Pricing and subscriptions, understood
For Anyone who sets, integrates or has to explain what a customer is charged — and who now has AI computing those numbers alongside them. · 16 days · Tech
The days
- 1Separate the product from the priceBy the end you can take any charge and name its three separate layers: what the thing is, what it is sold as, and what this customer owes.
- 2Design part numbers that surviveBy the end you can say what belongs inside a SKU and what must never be encoded in one.
- 3Choose a model from how value scalesBy the end you can pick between per-seat, usage, tiered and flat pricing by asking how the customer's value actually grows.
- 4Model the lifecycle as statesBy the end you can draw your subscription lifecycle as named states with the events that move between them, and say which states still grant access.
- 5Drive the lifecycle without losing moneyBy the end you can name the three places a subscription API loses money, and the property that closes each.
- 6Compute a proration you can defendBy the end you can produce a prorated amount line by line, and say when not to prorate at all.
- 7Cancel, refund, and what you owe backBy the end you can say what a cancellation owes the customer, and distinguish cancelling now from cancelling at period end.
- 8Change a plan mid-termBy the end you can specify an upgrade and a downgrade separately, and say when each takes effect.
- 9Give a discount you can withdrawBy the end you can specify a discount with a scope, a duration and an expiry, and predict what it costs at renewal.
- 10Separate entitlement from billingBy the end you can explain why entitlement and billing are different systems, and what happens when they disagree.
- 11Activate and revoke a licenceBy the end you can describe the window between payment and access, and what must happen if either side fails.
- 12Raise a price without losing the accountBy the end you can plan a price rise with a cohort, a notice period, and a decision about who is exempt.
- 13Write the price-change messageBy the end you can write a price-change notice a customer forwards to their finance team rather than to their lawyer.
- 14Hand the ledger what it needsBy the end you can list the fields accounting needs from every billing event, and say what each one prevents.
- 15Publish a price a machine can readBy the end you can say what an AI agent reads when it quotes your price, and which of your prices it will get wrong.
- 16Run one SKU end to endBy the end you can take a single sellable thing from catalogue entry to activated, discounted, prorated, booked and renewed — and find the step your own system cannot do.