By Jason Fried · world.hey.com · @jasonfried on X · LinkedIn
Jason Fried describes an experiment for a free in-person Basecamp event in Chicago: attendees pay a $100 refundable deposit at registration and get the cash back at the door if they show up. The problem is that free RSVPs produce many no-shows, leaving seats empty while others who wanted to attend were turned away. The approach borrows the restaurant reservation deposit model but applies it to a free event, keeping the event free for those who attend. It matters to product and growth people because it shows how a small, reversible commitment mechanism can reduce friction-free signup waste, and the author promises to report the resulting no-show rate against a prior event.
01Key takeaways
- Free sign-ups overstate real attendance, so capacity planning should account for expected no-show rates.
- A refundable deposit that is returned on attendance keeps an event free while creating a cost for skipping it.
- Borrowing proven commitment mechanisms from adjacent industries, like restaurant reservation deposits, can solve familiar problems.
- Run small experiments with a clear baseline, such as a comparable prior event, so the impact of the change is measurable.
- Incentives that make the desired behavior cost-neutral for committed users reduce friction while still improving follow-through.
02Key sections
- The no-show problem
- Free events attract many RSVPs that never convert to attendance, which is costly when venue capacity is limited. Past events left extra seats empty while people who wanted to come were excluded.
- Why not just charge
- Charging for tickets would reduce no-shows, but the team wants the event to remain free. They need a way to close the gap between stated and actual intent without changing the core offer.
- The refundable deposit experiment
- Registrants are charged $100 that is returned in cash on arrival, so attending costs nothing while skipping it forfeits the money. The mechanism is a small financial incentive to honor the commitment.
- Borrowing from restaurants
- Restaurants already use deposits that apply to the bill when guests show, and lose them otherwise. The event adapts that model by returning the full amount directly instead of applying it to a purchase.
- Measuring the result
- The author plans to compare the no-show rate of this event with a previous one that had no deposit, treating the experiment as a test of whether the incentive works.
03From the post
“$5300 in $100s please. That's what we said at the bank this morning. See, whenever you have a free IRL event, you tend to get a lot of no-shows. Plenty of people sign up and RSVP, but ultimately far fewer show up. This isn't a big deal if you have unlimited space and anyone can just show, but if you…”
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.