In the following I will describe the idea between the two different membership models.

The free membership: The target group of this offering are Start-ups and small companies. They may be unsure about the value created for their business by the Senat and are not willing to pay for it. If they join via the free membership, they get notifications about specific events and projects of the Senat, but if they are interested in participating, they must pay an event-fee. Additionally, they are now part of the Senat der Wirtschaft network of companies that can cooperate with each other, but with one major catch. They can only be approached by other, paying members of the Senat and cannot approach other members by themselves, as they don’t know who is part of the Senat. This should be an incentive for free members to upgrade, if they had some great experiences with other companies of the Senat.

The premium membership: As indicated above, paying members have some additional benefits. First off, they have free access to all events and project organized by the Senat. Furthermore, they are provided by the Senat with a list of all members. The list includes contact details, field of expertise, size and location of the company. In this list free and paying members are included and so the premium subscriber has access to numerous businesses with different backgrounds and they can approach them for help or to start a cooperation or a joint project.

This approach should lower the entry barrier for Start-ups to join the Senat der Wirtschaft and shows them experience the real benefits of a membership. Knowing the benefits, it may be easier and more tempting to join as a premium member.