Article · long read

Bottom Up Pricing & Packaging: Let the User Journey Be Your Guide

Jennifer Li and Martin Casado · Andreessen Horowitz Free Intermediate

Maps tiers to how adoption actually spreads (casual user, professional, team, organisation) rather than to a feature matrix, using Notion, Databricks, GitHub and dbt. The best argument for delaying monetisation until usage patterns are legible.

  • Across 50 companies studied, the user journey runs casual/freemium, then individual pro, then team, then organization.
  • Grow the user base before monetizing: Databricks charged nothing for three years.
  • GitHub's 5,000 dollars for 20 seats worked as a rate limiter on inbound demand, not a revenue maximizer.
  • Enterprise overtook self-serve around 10M ARR at one infra company and was 70 percent of revenue by 15M.
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It answers 2 questions

  1. What is a value metric and why does everyone say it matters more than the number?
  2. How do I design tiers so buyers pick the right plan and grow into the next one?

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