Someone described their business in a sentence. This is what came back — specific moves, priced per month, with the sums written out.
What we took you to be
payment processing and SaaS financial tools — for online merchants of all sizes.
Your numbers as we read them: ~$780 M/mo total revenue (≈$700 M/mo processing + $80 M/mo SaaS). Assumed 1 M active merchants, avg $20 k/mo volume each, 400 M transactions/mo, 10 % SaaS uptake at $200/mo/seat. Cost leaks: interchange ≈$300 M/mo, fraud losses ≈$40 M/mo, support ≈$50 M/mo, compute for internal ML ≈$30 M/mo.
Wrong about something? Add the correction to your description and run it again — the estimates move with it.
01Cutting costTest it small · a week
Swap fraud‑model API for Litellm to cut $9–12M/mo compute spend
≈ $9–12M/mo$30M/mo current fraud‑model compute × 30‑40 % reduction
Why now: Litellm now offers per‑key spend limits and automatic failover, eliminating over‑provisioned GPU instances.
Replace Stripe’s custom fraud‑risk model hosting layer with Litellm’s unified gateway. Route all fraud‑scoring calls through Litellm, keep existing model contracts, and monitor spend caps. Expect 30–40 % lower cloud GPU bill.
Do this first
Deploy Litellm in a sandbox, point one low‑risk fraud endpoint to it, and compare hourly cloud spend.
02PricingWorth the week · a day
Charge $0.10 per extra identity verification beyond 100 free per merchant
≈ $5–9M/moAssume 200k merchants, avg 500 verifications/mo → 400 extra × $0.10 = $40 per merchant → $8M/mo; range 5‑9M for 125‑225k merchants
Why now: Verification volume has risen ~25 % YoY and merchants request volume‑based pricing.
Add a tiered verification fee: first 100 verifications each month are free, each additional verification costs $0.10. Bill automatically on the merchant’s Stripe invoice.
Do this first
Extract verification counts from logs for the last month, segment merchants by volume, and calculate extra verifications.
03Getting foundTest it small · a week
Launch Stripe Marketplace for tax plugins, earn 20 % of fees
≈ $0.5–1M/moAssume 100k merchants adopt plugins averaging $25/mo; Stripe 20 % = $5/mo per merchant → $500k/mo; range $0.5‑1M for adoption variance
Why now: New open‑source tax engines have lowered integration cost, making third‑party plugins viable.
Create a curated marketplace where vetted tax‑software partners list their solutions. Stripe handles billing and takes a 20 % revenue share on each subscription. Promote to merchants using Stripe Billing who lack built‑in tax.
Do this first
Identify 3‑5 tax‑software partners, draft marketplace terms, and pilot the integration with 10 merchants.
The rest of it
There were 7 more. And the letter that collects on them.
The full audit is ten moves, not 3 — ordered into a 90-day sequence so you know what to do first. It also includes the two things that turn a decision into money actually collected: a price-increase letter written in your voice, ready to send, and the replies to the four objections you will get back within the week.
All ten moves, each priced per month with the arithmetic shown
A 90-day sequence — which to do first, and why that order
The price-increase letter, ready to send
Four objections and how to answer without dropping the price
One payment. Delivered on the next screen.
Want a human in it? — we read your site and your numbers, sharpen every move to your situation, and walk you through it on a 20-minute call.
These are estimates built from what you told us, with the arithmetic shown so you can substitute your own figures. Check the sums before you act on them — that is what they are there for.
There were 7 more. And the letter that collects on them.
The full audit is ten moves, not 3 — ordered into a 90-day sequence so you know what to do first. It also includes the two things that turn a decision into money actually collected: a price-increase letter written in your voice, ready to send, and the replies to the four objections you will get back within the week.
All ten moves, each priced per month with the arithmetic shown
A 90-day sequence — which to do first, and why that order
The price-increase letter, ready to send
Four objections and how to answer without dropping the price
One payment. Delivered on the next screen.
Want a human in it? — we read your site and your numbers, sharpen every move to your situation, and walk you through it on a 20-minute call.
Not ready to buy anything?
Then take this and go. It is yours.
Nothing above is held back and there is no account to make. If the numbers are wrong, they are wrong in a way you can see and correct — re-run it with your real figures and the estimates move with them.
Or book 20 minutes and we will go through these against your real figures. Free, 20 minutes, no pitch — bring your numbers and we will go through them.
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Not yours? Do yours.
One sentence about what you sell. About a minute. Free, and there is no signup between you and the answer.