Why Pay-Per-Outcome Is Your Ticket Out of Subscription Hell

Author

Stefan Wirth
March 09, 2025

Hi Mate 👋,

Pay-per-outcome pricing is your ticket out of the subscription model rat race.

Why?

Because in a world where every SaaS company is fighting for monthly recurring revenue...

Value-based pricing puts you in the driver's seat.

What's new

Last week I was battling a lingering chest infection while pushing forward on multiple fronts - from enhancing my internal "Claude on steroids" tool with audio transcription to advancing negotiations with Intellegam.

I also took a beautiful walk through Amsterdam as my health improved, soaking in some much-needed sunshine after being cooped up while sick.

The highlight? Implementing audio transcription for my proprietary "Claude on steroids" tool in just one shot using Claude 3.7 Sonnet, Windsurf, and AssemblyAI. Now I can simply talk to the tool and have it process my voice input. It even detects different speakers - perfect for capturing the full value of our AI strategy workshops without losing insights to incomplete note-taking.

Insight

Most SaaS companies are trapped in subscription pricing hell. They've built their entire business model around monthly recurring revenue. Their investors demand it. Their metrics require it. Their teams are incentivized for it. But what if there's a better way?

Pay-per-outcome pricing aligns your success directly with your customer's success.

Think about it: For process-type workflows, you can easily estimate the ROI. There's a clear cost per run in terms of time or money. If you bring that cost down, everything in between is pure savings for your customer.

This creates a win-win that subscription models simply can't match. Your customers only pay when they get value. And you can capture a fair share of the value you create.

The companies stuck in subscription models won't innovate here. They can't afford to. That's your competitive advantage.

Becoming a Learning Machine

Rating: 4/5 (The Empty Raincoat is blowing my mind with its donut concept)

I've been making good progress on "The Empty Raincoat" by Charles Handy, and it's reshaping how I think about business structures. Handy introduces the concept of the "donut organization" - with a solid core of essential activities surrounded by a flexible space for discretionary work and partnerships.

This model perfectly complements the pay-per-outcome approach, as it helps identify which core processes deliver the most value and where flexible pricing can be applied.

My Next Video

I'm planning my next video and would love your input on which topic you'd most like to see:

  1. How I Build Products in One Day Using AI - A behind-the-scenes look at my rapid prototyping process using tools like Windsurf and Claude.

  2. Three Use Cases for AI Today - Practical applications of AI that are delivering real value right now (not futuristic speculation).

  3. What I've learned in 12 Years of Entrepreneurship - Key lessons from my journey and how I'm applying them to AI product building.

Reply to this email with your vote or drop a comment on Twitter! The topic with the most votes gets made first.

Talk Soon,
Stefan