models
API-first products and developer tools
What it means to build a product around its interface, what developers expect from an API, and the early choices on errors, versions and documentation.
Insights / Business models
Models desk
How B2B SaaS, vertical SaaS, marketplaces, platforms and developer products work, and what each asks of a first company.
Models is the desk for choosing how a software company makes money and reaches customers. The choice shapes what you build first, whom you hire and how you talk to buyers.
The eight articles on this desk describe the main models in plain terms: business-to-business SaaS, vertical SaaS, marketplaces, platforms and ecosystems, seat, usage and hybrid pricing, product-led and sales-led growth, API-first products and open-core businesses. Each one says what the model asks of a first company and what it cannot tell you. None gives benchmarks.
- Dream 7 articles
- Build 11 articles
- Grow 6 articles
- Fundable 8 articles
- Starting out 14 articles
- Funding and capital 13 articles
- Legal and company basics 8 articles
- Team and hiring 9 articles
- AI-native building 9 articles
- Go-to-market 10 articles
- Pathways 12 articles
- Business models 8 articles
- Sectors 8 articles
- Operations and wellbeing 11 articles
Show the figures as a table
| Desk | Articles |
|---|---|
| Dream | 7 |
| Build | 11 |
| Grow | 6 |
| Fundable | 8 |
| Starting out | 14 |
| Funding and capital | 13 |
| Legal and company basics | 8 |
| Team and hiring | 9 |
| AI-native building | 9 |
| Go-to-market | 10 |
| Pathways | 12 |
| Business models | 8 |
| Sectors | 8 |
| Operations and wellbeing | 11 |
Illustration: World Enterprise Group Incorporated, drawn at build time from the articles published on this site.
Business models
0 min3 min5 min8 min10 min
Each dot is one article; the amber mark is the desk’s median.
Show the figures as a table
| Group | Article | Reading time |
|---|---|---|
| Business models | API-first products and developer tools | 6 min |
| Business models | B2B SaaS: how the model works and what it asks of a first company | 7 min |
| Business models | Marketplaces: the two-sided start-up problem | 6 min |
| Business models | Open-core and open-source businesses | 7 min |
| Business models | Platforms and ecosystems: when a product becomes a platform | 6 min |
| Business models | Product-led and sales-led growth: choosing between them | 6 min |
| Business models | Usage-based, seat-based and hybrid pricing models | 6 min |
| Business models | Vertical SaaS: depth over breadth | 6 min |
Chart: World Enterprise Group Incorporated, counted at build time from the articles on this desk.
-
-
models
B2B SaaS: how the model works and what it asks of a first company
What business-to-business software as a service is, how it earns money, and the reliability, security, contract and support work it asks of a first company.
-
models
Marketplaces: the two-sided start-up problem
How a two-sided marketplace works, why the first buyers and sellers are hard to win together, and the payments, trust and legal questions the model adds.
-
models
Open-core and open-source businesses
How companies build a business on open-source software, what open core means, what licenses allow, and the questions a technical founder should answer first.
-
models
Platforms and ecosystems: when a product becomes a platform
How a software product turns into a platform that others build on, what that asks of your interfaces, permissions and partner support, and why it comes late.
-
models
Product-led and sales-led growth: choosing between them
What product-led and sales-led growth mean, what each asks of a small team and its product, and a set of questions for choosing a motion without benchmarks.
-
models
Usage-based, seat-based and hybrid pricing models
How seat-based, usage-based and hybrid pricing work, what each one asks of your product and billing, and the questions that help you choose a unit of value.
-
models
Vertical SaaS: depth over breadth
What vertical SaaS is, how building for one industry changes the product, the sale and the rules you work under, and the trade-offs to weigh before you narrow.
Start a readiness review
Tell WE where the company stands. WE replies to arrange a conversation and a written read of your company's timeline.
A short PDF of the charts and sources, sent by email to the address you give.
Talk to WE : A question that does not fit a form.