"I'm not sure why charging people is considered to be a shocking idea."
A few thoughts. One obviously is taking the social proof of what others are doing and copying it.
The other is that "if you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all". So having revenue of $0 is better than having revenue of $15000 (2nd number arbitrary just trying to illustrate that by showing a number you are likely to be judged differently then if you never charged at all and can point to eyeballs or signups and have the focus on that).
A few thoughts. One obviously is taking the social proof of what others are doing and copying it.
The other is that "if you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all". So having revenue of $0 is better than having revenue of $15000 (2nd number arbitrary just trying to illustrate that by showing a number you are likely to be judged differently then if you never charged at all and can point to eyeballs or signups and have the focus on that).