Stages 1-3 (pre-seed through Series B)
Price by who consumes the product
A founder at S1 to S3 with an AI product must decide between seat and outcome pricing because seat counts collapse when agents do the work.
Options
Seat-based pricing per human user
Outcome or usage pricing per job completed
Hybrid platform fee plus usage
What mattered
- Whether the end consumer is a human or an agent
- Buyer predictability versus vendor upside
- The buyer's current cost of the problem sets the anchor
What was done
Founders in the sessions kept seats where humans consume, sold outcomes where agents do the work, and moved toward a platform fee plus usage as the default.
ClaimIf the end consumer of the product is a human, seats survive; if it is an agent, sell outcomes or usage.
FAQ
- Which stage does this apply to?
- Stages 1-3 (pre-seed through Series B).
- Where does this come from?
- Synthesized from FounderNexus founder sessions, with speakers abstracted.
FounderNexus convenes stage-matched founder groups around decisions like this one.