SaaStr · Starting Up

✍️ Essay

✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it This is a straight judgment call from Jason Lemkin, who has seen thousands of SaaS pricing pages, on when hiding your price is a real strategy versus just fear. He is honest that early-stage founders who are still experimenting with what to charge have a legitimate reason to keep enterprise numbers off the page, while also naming the cost: smaller buyers bounce when they cannot self-qualify on budget. Read it as a starting point for your own call, not a rule.

Dear SaaStr: Why Do So Many B2B Vendors Not Show Prices for Enterprise Plans?

From SaaStr by Jason Lemkin 5 min read

Hiding price buys you flexibility while you are still figuring out what to charge, but it adds friction and quietly turns away smaller buyers who want to check budget before they talk to anyone.
The right answer depends on who you sell to: self-serve and smaller deals reward showing a real number, genuinely custom enterprise deals can justify a Contact button.
Buyers now expect transparency and AI-first products are leaning further into it, so treat hiding price as a deliberate choice you can defend, not a default.

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Answers Should I show pricing on my landing page before I've figured out what to charge?

🎧 Podcast

✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

Why we picked it For the practitioner gut-check on how much services revenue is actually healthy, SaaStr is the reference voice, and Jason Lemkin has run these numbers across hundreds of software companies. His consistent take: roughly 8 to 10 percent of revenue from services is normal, up to about 20 to 25 percent is still fine for true enterprise, and services that speed adoption and lock in customers are worth doing even at break-even. Listen for the framing that services should support the product, not become the business.

The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS, Founders, Investors

On SaaStr by Jason Lemkin episodes roughly 25 to 40 min

Most enterprise SaaS companies pull about 8 to 10 percent of revenue from services, and up to roughly 25 percent is still normal for genuine enterprise deals.
Many companies run services near break-even on purpose, because they speed adoption and reduce buyer fear, not because they are a profit center.
If services revenue creeps past about a quarter of the total, investors start pricing you as a services business, not a software one.

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Answers How do I decide whether to add a services layer to my product business, and will investors hate it?

📄 Article

✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

Why we picked it This is the exact question you are asking, answered by someone who has sold a lot of enterprise software. Lemkin gives you a usable rule instead of platitudes: say yes when the feature is reusable by other customers and fits your next 24 months of roadmap, charge for it either as a one-time fee or a higher annual price, and cap the share of engineering you spend on any one big deal. It is a starting point for turning a gut call into a repeatable filter.

Dear SaaStr: Our Biggest Customers Are All Asking for Custom Features. When Do We Say Yes?

From SaaStr by Jason Lemkin

Say yes mainly when the requested feature can be sold to other customers and already fits your roughly 24-month roadmap, not because one account is loud or large.
Price the custom work, either as a one-time fee or baked into a higher annual contract, so bespoke building at least breaks even instead of quietly becoming a cost center.
Put a ceiling on it: allow only a small slice of engineering (he suggests around 10 percent of story points) for big-deal customization, and do one or two at a time so the roadmap stays yours.

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Answers My biggest customer is asking for a custom price and features nobody else wants. Do I say yes?

📄 Article

✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

Why we picked it This is the most concrete, no-fluff answer we found to the actual mechanics question: how much do I give up to get a customer to pay a year (or three) upfront. Lemkin's key move is worth stealing, price the monthly/non-annual plan higher and frame annual as the discount, so you collect cash today without truly eroding your price. It is a starting point on the numbers, not a rule; your churn and stage change the math.

Dear SaaStr: What's a Reasonable Discount for an Annual Contract? How About a 3-Year Contract?

From SaaStr by Jason Lemkin Short read, about 6 to 8 minutes

A 15 to 20 percent annual discount is the well-understood norm for smaller customers, but you can mark up monthly pricing about 25 percent so the annual price is your real target and the discount is mostly on paper.
Go deep on multi-year prepay only if churn is high; if you would have renewed that customer anyway, a big 3-year discount trades a lot of future revenue for cash today.
For strong brands, guaranteed no-price-increase for 3 years can beat a headline percentage discount, especially with enterprise buyers.

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Answers How do I get customers to pay upfront or annually so I can bootstrap on their cash instead of my savings?

✍️ Essay

✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

Why we picked it Jason Lemkin has funded and built enough companies to say plainly that staying revenue-funded and keeping your ownership is doable, while being honest that it takes roughly four years longer to reach real scale. It is a useful counterweight when the whole ecosystem is telling you the only way up is to sell equity. Treat it as one experienced perspective on the trade you are making, not a promise that slow-and-owned always wins.

How can companies be revenue funded and survive without venture capital?

From SaaStr by Jason Lemkin 5 min read

You can reach real scale without VC, but expect it to take meaningfully longer, so keeping control has a time cost you should name upfront.
Bootstrapped companies usually win by starting with smaller customers and moving upmarket slowly, since you cannot buy an expensive enterprise sales team on day one.
The point of preserving ownership is optionality: a smaller cap table means fewer people you owe an exit to, which is worth protecting when you take on any outside cash.

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Answers How do I keep control and avoid dilution when a bootstrapped business needs a one-time cash injection but I don't want VC?