SaaS companies scale revenue not by adjusting price points, but by creating distinct packages for different segments. The same core software can be sold for vastly different amounts to enterprise versus mid-market clients by packaging features, services, and support to match their perceived value and needs.

In a B2B context, the most effective freemium products don't just offer a limited tool. They act as a diagnostic, giving away value by clearly identifying a painful hole in the user's business—a hole your paid product is designed to fill.

Many founders mistakenly view freemium as a complete business model. It's actually a top-of-funnel acquisition strategy that replaces marketing spend with a free product to generate leads. The real business model is the subsequent upsell to paid tiers.

Initially, Astronomer priced against the cost of hiring an engineer for analytics tasks. As customers adopted Airflow for critical operational workloads (e.g., regulatory reporting), the pricing conversation shifted. The value is no longer saving a salary, but preventing catastrophic revenue or compliance failures.

The founder of AI content startup Dream Stories deliberately rejected the common VC-fueled model of offering free, subsidized products. By charging customers from the beginning, he forced the business to find immediate product-market fit and build a sustainable economic model, grounding the company in real-world validation rather than burning cash on an unproven concept.

Many subscription companies employ a "penetration strategy," pricing below cost to attract a large user base. Once loyalty is established, they leverage their pricing power to increase profits, shifting focus from pure growth to appeasing shareholders who now demand profitability.

Despite Figma's massive success, Dylan Field considers their long pre-monetization period a mistake. The company started in 2012 but didn't earn its first revenue until 2017. He strongly advises founders against this path, emphasizing the need to ship and learn from the market more quickly.

Giving away free Proofs of Concept (POCs) positions you at the "bottom of the food chain." Charging even a small amount, like $5,000, forces the customer to take the project seriously and, crucially, begins the official vendor onboarding process within their company.

To prevent a community from becoming a sales-driven failure, consider charging for access. This reframes it as a standalone product with its own P&L, forcing genuine investment and protecting it from the short-term pipeline pressure that corrupts its purpose and value.