
| Sam the Creator | Studio | $19.99 | — | ~$500 + ref revenue |
| Sam the Connoisseur | Studio | $19.99 | — | ~$600 |
| Frankie the Founder | Studio Lifetime | 499 once) | — | 3,000 attributed |
The “no free logged-in tier” rationale (for reference)
This model deliberately has no free logged-in account. Storage costs money, the website costs money, AI costs money — and there are no ads to subsidize. Every account that exists is a paid account. This is a deliberate departure from cannabis-app norms. Leafly, Weedmaps, AllBud are all free + ads. High IQ is positioning itself as the paid, ad-free, AI-powered alternative for serious cannabis consumers — not a competitor to free tools. The trade-off: lower top-of-funnel volume, higher per-user revenue, higher product quality signal, lower abuse risk, easier App Store listing as “Subscription required” (which filters out low-intent users at the door). If Pro install-to-paid conversion proves too low (under 5%) in the first 90 days, the Phase 2 Basic tier at $4.99/mo gets added. But there is never a free logged-in tier and never a free trial — Basic is the floor, and even Basic requires a credit card on day one.Related
- Rollout Plan — Full feature matrix per tier per phase
- Revenue Projections — Monthly / annual revenue at conservative / moderate / aggressive growth
- Pricing Strategy — Original three-option analysis
- Tier Comparison — Live customer-facing tier matrix