Hearthline — Monetization Plan
Rule: the person holding the paper in Jamaica does not need to pay for the radar. Charging *them* a card to see Mummy’s tablets is how the product dies in the street.
Primary revenue model
Diaspora Circle (voluntary subscription), billed to the overseas relative who already has a foreign card or bank, after they have viewed a share link for free.
Not a marketplace. Not a cut of remittance (forbidden).
Secondary streams (later, still trust-safe)
- Employer / credit-union / church seat packs paid by invoice in Jamaica (cheque, bank transfer) for staff who are sandwich-generation.
- Printed pharmacy desk cards sponsored by a pharmacy chain — sponsorship of awareness, not of data.
- Never: selling health data, lead-gen for insurance, helper-deposit commissions.
Pricing (Jamaica-shaped)
| Tier | Who pays | Price | What they get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yard | Nobody | J$0 | Radar, 3 shares/week, offline cache |
| Circle | Diaspora relative | US$9 / month or J$1,500 / month equivalent | Extra share longevity, second viewer seats, SMS-to-876 fallback |
| Desk | Credit union / church / BPO EAP | Invoice, modeled J$800–1,200 / staff / year | Branded onboarding card, 876 help window |
No 14-day card-capture trial. Circle starts after a free view.
LTV / CAC rationale (modeled, not a forecast)
Assumptions (labelled):
- High-intensity household episode median 8–14 months (care is episodic; we do not invent a 7-year SaaS fairy tale).
- Circle conversion from diaspora viewers: 8–15% if the first share was useful (wide band; we do not know until we run).
- CAC: WhatsApp forwards + pharmacy cards + church desks, not Meta “lookalike” spend. Modeled CAC US$18–40 if a credit union puts us on a table; US$80+ if we buy ads like a US startup (we should not).
Modeled LTV: US$9 × 10 months × 0.85 net (tax, FX, failed cards) ≈ US$76. LTV/CAC is acceptable only if CAC stays in the credit-union/pharmacy lane. If we have to buy US-style ads, we do not scale that way.
Remittance is US$3.49B (2025) into Jamaica. We take 0% of it on purpose.
Growth loops
1. Packet in WhatsApp → sister installs to *view*, then offers Circle so Marcia never pays. 2. Pharmacy card → island household, zero ad. 3. Harbor quiet → they keep the icon because it did not nag.
Anti-loop: referral bonuses that look like a pyramid. Forbidden.
Financial sketch (illustrative only)
| Month 6 | Month 12 |
|---|---|
| 2,000 island households, 150 Circle | 8,000 households, 700 Circle |
| Revenue ~ US$1.3k/mo | Revenue ~ US$6k/mo |
This is a path to learn, not a Series A model. Feasibility depends on extract quality on Jamaican paper, not on a TAM slide.
Scores (from brief)
Feasibility 8, Impact 8, Appeal 9.