Essays.
Long-form essays on pricing, capital allocation, FP&A, M&A, and the modern finance function — for CFOs, founders, and operators building companies that last.
01 · Latest
The refill became the product
Ten products published a top-up price this quarter that the Index classed as hidden in June. Published refills are priced as a product, and the premium over the plan is where the money moves.
The redenomination playbook
Seventeen products in the AI Credit Index have changed what a credit buys since January 2025, mostly without changing a sticker. Here is how to do it so that a buyer can still read the page.
The meter cut both ways
Edition 1 of the AI Credit Index said the meter only tightens. In Edition 2 three vendors cut the credit cost of the work, by half on video, and the rest made it less predictable.
02 · Series
A reading series
The AI Pricing Playbook
Six chapters on pricing AI software — from whether to meter at all, through redenominating a unit without hiding it, to defending a software margin and the buyer's counter-playbook — built from the AI Credit Index.
Open the playbook hub →- Part 1 Should you meter at all? AI's reflex is to put a meter on everything that costs money to run. The first pricing decision is whether to put one on at all.
- Part 2 What you charge for matters more than what you charge The value metric is the pricing decision that outlasts every number you'll set — and AI made choosing it both harder and more important.
- Part 3 How to move a meter without a mutiny Every change to a running meter is a trust event. How to operate one — and reprice it — without a customer revolt.
- Part 4 The redenomination playbook Seventeen products in the AI Credit Index have changed what a credit buys since January 2025, mostly without changing a sticker. Here is how to do it so that a buyer can still read the page.
- Part 5 Who still gets to keep 75%+ gross margins? The margin software took for granted — and why AI has to earn it back, one outcome at a time.
- Part 6 How to buy AI without overpaying You don't set the meter. You can still refuse to pay for the opacity around it. The buyer's counter-playbook, read off the Index.
03 · Archive 92 essays
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The refill became the product Pricing The redenomination playbook Pricing The meter cut both ways Pricing The free tier is being retired Pricing Pika repriced without changing a price Pricing Outcome pricing arrived in support, and only in support Pricing Incumbents, eighteen months in Procurement / Spend While AI naps… AI in Finance Chop Chop Chop Capital Allocation The Credit Index reads: the coding tools Pricing Who still gets to keep 75%+ gross margins? Pricing What you charge for matters more than what you charge Pricing “Unlimited*” — the asterisk is the business model Pricing The price didn't change. Your bill did. Pricing The AI pricing plateau Pricing Should you meter at all? Pricing How to move a meter without a mutiny Pricing How to buy AI without overpaying Pricing Credits are how AI hides its prices Pricing Almost no one can charge for outcomes Pricing AI pricing is just COGS finally showing up Pricing I just graduated again. Thanks, Claude. 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BELONG. Talent & Equity Chief Questions Officer Talent & Equity