Pricing and Packaging for AI Products with Unusual VC Speaker: Sandhya Hegde, General Partner at Unusual VC

2. Pricing &
Packaging
AI SaaS
Sandhya Hegde
General Partner, Unusual Ventures
@sandhya

3. Blue
$1B AUM
Sandhya Hegde | GP, Unusual Ventures | @sandhya

4. Startup Field Guide case studies - unusual.vc/podcast

6. Pricing and packaging AI SaaS is hard
Sandhya Hegde | GP, Unusual Ventures | @sandhya
Dynamic
costs
Volatile
usage
Unproven
ROI
*
$ per token
Hosting, fine-tuning
Training, data
$ per GPU
Adoption curve
Degrees of automation
Fraud
Selection
Reliability, Accuracy
Effectiveness

7. A design framework for pricing and packaging
Sandhya Hegde | GP, Unusual Ventures | @sandhya
Model Structure Operations

8. AI SaaS companies converge on hybrid models
Sandhya Hegde | GP, Unusual Ventures | @sandhya
Subscription +Consumption +Solution
● Per (active) user
● Trial/freemium
● Per product with
add ons
● Seat + Usage based
● Success based
● Credit drawdowns
● Embedded
● Seat + Usage + Service
bundles
● Custom deployments
● Personalization
~25% of SaaS businesses and over 55% of AI SaaS businesses self-report as having hybrid pricing
Model

9. Many large AI startups span all pricing levers
Sandhya Hegde | GP, Unusual Ventures | @sandhya
Subscription
● Per (active) user
● Trial/freemium
● Per product with
add ons
● Seat + Usage based
● Success based
● Credit drawdowns
● Embedded
● Seat + Usage + Service
bundles
● Custom deployments
● Personalization
Model
+Consumption +Solution

10. Sandhya Hegde | GP, Unusual Ventures | @sandhya
Value
Support
Model

11. Sandhya Hegde | GP, Unusual Ventures | @sandhya
Better free time
Save/spend time that
can’t be monetized
More
monetizable time
Increase revenue or
save cost
Model
Value
Support

12. Sandhya Hegde | GP, Unusual Ventures | @sandhya
Self-serve
Users can learn and
apply on own
Managed change
Users need
consulting services
Model
Value
Support

13. Sandhya Hegde | GP, Unusual Ventures | @sandhya
Subscription Consumption/
hybrid
Solution
Fixed cost
Fixed ROI
Fixed job
done
Model
Value
Support

14. Case studies: hybrid models, different structures
Industrial Design
AI-native platform to take
your 3D designs from
paper to production
Model Training
Efficient training for
foundation models as a
service
Comms Assistant
Enterprise writing copilot
for marketing, sales and
operations
Model

15. Pricing and packaging AI SaaS
Sandhya Hegde | GP, Unusual Ventures | @sandhya
Model Structure Operations

16. pricing & packaging
==
COMPANY strategy
Sandhya Hegde | GP, Unusual Ventures | @sandhya

17. Sandhya Hegde | GP, Unusual Ventures | @sandhya
Business Value GTM Strategy
Engineering
Quality
Competitive
Positioning
LTV CAC GM% Win%
Pricing and packaging == company strategy
Structure

18. Sandhya Hegde | GP, Unusual Ventures | @sandhya
Pricing and packaging == Business Value
1
2
3
4
Can I directly attribute revenue/cost impact to the usage of our product?
Can I quantify the improved performance/productivity our product drives?
What infrastructure/resources does our product completely replace?
What monetary risk does our product mitigate for existing assets?
Structure

19. Sandhya Hegde | GP, Unusual Ventures | @sandhya
Pricing and packaging == GTM Strategy
1
2
3
4
What are my target customer segments and their willingness to pay?
What functionality do enterprise buyers need that others don’t?
Can I land self-serve with small teams in big enterprises?
Can I protect enterprise value while making self-serve accessible?
Structure

20. Basic Standard Pro Mega
Monthly Subscription Cost
$10/mo
per user
$30/mo
per user
$60/mo
per user
$120/mo
per user
Fast GPU Time 3.3 hrs 15 hrs 30 hrs 60 hrs
Purchase Extra GPU Time $4/hr
Maximum Concurrent Jobs
3 Jobs
10 Jobs waiting in queue
12 Fast Jobs
3 Relaxed Jobs
10 Jobs in queue
Model

21. Basic Standard Pro Mega
Monthly Subscription Cost
$10/mo
per user
$30/mo
per user
$60/mo
per user
$120/mo
per user
Fast GPU Time 3.3 hrs 15 hrs 30 hrs 60 hrs
Purchase Extra GPU Time $4/hr
Maximum Concurrent Jobs
3 Jobs
10 Jobs waiting in queue
12 Fast Jobs
3 Relaxed Jobs
10 Jobs in queue
Logic?
$4/hr per GPU with 17-60% discount for buying bundled
hours upfront
Free but slow and public for dabblers -> marketing
Model

22. 22

24. Sandhya Hegde | GP, Unusual Ventures | @sandhya
Pricing and packaging == Engineering Quality
1
2
3
Can I make our cost basis lower to expand free/trial access?
Can we do fast custom deployments for enterprises?
Where do we package new features -> for ASPs or win rates?
Structure

25. 25

27. Sandhya Hegde | GP, Unusual Ventures | @sandhya
Pricing and packaging == Competitive Positioning
1
2
How does our self serve experience compare with alternatives for TTV, ROI?
Is our premium offering aligned to our target customer segment?
Structure

28. 28

30. Pricing and packaging AI SaaS
Sandhya Hegde | GP, Unusual Ventures | @sandhya
Model Structure Operations

31. Sandhya Hegde | GP, Unusual Ventures | @sandhya
Good pricing grows total enterprise value not ASP
time
value
Iterative
pricing
● Not monotonic
● Win rate or ASP?
● Market or sell?
● Delta in value
created vs cost of
alternatives

32. Sandhya Hegde | GP, Unusual Ventures | @sandhya
Takeaways
1
2
4
Successful AI-native companies use different pricing models for each package/product
Customers want predictability - either of cost, ROI or job success or all 3 but stack ranked
Pricing & packaging is an all company strategy -> can’t delegate to PM/pricing expert
5 Set up a long term pricing strategy that iterates and grows with new features and
improvements shipped -> goal is to grow $TAM, not just short term ASP
3 Balance cost-based dynamic pricing with value-based minimum commitments for cashflow.
Your messaging should align with customers’ mental model.

33. Resources on SaaS pricing & packaging
● Reforge - https://www.reforge.com/blog/pricing-strategy
● Openview/Kyle Poyar - https://openviewpartners.com/blog/category/pricing-positioning/
● Stigg - https://www.stigg.io/the-developer-guide-to-the-modern-saas-monetization-galaxy
● Unusual Startup Field Guide - https://www.unusual.vc/articles/free-plan-vs-free-trial-in-plg
Sandhya Hegde
General Partner, Unusual Ventures
@sandhya

34. Q&A
Sandhya Hegde
General Partner, Unusual Ventures
@sandhya