Akool · AI video and avatar maker
Charge businesses by usage so their bill grows as they build you into their software
Largest contract reached ~$4M a year
Workedpricingupsell-expansion
What they did
Business customers buy credits and pay by usage. Some integrate Akool into their own software through the API, so as they scale usage, API calls (and spend) scale with it.
What happened
Largest contract is usage-based and pays around $4M a year
- Stage
- Enterprise, 2024-present
Related topics
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New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from this episode
- Akool: Post demos of what your tool makes in related Reddit, Facebook and Discord groupsMain source of early users, per founder; no numbers
- Akool: Add a payment page so walk-in users can pay without a sales callUsers began paying on their own; revenue went from ~$100K to $2-3M the next year
- Akool: Spend the first years chasing large enterprise contractsDidn't work; revenue flat at ~$100K for two years
- Akool: Book one-on-one calls with people already using similar tools, and listenPart of how the first 100 customers came in; no numbers
- Akool: Pitch your tool to Fiverr freelancers who sell the same work by handFounder confirms they did it; no results given
- Akool: Train small AI models for one task each instead of one giant modelKeeps costs down; Coca-Cola picked it after 3 months of benchmarks
- Akool: Hire your first sales rep once enterprise deals start coming in on their ownRevenue $2-3M to $12-13M that year; enterprise now drives most growth
- Akool: Add a cheaper starter plan below your existing tiers