Monetizing Payments in Vertical AI
Why subscriptions’ pain is payments’ gain, with the co-CEOs of Payabli
Per-seat revenue models are facing major headwinds as AI makes labor more efficient. Yet overall, Vertical AI platforms are more capable, performant, and impactful on B2B customers’ businesses than ever before. How are founders capturing that value? The hot answers today are outcome pricing and usage pricing — both economically attractive, but an imperfect (or unproven) fit in many use cases. One answer has been core to the vertical software business model for years: payments. Seats may shrink when agents do the work, but if those agents are effective, payments should only grow. Our guests on today’s episode of Verticals make the case that, in the AI era, more founders should look to payments-linked monetization — we’ll share their best tips on how.
The Takeaway
Payments scales with GMV, not headcount. It's less exposed to AI cutting seats.
Don't sell it at cost. Jo wants partners at scale above 25–30 bps, and 50+ bps when priced on value.
Your customers pay their suppliers too. Virtual card interchange runs 100–200 bps, but only on suppliers who take cards.
Only build that where the bills are big. Property management and school districts, yes; salons, probably not.
To read the full piece, head over to The Verticalist on Substack.