Overview / Economics
Economics
What each ICP is worth, and what winning one can cost
Lifetime value under the current tiered pricing, with every assumption stated, and a CAC ceiling per ICP from the standard 3:1 rule. All of it is a pre-launch prior: these numbers exist to be replaced by observed data.
The model
V1 pricing, verbatim
Three tiers, published on the site, in-app subscribe, no sales call required. Annual is monthly x 12 with 20% off. 7-day full-access local trial, no card required. Source: docs/subscriptions/overview.md.
| Tier | Monthly | Annual | Included companies | Company overage | Included users | User overage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $99 | $950.40 | 5 | $12/company/mo | 5 | $5/user/mo |
| Portfolio | $199 | $1,910.40 | 20 | $8/company/mo | 10 | $5/user/mo |
| Platform | $299 | $2,870.40 | 50 | $5/company/mo | 25 | $5/user/mo |
Overage revenue is the expansion engine: the price grows with portfolio count without a plan change. More on that below.
Worked examples
What a firm actually pays
Best-fit tier by portfolio size, from the product brief's worked examples. All rows assume users fit within the tier's included seats.
| Companies | Best-fit tier | Monthly math | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Starter | $99 base, 0 overage | $99 | $950.40 |
| 12 | Starter | $99 + 7 x $12 = $99 + $84 | $183 | $1,756.80 |
| 20 | Portfolio | $199 base, 0 overage | $199 | $1,910.40 |
| 35 | Platform | $299 base, 0 overage (35 < 50 included) | $299 | $2,870.40 |
| 50 | Platform | $299 base, 0 overage | $299 | $2,870.40 |
| 80 | Platform | $299 + 30 x $5 = $299 + $150 | $449 | $4,310.40 |
Tier crossover: at 12 companies, Starter with overages ($183) still beats Portfolio ($199), but only by $16, and Portfolio doubles included seats. Starter is the strict cost minimum.
The math
Formulas and assumptions
LTV = ARPA x 80% gross margin x expected lifetime in months, where lifetime = 1 / monthly churn, capped at 60 months. Target CAC = LTV / 3, the standard health ratio. The 80% margin is deliberately conservative: it includes LLM inference in COGS, which matters for an AI-extraction product.
Churn priors follow segment norms from icp-best-practices.md: SMB-like buyers 2-4% monthly, steadier institutions 1.5-2%. The 60-month cap exists because the simple formula breaks at very low churn (it implies absurd lifetimes).
Every input here is an estimate borrowed from benchmarks, not observed data. Full derivation, scoring framework, and caveats on the Methodology page.
The centerpiece
The canonical economics table
All ten ICPs under the formulas above, sorted by gross-margin LTV descending. Every other page on this site cites these numbers; no page recomputes its own variants.
| ICP | Tier | Assumed portfolio | Best-fit tier + overage | ARPA/mo | Monthly churn | Lifetime (mo, cap 60) | LTV (GM-adj) | Target CAC (LTV/3) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accelerator / studio | P1 | 80 | Platform + 30 x $5 | $449 | 2.0% | 50 | $17,960 | $5,987 |
| Boutique seed firm | P0 | 45 | Platform | $299 | 1.5% | 60 | $14,352 | $4,784 |
| University / evergreen | P2 | 30 | Portfolio + 10 x $8 | $279 | 2.0% | 50 | $11,160 | $3,720 |
| Family office | P1 | 15 | Portfolio | $199 | 1.5% | 60 | $9,552 | $3,184 |
| Small CVC | P2 | 20 | Portfolio | $199 | 2.0% | 50 | $7,960 | $2,653 |
| Fund services provider | P2 | 45 (across clients) | Platform | $299 | 3.0% | 33 | $7,894 | $2,631 |
| Emerging micro-VC | P0 | 25 | Portfolio + 5 x $8 | $239 | 2.5% | 40 | $7,648 | $2,549 |
| Venture debt / RBF | P2 | 25 | Portfolio + 5 x $8 | $239 | 2.5% | 40 | $7,648 | $2,549 |
| Angel syndicate | P1 | 12 | Starter + 7 x $12 | $183 | 4.0% | 25 | $3,660 | $1,220 |
| Solo GP | P0 | 8 | Starter + 3 x $12 | $135 | 3.0% | 33 | $3,564 | $1,188 |
All figures are pre-launch estimates. Assumed portfolio sizes and churn priors are stated assumptions, not observations.
The spread
Gross-margin LTV per ICP
A 5x spread from top to bottom. Bar widths are scaled to the accelerator's $17,960. Same numbers as the table above.
Note the shape: the biggest LTVs are not all P0. Priority weighs reachability and product fit alongside value, which is why the accelerator (missing cohort features) and the university fund (committee-speed buying) rank behind smaller-LTV beachheads. Reasoning on Priorities.
Channels
Channel CAC vs affordable CAC
Benchmark CAC by channel (icp-best-practices.md, 2025 B2B SaaS sources) against each P0 ICP's CAC ceiling. A channel pencils when its CAC sits under the ceiling with roughly 3x headroom; tight means it fits with little margin for error; does not pencil means the math fails.
| Channel (benchmark CAC) | Boutique seed ceiling $4,784 |
Micro-VC ceiling $2,549 |
Solo GP ceiling $1,188 |
P1 blended ceilings $1,220 to $5,987 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Referral / partner (~$150) | Pencils | Pencils | Pencils | Pencils |
| Inbound, blended content (~$200) | Pencils | Pencils | Pencils | Pencils |
| Content / SEO (~$290) | Pencils | Pencils | Pencils | Pencils |
| Community (low dollar, high time; directional, not benchmarked) | Pencils | Pencils | Pencils | Pencils |
| LinkedIn paid (~$980) | Pencils | Tight | Tight | Tight |
| High-touch outbound (~$1,980 blended) | Pencils | Tight | Does not pencil | Tight |
The read. Everything pencils for the boutique seed firm at a $4,784 ceiling. The solo GP at a $1,188 ceiling can only be won through cheap channels: referral, content, community; outbound does not pencil and paid is tight. The micro-VC sits between: outbound fits only with no room for error, so it belongs to founder-led, warm-network outreach, not a paid SDR motion. P1 blended is mixed because the angel syndicate's $1,220 ceiling drags the low end while the accelerator's $5,987 lifts the top. All channel CACs are published 2025 benchmarks, order-of-magnitude planning numbers, not targets.
Expansion
Overage pricing is the built-in growth story
Revenue grows with portfolio count without a plan change or a sales conversation. A micro-VC on Portfolio adding 10 companies adds $80/mo, a 33% increase, automatically. Segments whose portfolios structurally grow, micro-VCs mid-deployment and accelerators running batches, carry built-in net revenue retention upside on top of the LTV figures above.
This is stated qualitatively on purpose. The simple LTV formula breaks under negative revenue churn (icp-best-practices.md), so expansion is deliberately not baked into the canonical table. Treat it as upside, not as the base case.
Where to look for it. The metered dimension, portfolio companies, grows with the customer's own success. Prioritize segments where that growth is structural: an emerging micro-VC deploying its fund, an accelerator adding a cohort every batch.
Honesty box. PostMoney has no production users yet. Every churn rate, conversion assumption, and CAC figure on this page is a borrowed benchmark, not an observation. The first 20 customers will teach us more than this page can. Revisit quarterly, recompute per segment from real signup, churn, and channel data, and promote or demote ICP tiers on evidence.