Why Pricing Is a Leaky Bucket: Krzysztof Szyszkiewicz on the Mistake That Kills SaaS Companies Slowly

Most SaaS founders touch pricing once every two or three years. In the AI era, that might be the single most expensive decision they never consciously make. Krzysztof Szyszkiewicz, founder of Valueships and former McKinsey pricing specialist, has run surveys across 40 to 50 companies a year and the data is clear: the noise is wrong, and moving to pure usage-based pricing without a process behind it can do serious damage.Host Alex Theuma talks with Krzysztof about why 95% of Valueships engagements end with a price increase, how to identify the right value metric before changing anything, and what separates a pricing transformation from a pricing disaster. If you suspect your pricing is wrong for the AI era, this episode tells you where to start. In this episode, we explore:(02:26) The single most expensive pricing mistake SaaS founders repeat(05:23) What Valueships does and why Krzysztof built it(08:52) What AI is actually doing to SaaS pricing models right now(10:57) Why a 180-degree shift to usage-based pricing backfires(13:35) How to identify the value metric worth charging for(21:31) The Lovable example: changing pricing 12 times in one year(24:06) What AI-native founders should do differently from day one(32:49) Krzysztof's one action for founders who suspect their pricing is wrong The AI Revolution Show is the intelligence podcast for B2B software founders navigating the platform shift, the founders building through it, and the founders already on the other side. Hosted by Alex Theuma, founder of Shift AI Events. Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode.