How to Stay Alive In a Dying Industry ft. AJ Bruno (QuotaPath)

QuotaPath used to sell its commission software by the seat. Now, its founder says the company must become an AI-native services (AINS) business or risk fading away as just another SaaS tool.

AJ Bruno, founder and CEO of QuotaPath, joined host Josh Schachter for this week’s [Un]Churned episode, “213. “We Will Die”: Why QuotaPath Is Betting Everything on AI-Native Services.” They cover how QuotaPath is moving from selling seats to running customers’ commissions for them, why outcome-based pricing has to be earned before it can be charged, and what an AINS pivot looks like when the company still has to hit plan this quarter.

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🎯 The [Un]Churned Take: You Can’t Price on Outcomes If You Don’t Know How to Prove Them

Most vendors see outcome-based pricing as just a pricing choice. They pick a metric, set a number, and announce it. But the real test comes later, when the customer gets the first invoice and tries to match the amount to what they saw happen. Outcome pricing succeeds or fails at that moment.

AJ Bruno, founder and CEO of QuotaPath, used to sell commission software by the seat. Now, he is exploring outcome-based pricing, starting with a service that manages commissions for customers.

In his [Un]Churned episode, 213. “We Will Die”: Why QuotaPath Is Betting Everything on AI-Native Services, AJ compares the experience to a fancy dinner.

You get this itty bitty steak, and then you get the bill, and you’re like, what did I just pay for?

An outcome-based invoice creates the same feeling when customers cannot see how the result was achieved. The vendor needs to show everything clearly before asking for payment.

Name the Variables Before You Start

Outcome-based pricing is becoming more common, and many examples are appearing in the SaaS industry. Intercom charges $0.99 for each outcome with its Fin support agent and clearly explains what counts as a billable outcome.

Other outcomes may need more steps and more proof than resolving a ticket. For example, QuotaPath is looking at outcome-based pricing for customer commissions, which involves factors like playbooks, outbound and inbound efforts, and sales team quality.

In cases like these, vendors that set terms and expectations up front will find it easier to prove against them in the long run.

You have to come in with this hypothesis and say, here’s where you are, here are the three things. This is the control group.

A customer who agrees to these terms from the start can connect every dollar on the invoice to something they saw happen.

Earn the Right to Look Inside

Showing the full picture requires access. A vendor can’t compare a customer to a control group without seeing the customer’s data and tech stack, and customers only share that with vendors they trust.

You’re handing over the keys to some of your data and tech stack because you trust us.

Starting with a flat fee builds the foundation for a trusted partnership. It gives the vendor a chance to prove their value and earn deeper access, while giving the customer time to feel confident in sharing sensitive data. Once trust and results are established, both sides can consider outcome-based pricing.

Why This Can’t Wait

The shift in pricing has already begun. Support leaders can now buy an AI agent based on outcomes. Commission software is becoming a service that manages commissions. Renewals are next, with Gainsight handling the process from start to finish with people involved.

Each change replaces a tool that just tracks work with a vendor that delivers results. The move to AI-native services makes seat-based software seem less valuable. For software vendors, doing nothing is now the riskiest choice. As AJ put it:

If we do not make this move, we will be a forgotten SaaS tool like everyone else.

It’s time to rethink what you sell. Focus on the results your customers expect, and ask if they could link those results to your work today. Vendors who can show every step will be the ones customers trust to charge for it.

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🎧 Listen for These Moments

If you’re familiarizing yourself with AI-native services, or are already deep into building out your own AINS strategy, here are three moments in this episode worth pressing play for.

1. The tool-versus-result pitch: AJ's reframe of what QuotaPath sells, from a commission tracker priced in the tens of dollars to a service tied to taking a customer's revenue growth from 20% to 30%, and the buyer's honest reply: "I don't believe you."

2. The tiger team approach: how QuotaPath started the service at the beginning of this year, with a small team, a few design partners, and humans kept in the loop for the work that isn't binary.

3. The three-word answer: Josh asks AJ to finish two sentences about where QuotaPath is headed, and one answer is over almost before it starts.

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🔎 Where to Find the Speakers

• AJ Bruno — https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajbruno3/

• Josh Schachter — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jschachter/

📎 Referenced in This Episode

• QuotaPath: AJ’s commission and compensation platform, which is launching an AI-native service to run customers’ commissions end to end.

• Top Line: Pavilion’s go-to-market revenue podcast, which AJ co-hosts.

• TrendKite (Acquired by Cision): the company AJ co-founded before QuotaPath, where the commission headaches that inspired QuotaPath started

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Wrapping Up

Pricing used to be a guess about value. Now it can be a measurement. What would you measure first?

See you next week 🧠