Overview
Generates the SaaS pricing & packaging specification, sourced from Walling (Pricing chapters), Cotton (publish your pricing), and Mersch (unit economics).
Core Instructions
Step 1: Choose the value metric
The value metric is the unit on which the customer's payment scales. It must grow with the customer's value extraction. Candidates: seats, API calls, GB stored, transactions processed, MAUs, contacts in CRM, video minutes recorded, properties managed.
State the chosen value metric and the rejection reasons for the runner-up.
Step 2: Define tiers
Recommended 3-4 public tiers + 1 enterprise (contact-us):
| Tier | Price/mo | Value-metric units included | Key features | Support | SLA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free / Indie | $0 / $29 | small | core | community / NBD | none / 99.5% |
| Pro | $99 | medium | + collaboration | email 24h | 99.9% |
| Business / Studio | $299 | large | + integrations + SSO | priority chat | 99.95% |
| Enterprise | contact | unlimited | + dedicated infra, SSO, audit, custom DPA | named CSM, 15 min SEV1 | 99.99% |
Step 3: Feature gates
Server-side gating only. Each gate evaluates tenant.tier from the signed context. Document the gate inventory and the fallback (upsell prompt, limit-reached UX).
Step 4: Expansion levers
Per Walling, expansion is the SaaS cheat-code. Define:
- Value-metric expansion — more seats / more usage as customer grows.
- Feature expansion — upsell to next tier.
- Cross-sell — adjacent products.
Each lever has: trigger event, in-product upsell UX, sales-assisted upsell path, expected conversion rate.
Step 5: Freemium decision
Decide yes/no with explicit drivers: high virality? acquisition channel? cost-to-serve free user? conversion rate? competitor pressure? Document the decision as an ADR.
Step 6: Credit-card-up-front decision
Decide yes/no — trial with CC vs no-CC. Document trade-offs (signup friction vs activated-trial quality).
Step 7: Price-raise & grandfathering policy
State the cadence (typically annual), the trigger (Rule of 10: ≥ 10% MRR uplift), the grandfathering window (existing customers protected for 12 months), the announcement protocol, the discount-offer to migrate.
Step 8: Discount & concession authority
| Role | Max discount | Approval |
|---|---|---|
| AE | 10% | self |
| Sales lead | 20% | self |
| VP Sales | 30% | self |
| CFO | > 30% | required |
Step 9: Public price page contract
The page MUST show prices, tiers, features, limits, FAQ. State what is NOT shown (negotiated enterprise pricing).
Step 10: Write the spec
Pricing_And_Packaging_Spec.md with sections: 1) Value Metric, 2) Tier Definitions, 3) Feature Gates Inventory, 4) Expansion Levers, 5) Freemium / Trial Decision, 6) Credit-Card-Up-Front Decision, 7) Price-Raise & Grandfathering Policy, 8) Discount & Concession Authority, 9) Public Price Page Contract, 10) Traceability to PRD & Business Case.
Standards
- IEEE 29148-2018 — Stakeholder requirements.
- Walling (2022) — Pricing structure chapters.
- Cotton (2020) — Essay 5: Publish your pricing.
Resources
logic.prompt,README.md,references/saas-pricing-and-packaging-spec-template.md.