In a recent video titled "Why SaaS Leaders Build Pricing Like Product - Not Finance," Akhil from Monetizely explains why leading SaaS companies are abandoning traditional finance-led pricing approaches in favor of treating pricing as a product system. Inspired by Metronome's "Pricing Is a Product" framework, Akhil identifies critical operational blind spots that are costing SaaS companies millions in unrealized revenue.
The Hidden Crisis in SaaS Pricing
Most SaaS companies approach pricing as a finance decision rather than a product system, creating significant operational challenges. As Akhil points out, "Most companies stumble not because their pricing is wrong, but because their monetization model isn't operationalized. It's fragmented across teams and stitched together by process debt."
This fragmentation manifests in practical ways across the organization:
- Sales teams quote one price while billing systems charge another
- Finance departments can't recognize monetized revenue until quarter-end
- Engineers are constantly pulled in to make packaging changes
This isn't merely operational friction—it represents a strategic failure in how companies approach monetization.
The True Cost of Traditional Pricing Approaches
Traditional pricing approaches inadvertently create what Akhil calls "monetization debt"—the hidden cost of treating pricing as an afterthought rather than core infrastructure.
"Traditional pricing approaches create monetization debt. The hidden cost of treating pricing as an afterthought instead of core infrastructure."
Most companies operate with disconnected systems where:
- Pricing logic lives in spreadsheets
- Billing functions exist in separate tools
- Revenue recognition happens manually
The consequences are severe: "Every pricing experiment requires months of planning, manual rewrites and cross-team coordination." This creates a paradoxical situation where companies avoid necessary pricing changes because "the operational cost of implementation outweighs the strategic benefit."
Why Would You Treat Pricing Different from Product Features?
A compelling observation Akhil makes is the inconsistency in how companies approach product development versus pricing:
"You would not ship a new feature without user testing, observability, and a feedback loop. Why would you treat pricing any different?"
This disconnect leads to "pricing paralysis" where companies become "stuck with suboptimal pricing because changing it breaks too many systems."
The Winning Approach: Pricing as Product Infrastructure
The solution, according to Akhil, is to treat pricing like product infrastructure, built on three core principles:
1. Testable Pricing
Can you experiment with pricing without months of planning or manual rewrites? Modern teams need to "build pricing systems that allow rapid iteration, A/B testing, and rollback capabilities."
2. Observable Monetization
Do you have visibility into how users interact with pricing and usage in real-time? Companies should "treat pricing analytics like product analytics. Track conversion rates, usage patterns, and customer behavior across pricing tiers."
3. Responsive Systems
Can you update pricing or packaging dynamically without breaking billing or revenue recognition? The goal is to "build infrastructure that supports pricing changes without engineering intervention."
Competitive Advantages of Agile Pricing
Companies that master these principles gain significant competitive advantages:
Pricing Velocity Advantage
"Companies that can iterate pricing faster than competitors can optimize for market conditions, customer feedback and competitive positioning in real time."
This is particularly crucial for teams building AI-native tools or hybrid PLG/SLG motions, where "pricing is one of the most powerful levers they have."
Monetization Network Effect
Better pricing creates a flywheel effect:
"Better pricing data leads to better product decisions, which leads to better customer experiences, which generates better pricing data."
Companies trapped in manual pricing processes can't access this flywheel.
How to Audit Your Pricing Operations
Akhil suggests evaluating your current pricing operations by asking:
- How long does it take to implement a pricing change?
- How much manual work is required?
- How quickly can you measure the impact?
"If the answers are months, too much, and slowly, you are operating with monetization debt."
The Path Forward
The message is clear: "Stop treating pricing like a quarterly finance exercise and start treating it like core product infrastructure." Companies that master pricing velocity will dominate their markets, while competitors remain trapped in operational complexity.
Building pricing systems that are testable, observable, and responsive isn't just about optimizing revenue—it's about creating a sustainable competitive advantage in an increasingly dynamic market.