Who needs structure around customer billing? Nothing is broken.....yet.

-

Building a groundbreaking product? That's great! But have you considered how customers will pay and how your company will invoice them? Ignoring these details can turn your business operations into a chaotic game of monopoly.

In my experience, I’ve seen visionary founders create extraordinary products, only to have their operational efficiency crumble once they start selling. It's like navigating the busy streets of New Delhi—things may seem to be moving fine, but near-collisions are inevitable, and newcomers struggle to adjust.

Many software products begin as a blend of ideas, code, and marketing pitches. Early-stage models might include basic billing functions or connect to third-party processors. However, they often lack the advanced financial functionalities needed for scaling, such as advanced billing, forecasting, refunds, payment disputes, and collections. This setup might work initially, but as the company grows, these makeshift billing solutions quickly fall apart.

Common problems arise when:

  1. Customers complain about incorrect billing or charges.

  2. An exit event demands robust reporting on invoicing, payments, and deferred revenue.

  3. New products or processes are introduced, but the billing platform can’t handle them without significant development work.

To avoid these pitfalls, consider the following during development:

  1. Integrate Scalable Billing Solutions: Ensure your product can easily connect to third-party enterprise billing platforms or ERPs to accommodate growth and support engineering resource allocation to revenue generating product features.

  2. Plan for Advanced Financial Features: Include functionalities for advanced billing, forecasting, refunds, payment disputes, and collections from the start.

  3. Design for Flexibility: Create a billing system that can adapt to both B2C and B2B models, with the ability to handle negotiated payment terms and invoicing requirements.

  4. Handle B2B Complexity: Transitioning from B2C to B2B adds another layer of complexity. B2B agreements often involve negotiated payment terms requiring timely invoicing. Your billing platform must handle more than just credit card processing; it should support accounts receivable for financial purposes—something that’s not always necessary in a B2C setup.

  5. Automate Reporting: Build in capabilities for generating robust financial reports to facilitate smoother exit events and audits.

  6. Prepare for International Expansion: Consider global financial requirements, including multiple currencies and compliance with international billing standards.

  7. Test with Real-World Scenarios: Regularly test your billing and invoicing processes with real-world scenarios to identify and fix potential issues before they impact customers.

  8. Customer Feedback Loop: Establish a feedback mechanism to quickly address and resolve billing-related customer complaints.

As you brainstorm your next unicorn idea, don’t let financial considerations bog you down. Instead, think about how to build a product that can seamlessly integrate with a third-party enterprise billing platform or ERP. While you might not need it now, this foresight could save you millions and potentially your business in the long run.

#StartupAdvice #ProductDevelopment #BillingSolutions #ScalingBusiness #TechInnovation #Entrepreneurship #BusinessGrowth #CustomerExperience #ERP #SaaS #SoftwareDevelopment #FutureProof

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The RevOps Misconception: Why Revenue Understanding is Essential

-
Image
  In the past few years, "Revenue Operations" (RevOps) has exploded in popularity. However, if someone on your RevOps team doesn’t have a solid grasp of how revenue is calculated, recognized, and accounted for on financial statements and board decks, you might want to reconsider calling yourselves RevOps. As someone who has spent over 80% of my 10+ years of experience focused on revenue—and having adopted the title of Revenue Operations Consultant as early as 2017—I’ve observed a growing trend: the term “RevOps” is often confused with marketing ops or sales ops. Many will argue that customer success falls under this umbrella too, but in my experience, the sales operations function has always encompassed both sales and customer success operations. The full revenue cycle is Lead to Cash. Various departments and roles contribute to this process—from operational roles to functional executors like sales reps and demand generation teams. However, the ambiguity around the term “RevO...
Read more

Embracing Evolution: Soft Skills in a Technical World

-
Recently, I came across this article in Fast Company about employers valuing soft skills in the age of AI, and it got my mind spinning about where we are heading as a society. Here are my thoughts. In an era where talks of AI potentially replacing jobs are rampant, where there's a perceived decline in problem-solving skills sans technology among the new workforce entrants, a scarcity in accounting talent, and even falling birth rates, it’s clear that these conversations are more than just casual banter. They are interconnected, highlighting a significant shift in our societal fabric and evolution. At the heart of these transitions is our adaptability to the dynamic environment that encapsulates us. Rather than resisting the inevitable flow of change, the secret lies in mastering the art of navigating through it. It’s about transcending conventional boundaries and seizing opportunities within our vulnerabilities. After all, hasn’t capitalism, with all its allure, shaped much of our ...
Read more

Riding the AI Wave: Fear Not, Be Excited!

-
Image
Opportunities Over Fear Lately, there's this buzz about AI swooping in and snatching our jobs. But doesn't this sound familiar? It's like a flashback to when computers waltzed into our homes. I might not have been there at the dawn of computer time, but I vividly remember the PC and Mac fever—kind of like a trip down memory lane with '90s fashion! Back then, the chatter was all about computers stealing jobs. Spoiler alert: they kind of did, but in the coolest way possible! They nudged folks to learn snazzy new skills, and those who caught the wave ended up with jobs that were either more rewarding or delightfully automated. AI is just the new kid on the block, like those retro scrunchies making a comeback. Whether you're pumped or playing it cool, getting the hang of AI and nailing those prompts is the new normal—kind of like "Googling" 101. So ditch the fear, my friends! Embrace the tech vibes and let's groove with change. It's all about solutions...
Read more