Does offering lifetime deals kill long-term SaaS ARR?

We launched on a deal platform offering a $99 lifetime access plan to build early traction and cash flow. We brought in $40,000 in two weeks, but ended up flooded with demanding, feature-heavy requests from users who would never pay us another dollar. Out of frustration, we closed the deal, refunded the top 10% most abusive users, and switched strictly to a $29/month subscription model. Sales slowed down drastically at first, but our user retention and product quality improved dramatically within three months.

Are lifetime deals a dangerous trap for early startups, or is the upfront cash flow worth the support overhead?