Can AI make a business more productive — and less profitable? In episode three of The Business Stack of the Future on the Australian Investors Podcast, Owen Rask explores the pricing reset behind AI and the unit economics investors need to understand. If a tool helps four people do the work of ten, charging per user could mean less revenue even while customers get more value.
Owen explains the difference between paying for a seat, usage, credits and an outcome, and why a resolved customer inquiry is not the same as a chatbot attempt. Using a simple example, he shows how computing costs can eat into the economics of each successful AI result.
From Intercom’s customer-support model to WiseTech’s logistics transactions, Salesforce’s agent pricing and Atlassian’s combined subscription and credits, this episode asks what customers value — and whether software businesses can measure and bill for it. Owen also looks at Stripe’s Metronome acquisition and why usage measurement and billing are becoming part of product strategy, not just back-office administration.
For investors, the key is not whether a company calls its revenue recurring. It is what drives customer spending, how costs change with activity, and whether the business can keep enough of the value it creates. Owen closes with a practical lens for judging the pricing power and competitive edge of AI-era businesses.
This episode is brought to you by Stripe.
