Has anyone here launched on AppSumo? Worth it for early traction/capital?

I’m considering AppSumo for an early-stage SaaS as a way to get initial traction, feedback, and maybe some bootstrap capital.

But I’ve heard very mixed opinions.

Some people say it’s great for:

• early cash flow
• user feedback
• social proof/reviews

Others say:

• LTD customers can be very demanding
• retention/upsell is hard
• it can hurt long-term pricing
• AppSumo takes a huge cut (I’ve heard numbers as high as 70%?)

Would love to hear from people with actual experience:

• Was it worth it?
• Did users convert into long-term customers?
• Did it help or hurt your positioning?
• Roughly how much does AppSumo actually take?
• Would you do it again?

Context: I’m thinking about it more as an early distribution/cash-flow channel, not a permanent strategy.