I have a Sphra 360 on the way and pre ordered the Muse 2 pro. One of my use cases for the 360 is, I lead wildlife photography groups and want to use the 360 as a complimentary video camera while I’m in the elements shooting wildlife. I envision a selfie stick of some sort that can attach around my waste and ideally rotate it around my waist/hips to get different angles without actually removing it. So, I guess picture a situation where a selfie stick is attached to something that allows 360 degree rotation around my body. Does such a thing exist? Hopefully that makes sense. Thanks in advance

Based on a conversation he had with Gregg Bell. Starts at 5:40 in the video

I’m just going to say it straight:

A lot of AI apps on AppSumo are failing because the business model is broken from the start.

This is not hard to figure out.
A founder gets paid once for a lifetime deal, but keeps paying AI costs every time users generate text, images, audio, video, agents, whatever.

That does not work long term. It never did.

And yet AppSumo keeps pushing AI-heavy deals like this is normal.

Then we all get the same outcome over and over:

• app launches
• sells a bunch of LTDs
• people buy because the feature set looks great
• AI costs catch up
• limits get cut
• terms change
• roadmap stalls
• app dies

I’ve lost thousands of dollars on dead or gutted AppSumo products at this point, so yeah, I’m pretty fed up with it.

And before anyone says “well LTDs are always risky” — sure, obviously. But this is a specific, predictable problem with AI products. It’s basic math. Recurring AI costs do not pair well with one-time revenue. AppSumo should know that by now.

The fix seems pretty obvious

For AI apps, the lifetime deal should cover the software, not unlimited AI usage forever.

A better structure would be:

• buy the LTD
• get some one-time starter AI credits
• after that either:
  • bring your own API key
  • or pay separately for AI usage

That fixes a lot right away.

It means:

• founders don’t have to guess years of future AI usage and cram it into one price
• deal prices can stay lower upfront
• users who barely use the AI don’t subsidize power users
• expectations are clearer from day one
• apps have a better chance of actually surviving

And honestly, AppSumo could go further than that

They should build some kind of shared AI wallet / aggregate LLM API for supported apps.

Basically: one common AI billing layer across AppSumo tools.

Because right now every founder has to reinvent the same stuff:

• AI billing
• credit systems
• usage limits
• top-ups
• model/provider routing
• overage handling
• abuse prevention

Most small teams are not equipped to do all that well, and even if they are, the underlying issue is still there: they’re being asked to support recurring AI costs off one-time LTD money.

If AppSumo handled the AI layer, the flow could be:

• buy the app on AppSumo
• use included starter credits
• then either BYOK or buy AppSumo AI credits / monthly AI access

That would actually solve something.

Buyers get:

• fewer dead apps
• clearer pricing
• less bait-and-switch later
• one wallet across multiple tools

Founders get:

• better odds of surviving
• less billing/infrastructure nonsense
• less pressure to make fake “lifetime AI” promises

AppSumo gets:

• fewer trainwreck deals
• better trust
• recurring revenue instead of only the initial sale
• a stronger ecosystem if multiple apps use the same AI layer

At this point, continuing to sell AI-heavy LTDs the old way just feels irresponsible.

The current setup keeps producing the same failure pattern, and everybody can see why.

LTD for the software. Metered payment for the AI.
That’s the model.

Curious if other people here feel the same, or if I’m just extra salty because I’ve been burned too many times.