Leading a GTM team

Should I sign multi-year deals, and what payment terms should I be pushing for?

The short answer

A multi-year deal is worth real money to you (locked revenue, no renewal risk, lower churn) so charge for it properly rather than giving it away. Two structures matter. A ramp lets the customer start small and step up on a schedule, which wins deals where the full price is a stretch today, at the cost of a billing system that has to handle it and a revenue number that gets harder to read. A flat multi-year with a capped annual uplift is simpler and usually better for you. On terms, the things sophisticated buyers ask for are exactly the things you should price: annual prepay versus quarterly, a cap on renewal increases, rollover of unused commitment, pre-agreed rate tables for growth. Give them, but take something each time. In Indian public sector and PSU work the shape is different again, with advance against bank guarantee, milestone payments and an AMC tail, so read the tender document before you quote.

Go deeper, your way

3 hand-picked resources, 1 India-specific, 3 link-checked. Pick how you want to dig in.

📄 Article
✓ Link checked India Free Intermediate

Why we picked it The shape of an Indian government or PSU software contract, which nothing in the global SaaS canon prepares you for: EMD of one to five percent, advance against bank guarantee, payment split across development milestones, UAT and go live, then an AMC tail at 15 to 20 percent a year.

Software Tenders in India 2025: The Complete Guide

From TenderDekho by Arjun Reddy 25 min read

Open tenderdekho.com

The same ground, at another level

How pricing and packaging reads from a different seat.

Terms in this answer

People also ask

I have no idea what to charge. How do I pick a first price? Find the right order of magnitude first and stop arguing about the exact number. Are you a ten dollar product, a hundred dollar product, a thousand... Breaking into GTM 4 resources → What is a value metric and why does everyone say it matters more than the number? A value metric is the thing you charge for: a seat, a thousand API calls, a gigabyte, a transaction, a resolved ticket. Patrick Campbell's line is ... Breaking into GTM 4 resources → How do I design tiers so buyers pick the right plan and grow into the next one? Good, better, best works for about two thirds of SaaS companies because it makes the choice easy, so start there unless you have a strong reason no... Doing the work 3 resources → How do I find out what customers will actually pay without just asking them? Asking "what would you pay" gets you a polite fiction, so use structured methods instead. Van Westendorp gives you a sensible range, Gabor-Granger ... Doing the work 4 resources → Should I price in rupees for India and dollars for everyone else? If you sell to Indian SMEs, price in rupees, include GST in the displayed number, and support UPI and domestic cards, because dollar pricing on a c... Leading a GTM team 4 resources → Buyers always ask for a discount. How much do I give, and how do I stop it eating my ARR? Assume discounting will happen and price for it rather than trying to hold an imaginary line. Jason Lemkin's practical version: mark list up so a s... Leading a GTM team 5 resources →

Also in Starting Up

The same ground, over in Money, pricing & model, our Starting Up track.

Also in D2C

The same ground, over in Money, pricing & unit economics, our D2C track.

eChai Partner Brands