find
Budget and card thresholds
Price the pilot under fast-path thresholds, then move to phase two.
Find the fast path
Ask what they can approve without a multi-month AP cycle. Card limits and departmental spend often start pilots that corporate procurement would stall.
Protect phase two
Write the commercial target into the agreement so the pilot price does not become the forever price.
Sample pricing ladder (fictional)
Illustrative numbers for a mid-market ops tool. Session pattern: roughly $20K on a card closing in days, then a six-figure phase two — attributed to practitioner session / Startup Bible, not a universal constant.
| Stage | Example price | Approval path | What it buys |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paid diagnostic / pilot | $18–25K (under card limit) | Champion card / discretionary | 6–8 weeks, 3–5 criteria, decision meeting |
| Phase-two ACV (year 1) | $95–120K | Economic buyer + procurement | Production seats, SLA, named support |
| Expand year 2 | $140–180K | Budget cycle | Additional sites / modules at list |
Claims and patterns on this page are paraphrased from practitioner session notes and the Startup Bible pilots page. See Sources.