Why can't you tell me the price?

Is it just me? You are buying technology or subscribing to a service, you get all the way through understanding what you need, the plan, and the cost, only to be hit with the Contact Sales button without any clue about the price.

Why can't they just simply tell me the price?

Surely there is a price list and the levers I can pull to get reductions are well defined?

Arrghhh! 🤯

It's so frustrating and makes me want to look elsewhere!

Maybe it's just me 🤷‍♂️

Don't get me wrong, I love to haggle and negotiate, probably more than most people.

Negotiating over the price of a car was always a big part of buying one. In fact, my other half refused to go along to the dealership as it was embarrassing when I got into negotiating mode.

Part of me was sad when car pricing became set at the manufacturer and the dealer had no leeway on price.

The other part of me loves the transparency.

In my opinion, yes.

I know a lot of people would agree to an extent, but only consider it at a commodity or consumer level.

What about tech platforms and SaaS products, like FoundryOS?

I can hear the commercial folks out there screaming "no" very loudly!

Is that because, firstly, they want to haggle like I do over a car? Or because without negotiation, they worry their role disappears?

I know that's far too simplistic and belittles all commercial teams – sorry.

That isn't my point. My point is: technology pricing should be transparent.

What are the units you pay for and how many you need. On what terms can you pay, such as a pay-as-you-go model or a commitment which gives a discount.

It should all be on a calculator, and you can easily see what it costs day one through your future business plan growth assumptions.

That is how we price FoundryOS, and we have a clear pricing structure. As we go to market, we will make this transparent and likely provide a public calculator at some point too.

Is it simply that they have never had it? Do they not think about pricing units? Are they scared of showing it?

Whatever the reason, transparent pricing is rare for business software solutions, and it's typically cloaked in hushed conversations and private proposals.

The problem is, this is increasingly captured in various platforms, and AI finds this so easily. I asked Gemini about the pricing models of a few fintech platforms and it told me very quickly.

So what are they hiding? It's not hidden in reality since I found it all out anyway.

Here's to transparent pricing and long may it rule 🙌