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Topic map / Customers and the work

Pricing, retention and economic viability

Targeted

9 questions

A price is a hypothesis about value, cost, and whether customers stay.

  1. 1.What did the last customer pay, and what did they compare you with?

  2. 2.What does a discount teach the next buyer?

  3. 3.Which costs rise when one more customer arrives?

    Pass 2 · strengthened

    Separate what a credit or an introductory price is paying from the cost of delivery, and from the billing settings on the account you actually hold.

  4. 4.What is left after the delivery you actually perform?

  5. 5.Who feels the price: the user, or the person who pays?

  6. 6.What would you need to see before you raised the price?

  7. 7.What retention figure would make this price a mistake?

  8. 8.Are you pricing for the customer you have, or the one in the plan?

  9. 9.What does delivery cost when free credits, introductory prices, or subsidised services end?

    Pass 2 · new

    Model the price you will actually pay. Do not treat a credit balance as margin.

    Cost after the subsidy

Sources

  • PractitionerChecked 14 October 2026

    Azure credits usage and billing · Microsoft Learn

    The older billing URL redirects here. The experience differs if you joined before or after 29 May 2026. Activate within 90 days of accepting the agreement or the offer expires. Once activated, there are 2 years to use the credits, and extensions are not available. When credits are used up, the sponsorship converts to pay-as-you-go and the card on file is charged. A separate activation page describes default spending protection on one onboarding path. Do not treat either page as every Azure account. This page does not supply a unit-cost formula for your product.

  • PractitionerChecked 14 October 2026

    Microsoft for Startups programme graduation · Microsoft Learn

    When the sponsorship ends, remaining Microsoft for Startups Azure credits expire, sponsorship funding stops, and the subscription moves to the applicable commercial billing arrangement, such as pay-as-you-go, a Microsoft Customer Agreement, or MCA-E. Usage is then billed under that arrangement and the payment method on the account. Programme-specific. Check the account.

  • PractitionerChecked 14 October 2026

    Activate Azure credits · Microsoft Learn

    On the onboarding path this page describes, the card is not charged unless the credits are exceeded and the account moves to pay-as-you-go, and spending protection is enabled by default. The tip on that path refers to 1,000 dollars of credits. It is one activation path. Reconcile it with the offer and the billing page for the account you hold. It is not a rule that no Azure account can charge a card.