CT
Caroline Tran
Hello Clever · EP 29
For the first merchant she gave a price that was reasonable rather than cheap, then researched how competitors charged. Merchants themselves supplied data points, and Hello Clever now has "a really well structured commercial model."
See Caroline Tran's full take
Caroline says when they signed the first merchant, "we gave them a really… I wouldn't say like more cheaper but it's just more like reasonable." To set pricing she advises speaking to people in the industry and researching "how your competitor is charging, what is their business model." Merchants themselves supplied data points — "actually your competitor charge me this much." Today, she says, "we do have a really well structured commercial model," with a channel manager who has "really strong background in payment," so "as soon as we put out a proposal the merchants like yep this is perfect."
ST
Satya Tumati
Socratix AI · EP 16
Satya says pricing is always tricky and they're still refining it. In their space it has to be a hybrid approach — part value-based, part outcome-based, part seed-based with thresholds.
See Satya Tumati's full take
Satya stayed diplomatic on specifics but shared the principle: AI has changed the game completely — you see everything from token-based to seat-based pricing, and they all make sense depending on the use case. In their space he learned it has to be more of a hybrid approach. After experimenting in the early days, the best approach he found is "to stay flexible and to align on pricing with how customers actually realize value, how they budget, and whatever makes it easier for them." His warning: it's fine to be flexible on the amount, but for a startup to be rigid in how you structure your pricing "is not a good idea." Aligning to how customers are used to buying makes a better story for them when they sell it internally to their finance teams.