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🦸‍♂️ From 150k Waitlist To $30 Million Series A. How Superpower cracked the code on accessible healthcare.
👀 Pattern Interrupt Marketing, What Is It? A stop you in your tracks style of attention grabbing and why you need to implement it.
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HOUSEKEEPING 📨

This week Sam Altman, the man we techno-optimists are trusting to build our future utopia, spilled the beans that OpenAI is preparing to roll out ‘erotica’ to adult users. When I read this note, my heart sank. Only weeks after their major AI slop feed announcement, this. If OpenAI rolled out ads in its results, I’m all for it. We want that company to be raking in so much cash that it can shovel unholy quantities of data into their models to eventually hit AGI and eventually cure cancer, fix climate change, end wars, and travel the stars.

We don’t need slop. We already have porn. Oh how I wish our techno-overlords would spend their precious time and energy to fixing the planet and creating a better life for us all. Anyway, enough about that. Please enjoy today’s piece!

GUEST POST 💄

AI-Ready Growth Strategies For 2025

In a recent interview, CEO of General Catalyst, Hemant Taneja, stated that, "Triple, triple, double, double is dead. Going from $1M to $3M to $9M is not interesting. You have to go $1M to $15M to $100M." This sent shockwaves through tech. Some were saying we were at the beginning of a great, glorious AI age, while others were calling the top. Sell it all. Multiples are out of control. The truth, like most things, is somewhere in the middle.

It is true that the tried-and-true old approach of hitting $1M ARR, then tripling and doubling twice, seems kinda subpar by today’s standards. So what are we to do? How are we to act? Are we to bury our heads in the sand and hope for Roko’s Basilisk to arrive and smite your enemies? No! We need to find ways to compete. To get edges. Because after all, a rising tide floats all boats.

The good news? This isn't just hype or an impossible standard. There are real, actionable strategies that companies are using right now to achieve this kind of explosive growth—and many of them are powered by AI. The technology isn't just changing what's possible; it's fundamentally reshaping how efficiently businesses can scale. But you need to know what levers to pull. 

Today, to help us keep up with the influx of infant decacorns, I’m partnering with our old friends at Paddle, particularly CMO Andrew Davies, who will share a number of strategies to supercharge growth in this new competitive AI landscape. Enjoy!

How to achieve AI-driven growth like a native

Hey all, Andrew here! As Doc alluded to, AI-native businesses are growing rapidly and efficiently. For years, the standard for a software company was that you’d need a team of 500 to get to the $100 million revenue mark. A good benchmark before AI was around $200,000-$400,000 annual recurring revenue (ARR) per employee. Nowadays, we’re seeing next-gen startups operate at $500,000 to $1 million ARR per employee—at least double the traditional benchmark.

And recent data shows that AI-natives with less than $1 million ARR saw a 93% increase in revenue growth in 2024 than the previous year. Take the AI code editor Cursor as an example. They reached $100 million in revenue in just 12 months with only 30 employees. The challenge for your business: how do you keep up in the age of AI?

I delivered a talk at SaaStanak 2025 that outlined seven practical strategies for achieving global growth in the age of AI. Let’s dive into them.

Seven growth strategies to rule them all

Drawing on examples from real high-growth companies, here are your growth strategies for success in today's market.

1. Build distribution into your product

The software industry is relentless, and you’re facing more competition now than ever. That’s why the way you distribute your product is often more important than the product itself. In a modern market, where multiple competitors can emerge simultaneously targeting identical problems, the differentiator becomes speed to market and the sophistication of your distribution.

At Paddle, we’ve found that the most successful companies embed distribution mechanisms directly into their product architecture, rather than treating marketing as an afterthought. A combination of all four distribution tactics is the best way to win the distribution battleground.

2. Plan for churn from day zero

Churn is inevitable, so founders need to focus on proactive planning rather than reactive responses. Traditional approaches treat churn as a problem to be solved after it occurs. Forward-thinking companies see it as an inevitable part of business and build systems to extract maximum value from these interactions. So how do you efficiently manage churn in subscription products?

Good churn management starts with structured exit surveys that you should implement from launch. You should ask two critical questions to transform churn events into learning opportunities:

• Ask why they are leaving you: The key insight is to ensure that price objections don't dominate responses. Instead, dig for issues related to value perception, user experience, or support quality. This data becomes invaluable for product development and preventing future churn across similar customer cohorts.

• Ask why they chose you in the first place: Guide departing customers toward positive reflection by asking what they valued about the service. This creates an opportunity to identify your alternatives to churn. This could be a range of different retention strategies, such as discounted plans, feature-limited versions, or temporary pauses.

Data shows that reactivation revenue—income from customers who churned and have since returned—drives real growth during a market recovery. The goal isn't to prevent all churn, but to maximize the value from inevitable departures while identifying customers willing to maintain some form of relationship.

3. Think global from launch

SaaS and digital product businesses are born global, yet many artificially constrain themselves to market-by-market expansion. A UK-based business may first try to sell in the UK, then market to the US, and so on. However, this approach wastes opportunities, delays SaaS revenue growth, and slows down market penetration.

A huge part of achieving global growth is localizing your payments to match language, currency, and payment methods. For example, Aithor saw a 9% uplift in revenue just from localizing their payment methods. Companies that solve operational challenges through localization —such as taxes, payments, and regulations —unlock markets that may have been inaccessible or underperforming due to friction rather than a lack of demand. Setting your business up to grow into a global marketplace from the beginning of your journey is a key pillar to long-term growth.

4. Move fast to monetize

OpenAI’s Sam Altman acknowledged that they lose money on Pro subscriptions, which illustrates this challenge across the industry. The integration of AI capabilities into traditional SaaS products threatens to continually reduce margins if your products aren’t priced according to usage, as opposed to traditional digital product metrics. This is what led Monica AI to remove their free trial, which in turn reduced chargeback rate by 80%. But how do you price an AI product? In an AI-driven world, agents and automation reduce headcount rather than increase it. This has resulted in a shift in the SaaS industry from traditional seat-based pricing to usage-based or outcome-based pricing. Companies that see the most growth are those transitioning toward hybrid models.

When adding an AI product, you could increase your price, charge an add-on, create a new pricing model, or introduce a usage cap. You might even market it as a new product entirely. But which option is the right one for your AI product in your business? The answer is determined by the willingness to pay and adoption rates of your customers.

You should also consider your primary optimization goal: acquisition growth, brand positioning, revenue growth, or margin protection. Each goal could lead to different pricing approaches and trade-offs.

5. Marry the mission, date the model

One trend we’ve seen recently is B2B businesses launching self-serve offerings for individuals. B2C businesses, conversely, are launching business plans for the teams they serve. Boundaries are blurring as companies look for opportunities to serve both the individual and the business. The key is to maintain a consistent mission and stick to your values while adapting your business model to capture different market segments.

Moving from B2B to B2C growth: This expansion means different operational capabilities. Simple onboarding, automated billing, and self-service support. For example, ServiceNow offers individual training subscriptions alongside its enterprise solutions. Self-serve allows them to capture value from the individual while their core enterprise focus remains.

B2C to B2B growth: This transition can require new pricing structures, different marketing approaches, and distinct value props for organizational buyers. For example, Goodnotes expanded from individual productivity tools to business team solutions. Their transition from an iOS-only consumer app to a multi-platform business solution needed new pricing structures and a move to more flexible payment options.

Both directions need careful attention to brand positioning and customer experience. Companies should avoid confusing current customers while creating a clear path to new markets.

💡 Note: Want to grow beyond Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Check out Paddle’s new guide to do so here!

6. Focus on your serviceable addressable market (SAM)

Smart companies constrain their serviceable addressable market (SAM) while staying aware of broader opportunities. A narrow focus means better market understanding, a more refined product, and a more effective go-to-market. Focusing closely on your SAM also builds expertise and creates stronger competitive advantages.

Constraints also give clarity to team members, investors, and customers about your company’s priorities. And by improving decision-making speed and allocating resources smarter, you remove any potential growth blocker. Knowing your SAM also helps you understand adjacent markets and identify the triggers that signal your business is ready for expansion in those markets. Market changes, regulatory shifts, or technological developments can make previously inaccessible markets viable.

Paddle found a market expansion opportunity following the App Store payment ruling. A court decision instantly opened $160 billion in App Store fees for alternative payment providers to process. We understood our SAM, so we could immediately recognize app developers as a new market we could serve.

7. Don’t lose focus on your value proposition

First things first, you should outsource. Modern businesses can outsource large parts of their ops, from infrastructure to core AI capabilities. As we see AI-natives grow at such rapid rates, it’s easy to see how they’ve become so efficient, since a large portion of their business is handled by someone else.

This allows founders to focus energy on their unique value rather than building undifferentiated infrastructure. You can achieve remarkable efficiency by leveraging external providers for non-core functions.

Another key consideration is deciding whether to build or buy. Every operational component represents a choice between internal development and external partnerships. You should test not just cost and capability but also founder attention and company focus. Functions that don't directly contribute to competitive advantage—such as payment processing, tax compliance, and infrastructure management—can deliver better ROI when outsourced to partners.

Strategic outsourcing enables small teams to compete effectively with larger organizations while maintaining the flexibility to adapt quickly to market changes and sustain business growth.

Software companies scaling at speed

Monica

Monica AI is an all-in-one AI-powered personal assistant. Founded just two years ago, Monica already has over 10 million users worldwide. How? They recognized that rapid growth can create fraud risks and that understanding user behavior is crucial to pricing their AI product. Insights into their customers’ purchasing behavior led them to eliminate their free trial. This resulted in an 80% reduction in chargeback rates and a more consistent revenue stream.

HubX

HubX serves over 200 million users across multiple apps, including Nova, PhotoApp, and PlantApp, and has been growing rapidly since 2022. The company is a great example of the impact that better churn management can have on recovering lost revenue. The app studios company implemented Paddle’s dunning software, Retain, to salvage customer cancellations. They didn’t just retain 63% of customers who initially intended to churn; they also recovered $106k within the first three months of implementation.

Aithor

AI-writing assistant Aithor, launched in 2023 and has seen rapid growth ever since. Based in Belgrade, with sales in over 150 countries, the company has seen major challenges with its international payments. After localizing their payments with Paddle, they were able to support payment methods and currencies for each region. This saw immediate results and a 9% uplift in revenue. Their primary markets in the US and UK experienced 14% revenue growth, but previously ignored markets like Mexico also generated unexpected revenue increases, with a 12% lift.

Intercom

AI customer service suite, Intercom, launched its Fin AI product using an outcome-based pricing model. Instead of charging per seat or per interaction, they price based on successful ticket resolutions. This avoids the messy game of working out how much to charge based on customer usage and instead directly aligns cost with value delivered. While it may not work for all AI offerings, pricing by outcome meant that Intercom could build trust with users and ensure they don’t lose money through unexpected usage.

How you can apply this

Hopefully, you’ve seen some opportunities in the strategies listed above that you can apply to your own company. Here are five key takeaways.

• Treat distribution like the product: Five years ago, 70% of early-stage venture capital was spent on product development and 30% on go-to-market activities. As the industry becomes more saturated, those ratios have completely flipped. Make your differentiator speed to market and the sophistication of your distribution tactics.

• Be proactive, not reactive: It’s never too early to build distribution, churn management, and global capabilities into your business model. Have these strategies implemented from the start to keep up with the competition, rather than reacting to issues later on.

• Know your customer: Understanding your customers is the key to unlocking growth across the board. From knowing why they churn and what they’re willing to pay for to sharpen up your offering, to using this knowledge to tap into new markets in the future. Your customers drive your revenue, so serve them the solutions they need.

• Test, test, and test again: Did you know that Lovable had to launch three times? With so many strategies for growth, acquisition, retention, and more, you need to try and fail to learn what works for your business. Keep building, testing, and learning so your growth never stagnates.

• Don’t forget your origin story: Never lose sight of your mission, market, or value proposition. Letting growth tactics take away from the reason you began your business in the first place is counterproductive. So, make sure you have strong foundations to build on for sustainable growth.

With AI changing the world as we know it, it’s important to move fast to stay competitive. But don’t rush into any specific growth tactic without considering if it’s right for your business and customers. Test everything and don’t lose sight of your company’s core values to ensure your growth strategies will stand the test of time.

Extra reading / learning

• Paddle Is Building The Merchant-Of-Record Category - February, 2025

• Unfiltered: The Details Behind Vanta's Meteoric Rise - March, 2025

• How To Grow Outside The App Stores - April, 2025

And that’s it! You can follow Andrew on LinkedIn and also check out Paddle on their website to learn more.

BRAIN FOOD 🧠 

TWEETS OF THE WEEK 🐣 

TOOLS WE RECOMMEND 🛠️

Every week, we highlight tools we like and those we actually use inside our business and give them an honest review. Today, we are highlighting Paddle—a merchant of record, managing payments, tax and compliance needs—we use their ProfitWell tool.

See the full set of tools we use inside of Athyna & Open Source CEO here.

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