Money, pricing & model

Your business model, what to charge, and whether the numbers work.

What founders use for money, pricing & model, ranked by how many answers lean on it.

  1. Kevin Hale's YC lecture is the clearest introduction to pricing first principles and the mistakes founders repeat. The... ycombinator.com Video · ~35 min video + transcript Startup Pricing 101 Kevin Hale (Y Combinator) In 5 answers
  2. Video · about 22 minutes Consumer Startup Metrics | Startup School Tom Blomfield
  3. Video · Short (under 10 min) Contribution Margin Edspira (Michael McLaughlin, PhD, CPA)
  4. Video · About 5 minutes This Video Is Worth $13,568.99 (How Ads Work on YouTube) CGP Grey
  5. Video · ~15 min The 5 things that kill startups after their seed rounds Michael Seibel
  6. Video · Short explainer Take Rate Explained Mostly Growth (CJ Gustafson)
  7. Video · short How to Use the Ledge Technique for Sales Objection Handling | Ask Jeb Jeb Blount
  8. Video Subscription Models vs One Time Purchase: Bridge the Debate Soren Kaplan
  9. Video · About 12 minutes I looked at 105 SaaS pricing pages. Here's what I learned. Slidebean
  10. Video · Short explainer (under 15 minutes) Customer Retention & Cohort Analysis: How VCs Calculate Customer Retention YouTube
  11. Video · About 5 minutes Contribution Margin explained Philip de Vroe (The Finance Storyteller)
  12. Video · Short explainer, under 10 minutes What Shopify Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) Is & How to Calculate It Shopify
  13. Video · About 6 minutes How to calculate burn rate, runway, and growth rate Tim Brady
  14. Video · Short explainer video, a few minutes Cash Flow vs. Profit: What's the Difference? HBS Online
  15. Video · long-form interview, roughly an hour Jason Fried Interview: Bootstrapping vs VC, Profit vs Revenue, Basecamp, HEY & Once Jason Fried
  16. Video Cash Basis vs. Accrual Basis Accounting Explained: Which Is Right for Your Business? YouTube
  17. Video How Indian Startup Founders Save Crores in Taxes! YouTube
  18. Video · webinar-length walkthrough Mastering Financial Models for Your Startup with Logan Burchett Logan Burchett (Co-founder, Forecastr)

The questions

Business models explained 18

How the money actually flows.

What business model should I choose for my startup? 3 → What's the difference between SaaS, marketplace, and transactional business models? 3 → How do I make money from a free product or freemium model? 3 → How does a marketplace actually make money and solve the chicken-and-egg problem? 3 → Should I sell to businesses (B2B) or consumers (B2C)? 2 → All 18 questions in Business models explained →
Pricing & packaging 18

Charge money. Charge more. Here's how.

How do I decide how much to charge for my product? 3 → What is a value metric and why does it matter for pricing? 2 → How many pricing tiers should I have and how should I package them? 3 → Am I charging too little for my product? 3 → How do I raise prices without losing my existing customers? 3 → All 18 questions in Pricing & packaging →
Unit economics & modeling 18

Know what a customer costs and earns.

What are unit economics and why do they matter? 3 → How do I calculate CAC (customer acquisition cost) and LTV? 3 → What is a good LTV to CAC ratio? 3 → What metrics should I actually track as an early-stage SaaS founder? 3 → How do I build a simple financial model or revenue projection? 3 → All 18 questions in Unit economics & modeling →
Bootstrapping & profitability 18

Grow on customer money, keep control.

Can I really build a successful startup without raising money? 3 → How do I bootstrap a startup with little or no money? 3 → How did Zoho and Zerodha bootstrap to billion-dollar companies? 3 → How do I reach profitability (or ramen profitability) as fast as possible? 3 → Bootstrapping vs raising VC, how do I decide? 3 → All 18 questions in Bootstrapping & profitability →
Startup finance & accounting 18

Keep the books, watch the runway.

What financial basics does every founder need to understand? 3 → What is burn rate and runway, and how do I calculate them? 2 → How should I manage cash flow so my startup doesn't run out of money? 3 → Do I need an accountant and proper bookkeeping from day one? 3 → What taxes and compliance do I need to handle as an Indian startup? 2 → All 18 questions in Startup finance & accounting →
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