Just weather the storm.
Very early into Minted I was talking with someone about business etc and they showed me this image
I come back to it all the time.
Shower thought that's probably ridiculous but I can't stop thinking about it...
What if SaaS pricing becomes "pay what you want" in a few years?
Stay with me now.
When AI makes building features trivially "easy", every innovation gets copied in weeks.
Already happening:
โ 10+ AI note-takers with identical features
โ 20+ AI writing tools doing the same thing
โ Dozens of project management tools that are basically twins
If features can't differentiate anymore, you pick based on vibes.
The branding. The founder's story. How it makes you feel.
So here's the weird thought:
What if companies said: "This costs us $5/month to run. Pay that. Or pay more if you want to support us."
Almost like "buy me a coffee" but for your actual subscription.
Would anyone pay more? Probably not.
But also... maybe?
If you genuinely connected with the company and wanted them to win?
When products are commoditised, people choose based on connection.
When people feel connected, some will voluntarily pay more.
Maybe it's a bit crazy and might only work for tiny, niche SaaS.
But if AI makes everything identical...
what's left to compete on besides trust?
Anyway, I thought about this for way too long this weekend and had to get it out of my head.
Tell me I'm wrong. Or tell me there's a 0.01% chance this works somewhere ๐