Price and package your product
Charge for value, package it right, and check the numbers work.
3 steps to get you moving, each with a resource worth your time and more waiting underneath
Think of this as a friendly starting line, not the last word. Each step gives you the gist, then a resource worth your time from founders who've been there. There's always more underneath, more questions and more resources, whenever you feel like digging in.
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Pricing & packaging
Charge money. Charge more. Here's how.
How do I decide how much to charge for my product?The gist Stop guessing and stop pricing off your costs, price off the value the customer gets and their willingness to pay. Talk to customers about pricing, look at what comparable tools charge, and start higher than feels comfortable; almost every founder underprices. Price is a lever you're meant to keep pulling, not a one-time decision.
Pricing Your SaaS Product lennysnewsletter.com Patrick Campbell built ProfitWell on pricing data from thousands of companies, and this is the single best free deep-dive on SaaS pricing strategy. It's the canonical starting point for value metrics, segments, and packaging. -
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Business models explained
How the money actually flows.
What business model should I choose for my startup?The gist Don't 'choose' a model in a vacuum, copy the model that already works in your customers' world and improve one thing about it. Recurring revenue (subscription/SaaS) beats one-time sales for defensibility, but marketplaces, transactional, and usage-based models win in their own contexts. The real question isn't the label; it's who pays, how often, and whether the money compounds.
Business Models & Metrics, Y Combinator Startup Library ycombinator.com YC's Startup Library is the canonical, no-fluff reference on how startups actually make money, curated from partners who've seen thousands of companies. It cuts through business-model jargon with practical framing founders can apply immediately. -
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Unit economics & modeling
Know what a customer costs and earns.
What are unit economics and why do they matter?The gist Unit economics is the profit or loss on a single customer or unit, strip away the noise and ask 'do I make money on one customer?' If the answer is no and there's no clear path to yes, scaling just burns cash faster. Get the unit right first; growth multiplies whatever the unit is, good or bad.
16 Startup Metrics a16z The reference primer on the metrics and market-sizing logic investors use, including bottom-up market sizing that keeps founders honest about how big a market really is. Canonical a16z source.
