Howdy Pricing People 👋🏼 There's a fundamental tension in SaaS I can't stop thinking about: Every SaaS company wants an AI story right now. To have a credible AI story, people need to be using your AI features. If people are using your AI features at scale, your margins will take a hit. Nobody wants margin erosion because we're still valuing SaaS companies on metrics built for the previous generation. The short-term playbook says protect your margins. The long-term playbook says invest in AI or get left behind. They don't reconcile. I'm genuinely curious how you're all thinking about this: - What should SaaS companies be doing right now? - Seemingly everyone is turning to credits as a hedge to both tell the AI story and maintain margin control. Are there other strategies SaaS companies should consider? - Does something fundamental need to change in how we evaluate these businesses? Drop your thoughts below. I'll be digging into this in this week's newsletter, and would love to share perspectives from this group. 🫡 Rob

Hi all. I have a question about "pricing" that is not related to SaaS, but rather to transforming Professional Services into ARR. Two years ago we started an initial experiment: delivering live online training to IT professionals working in SMEs, using a membership-based approach. Our value proposition: - 8 courses scheduled throughout the year - Two yearly membership options for the customer: - 1) Membership for 1 participant: X€ - 2) Membership for up to 3 participants: 1.6 × X€ (It worked. And we were so happy that we (I) made the BIG mistake: not considering at all - for the second year - the physiological Churn Rate..) For next year, we want to apply the same business model to end-user training (Office M365 Apps). OUR PRODUCT: 8 courses scheduled in advance for all of 2026 OUR TARGET: small/micro companies (2 to 10 potential users) OUR COST STRUCTURE: main costs are fixed (trainer, organization), so the number of people per company in each class is not an issue. PRICING IDEA: offer customers a flat yearly price, divided into tiers that help maintain profitability. We are considering pricing per Company, based on the total number of attendees per course. For example: - 1–2 attendees - 2–5 attendees - 5–10 attendees - I would appreciate any suggestion on how to keep the pricing simple and fair for both sides I have already interviewed about 5 customers who are interested in the concept, but I have not shared any pricing with them yet. Do you thing that pricing per tier is the best options or do you think we have to think in a different way? Thanks in advance to all. Claudio

Hey everyone, We recently launched a new pricing model that includes a 7-day free trial, followed by a monthly subscription. However, when the trial ends and we attempt to charge customers, we’re seeing an almost 90% payment rejection rate. Has anyone experienced something similar? Any suggestions?