In this episode of Mostly Growth, the number one podcast in product monetization, Kyle and CJ break down why usage-based pricing is taking off—and how it breaks the traditional SaaS playbook. They cover what’s driving the shift, what breaks (sales comp, forecasting, renewals, metrics), and how to get investors and customers comfortable. Plus, how Snowflake reframed the model and common mistakes to avoid.

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SPONSORS:

Tropic is an intelligent spend management solution that consolidates your spend data and processes into one unified offering, enabling insights and decisive action. From spotting hidden optimization opportunities to automating painful procurement workflows and giving you the best market data to turn vendor negotiations in your favor, Tropic combines smart insights with real human expertise to keep you ahead of the curve. Visit https://www.tropicapp.io/mostlymetrics to learn how.

HockeyStack is an AI platform for modern go-to-market teams that unifies sales, marketing, and customer data into a single system of action. With AI agents that prospect accounts, support reps, improve forecasting, and automate what’s already working, HockeyStack helps teams move faster without guessing. Trusted by companies like RingCentral, Outreach, ActiveCampaign, and Fortune 100 teams—learn more at https://www.hockeystack.com

RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving,

visit https://www.rightrev.com

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LINKS: 

Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com

CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/

Growth Unhinged: https://www.growthunhinged.com/

Kyle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-poyar/

Slacker Stuff: https://www.slackerstuff.com/

Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slackerstuff/

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RELATED EPISODES:

The IPO Playbook: Expert Advice from Lee Kirkpatrick, Twilio’s Former CFO

https://youtu.be/PTKAUD7PSWU

SaaS Is Back… Or Is It?

https://youtu.be/-Ua6ukTJihw

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TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Preview and Intro

5:33 Usage based pricing is taking off

5:54 Why investors now love usage based

7:20 AI native and pricing pattern match

10:37 Sponsors — Tropic | HockeyStack | RightRev

14:18 Usage based is how you run a company

15:31 Sales commissions

16:35 Revenue recognition

18:55 Renewal conversations

20:42 Onboarding

22:43 Sales rep culture shift

23:30 Forecasting

23:54 Getting investors comfortable

24:28 Snowflake's forecasting approach

29:52 Portfolio of bets framing

30:30 Getting customers comfortable

30:48 What a "credit" actually means

31:43 Help customers business case their usage

33:12 Renewal terms transparency

34:29 Takeaways

35:27 Business blunders — Ramp vs. OpenAI

38:19 Credits

#MostlyGrowthPodcast #UsageBasedPricing #SaaS #ProductMonetization #AIStartups