- Startup Spells 🪄
- Posts
- Deconstructing Trends.VC Money Model: Psychology behind their Lifetime Deal & Mastermind Upsell
Deconstructing Trends.VC Money Model: Psychology behind their Lifetime Deal & Mastermind Upsell
PLUS: Applied Consciousness
Deconstructing Trends.VC Money Model: Psychology behind their Lifetime Deal & Mastermind Upsell
The way Trends.VC handles its pricing is pretty genius. It's a great example of a setup that brings in cash right away while also building for the future.

Trends Pro Member - Pricing
They use a 2-part system that mixes a one-time fee with a regular subscription, creating a powerful way to make money.
The Psychology Behind Trends.VC's Lifetime Deal
First up, they pull you in with a $149 lifetime membership to their "Trends Pro" community. This is a super smart hook!

Trends Pro Community - Pricing
For most people, a one-time payment feels like a total bargain and takes away the stress of another monthly bill.
This easy entry point does a couple of really cool things. First, it brings in a ton of cash upfront. Just think, for every 1,000 members that sign up, that's $149,000 in the bank that they can use to grow the business.
Second, it builds a big community of people who are literally invested in them. Once you've paid for lifetime access, you feel like you're truly part of the club, making you more likely to stick around and check out what else they offer.
Trends.VC's Mastermind Upsell for Recurring Revenue
Now, this is where their strategy really shines. And here's the cleverest part: you can't just buy the mastermind plan on its own. You have to get the lifetime deal first!
So, your first payment isn't just $250, it's actually $399 ($149 for lifetime access + $250 for the first quarter). This move is fantastic because it guarantees that every single customer contributes to that big upfront cash pile.

Trends Pro Community with Masterminds - Pricing
After that, it's just the $250 every three months. By framing the recurring part as a smaller, quarterly payment instead of a big $1,000 annual fee, it feels way more manageable for the long run.
It's a neat psychological trick that makes people much more likely to say yes and stick around! This is how they build a steady, predictable income stream right on top of that initial cash.
By putting these two ideas together, Trends.VC really gets the best of both worlds.
The immediate cash they get from the lifetime memberships lets them fund their growth and take some risks without worry.
Meanwhile, the steady income from the mastermind groups gives them the financial stability every business needs.
It's a clever and powerful strategy that gets new customers in the door and keeps the company on a solid foundation for years to come.
Top Tweets of the day
1/
i don't think you guys understand the LENGTHS you need to go to partner with QUALITY influencers
too many of you are giving up after 1 dm
our last creator never responded to my messages on insta, tiktok and email...
so I slid into his mom's LinkedIn dms
— Ethan (@_eth0n)
6:02 PM • Sep 8, 2025
Parents always give out numbers to anyone for some reason lol.
2/
here's a quick 60 sec tutorial on how to create a product demo (for reelfarm)
feat. @SmirkGames
— Matt Welter (@_mattwelter)
12:51 AM • Jan 5, 2025
Soo good and soo easy. Reel farm automates this in 15-seconds.
3/
REPEAT AFTER ME
Reddit is so easily abused right now
There's NOTHING stopping you from farming 100 Reddit accounts at a time
Here's my 2 week warm-up SOP (bookmark for later)
Use a privacy browser, resi proxies, 1 assigned location per account no exceptions
Week 1
Day 1:— Jacky Chou (buying online businesses up to $1m) (@indexsy)
6:55 PM • Sep 8, 2025
Decent-ish SOP for Reddit.
Rabbit Holes
LIVE: Applied Consciousness by Mark Builds Brands
GPT-5 Thinking in ChatGPT (aka Research Goblin) is shockingly good at search by Simon Willison
What’s an underrated use of GPT/AI for people working at small companies? by /r/ChatGPTPro
What’d ya think of today’s newsletter? Hit ‘reply’ and let me know.
Do me a favor and share it in your company's Slack #marketing channel.
First time? Subscribe.
Follow me on X.
Reply