Re:Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expens...
by ericd on Thursday November 12, 2020 @09:42PM
(#25078210)
I think trust in your providers treating you well is required for low-touch SaaS sales for key infrastructure to work well. If you don't trust your counterparties, then you get long contract negotiations and minimum viable contract sizes balloon, as many potential buyers just won't be willing to be dependent on your company without assurances.
Re:Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expens...
by robertlagrant on Friday November 13, 2020 @06:27AM
(#25081212)
Exactly. Certain SAAS companies (cough Datadog cough) seem to have very old school sales processes in place. I don't love the larger cloud providers, but at least they lay out their standard prices, supply a price calculator, and I can figure out if I want to use them without hearing someone tell me they'll have to "clear it with their director".
Re:Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expens...
by cloudpundit on Friday November 13, 2020 @09:13AM
(#25082300)
I imagine anytime someone says the have to "clear it with their director", you're talking about discounted or private pricing not the list pricing they have on their website. Every SaaS company has that, including the cloud providers.
Re:Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expens...
by robertlagrant on Saturday November 14, 2020 @02:22PM
(#25094837)
Well yes, one wouldn't be talking to them in the first place if it were on the website. For many companies though "Enterprise" plans are always non-website prices, so there's nothing special about negotiating them, and the salespeople pretty much always are just saying that stuff to have a chance to go away, recalculate their monthly commission chances and figure out the price to try with you rather than actually seeking permission.
I have noticed a significant attitude of, "I originally signed up for this product with 'x' cost and 'x' features, and you have zero right to change anything about that."
It seems like a basic contract negotiation process would ferret that out - I thought that was a business thing to do. I work in higher ed, and we absolutely have to have contracts for all third-party vendors; any changes are negotiated with the start of new contracts. If we can figure it out, surely startups can - we're not really all that good at efficiency.