Subscription Model Innovations

Decathlon literally launched the Spotify of Football for clubs... 🤯 The French sports giant launched the world's first Football-as-a-Service subscription "Play Unlimited". ... and I love everything about it. Clubs pay €1 / month / ball instead of buying them. ⚽️ How it works? 1. Clubs subscribe for the number of balls they need. 2. Decathlon delivers them, maintains them, and replaces worn ones automatically. 3. When balls reach end ofl ife, Decathlon collects them for refurbishment or recycling. 🤔 "Why it's brilliant?", I hear you think. RECURRING REVENUE 💰 Instead of selling a ball 1x for maybe €20, they earn €12 per year while keeping customer relationships active. They also collect usage data & reduce waste by extending product lifecycles through professional refurbishment. ACCESS > OWNERSHIP 🔓 Clubs don't actually want to own footballs, they just want (access to) good equipment without extra hassle. Decathlon provides the OUTCOME (guaranteed playtime) rather than just the PRODUCT (balls). It's basically the Spotify model for sports equipment... similar to how people don't necessarily want to own music, they just want access to the songs. CIRCULAR ECONOMY ♻️ All of this is built with a circular angle that turns waste into revenue through refurbishment & recycling. Each year, there's 27,000 tons of football waste so any initiative is welcome at this point. 🚀 This is not the first smart move of Decathlon . While lots of retailers talk about innovation, they've been building the future of retail for the past 7 years. 🚴 2018: Launch of Kid's Bike subscriptions => families could pay €3-8 monthly & Decathlon automatically swaps it, handles repairs + insurance against theft or damage. 👩🔧 2020: Take back & second life program => Bring your gear to any store, they buy it back, refurbish it, and sell it to someone else at a discount price with full warranty. ⛷ 2021: customers can pay a monthly fee (between €25-95) to borrow ANY sports equipment. Over 60,000 users across 5 countries generate €20.6 million in rental sales for Decathlon already. ⛺️ 2023: tent rental service => instead of buying a tent for one time use, Decathlon piloted a rental service. Today, you can rent almost anything from Decathlon, as they shifted from "design, manufacture, market, sell" to "design, manufacture, market, subscribe/rent, sustain". They're proof of how companies can grow revenue while reducing environmental impact! ➡️ The businesses winning tomorrow won't be the ones selling the most products. They'll be the ones delivering the most value per product, over and over again. "Disrupt yourself before someone else will."

Subscription commerce failed in India for a decade. Now it's working. Why? I remember 2016. Every other pitch deck had "subscription box" on it. Fab Bag, beauty boxes, meal kits - everyone wanted to build India’s Dollar Shave Club. By 2020, most were gone. My Ayurveda brand tried too, even with 6–9 month purchase cycles, it didn’t work. Cut to today, a very different picture.I recently spoke to 3 founders running subscription businesses. All launched post-2022. All profitable. One doing ₹50-1000 Cr+ ARR with 65% retention at month 6. That got my attention. So I spent the last few days digging into why it's suddenly working. Why did FAB BAG, Doctalk, Doodhwala, Otipy fail but today's winners are killing it? The answer came down to two words: UPI AutoPay. The successes: → Kuku FM: >12 M+ paying subscribers for regional audio-video content (our first investment at @V3 Ventures India) → Country Delight: Daily milk delivery via subscription, does ₹600+ Cr in revenue → Wholsum Foods (Slurrp Farm and Mille): Kids nutrition products on weekly/bi-weekly subscription. Parents don't want surprises, they want the same healthy millet cookies delivered automatically. Aisha is a big customer → Licious: Meat subscription component growing fast. You pick your cuts, they deliver weekly What changed? 1. UPI solved the payment problem: 131 billion UPI transactions in 2023. Auto-debit on UPI is now seamless. It had a lot of friction in the past. This has led to what one founder told me: "COD customers churn at 40%. UPI auto-debit customers churn at 12%. Payment method is the business model." 2. Q-Com also proved daily delivery is possible: When Zepto can deliver groceries in 10 minutes, milk every morning doesn’t sound crazy anymore. Cold chain, reliability, last-mile ops - all the boring things finally clicked. 3. Model Shift: Replenishment > Discovery, Subscription in India isn't about trying new things. It's about auto-delivering stuff you already buy by removing friction & making customers loyal. Indians now buy the same atta, same milk brand, same baby food every week. Subscriptions just automate what we'd do anyway - with a small discount as incentive. So, what works is obvious now Category: Consumables (milk, eggs, baby food, meat)  Frequency: Weekly/bi-weekly (monthly too long)  Discount: 5-15% ( like Country Delight’s early-bird plans)  Flexibility: Easy skip/cancel (trust builder)  Payment: UPI auto-debit (not COD) After a decade of failed experiments, subscription commerce has finally found its moment in India and it looks nothing like the US playbook. The brands that understand this will build annuity businesses in categories everyone else is fighting for one transaction at a time. The question: there’s been talk of consumers forgetting their upi auto pay subscriptions. Will this be regulated/some friction be added?

Today Wyndham has debuted a $95-a-year paid travel subscription service that represents a departure from the standard loyalty playbook of hotel groups. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is essentially asking customers to pay upfront for the privilege of saving money later — a model that works brilliantly for Amazon Prime but remains largely untested in hospitality. As my colleague Luke Martin reports for Skift, members receive automatic gold status, 10% hotel discounts, and savings on many flights and Carnival cruises through its platform, powered by Snowstorm Technologies. The economics are intriguing. Wyndham absorbs the discount costs while capturing customer loyalty and expanding wallet share beyond accommodation. My guess? The real prize may lie in behavioral data: knowing when members book flights suggests optimal timing for hotel marketing. Yet execution risks abound. Previous attempts at travel subscriptions — from TripAdvisor Plus to the struggling Inspirato — have faltered on complexity. Wyndham's challenge will be maintaining partner relationships while delivering consistent savings that justify the annual fee. For now, Wyndham has a first-mover advantage in loyalty innovation. While Accor and IHG have subscription cards, Wyndham is the first group to include non-hotel travel discounts in a significant way. Success depends on whether $95 can buy something more valuable than discounts: genuine customer stickiness in an industry where switching costs remain stubbornly low. Link in the comments.

Subscription banking isn’t a trend. It’s a business model. Over the past few years, digital banks across Europe, Asia, and North America have been rewriting the rules of monetization. Not by adding hidden fees. Not by cutting services. But by doing what every successful consumer business eventually does: building a tiered subscription model around value. Monzo Bank. bunq. Revolut. Minna Bank. Neo Financial Different markets, same playbook. They’ve all embraced subscriptions to give customers something traditional banks never really offered, choice. Choice in perks. Choice in experience. Choice in how much value they want to unlock. And customers are voting with their wallets. Just like we pay extra for Netflix in 4K, or Spotify Premium so we never hear an ad again, banking customers are proving they’re willing to pay a recurring fee when the benefits are visible and personal. That’s the magic formula: When value is obvious, price becomes secondary. Look at frequent travellers. Metal and Ultra tiers are basically travel-hacking on autopilot: global medical insurance, airport lounges, eSIM data, and cross-border perks that remove friction from every trip. These plans don’t feel like “banking extras”, they feel like lifestyle upgrades. That’s why this model works so well. It’s not about upselling. It’s about matching willingness to pay with willingness to benefit. This is the real shift: Banks that successfully move to subscriptions stop thinking like financial institutions… and start thinking like consumer product companies. Flexible. Tiered. Value-anchored. #Fintech #DigitalBanking #SubscriptionEconomy #CustomerValue

Last week we changed the way we price Warp. We moved from a “fixed request” subscription model to a largely consumption-based model with a single base plan called Build.   The reason we made the change was that the fixed request subscription plans are a very poor fit for how costs actually accrue in an AI app like Warp. I hope this explanation is helpful for other AI founders and Warp’s customers. 1/ Breakage-models create mismatched incentives With fixed-request subscriptions, companies make more money on a plan the less folks use it (kind of like how gym memberships work – gyms count on the users who don’t go to subsidize the users who do – this is a “breakage” model). This model creates an economic incentive for us to have our customers use Warp less – this is in fundamental conflict with our goal of making Warp as useful as possible. 2/ Breakage models only work if you can predict utilization We initially priced our plans without fully understanding how heavily they would be utilized, subsidizing the plans for users who got close to plan limits. This felt smart when we were at a lower scale and our main question was “will users pay for Warp?” Our guess was off on average utilization, and as the product improved, users started using way more of their plans (which should have been good for us, but it wasn’t).  Then we started to grow really quickly, which as you can imagine, caused problems. 3/ Usage based billing solves these issues The better way of pricing AI-based products IMO is closer to how folks pay for infrastructure – customers pay for what they use and the app makes some margin along the way – this way we are incentivized to make AI more useful in Warp, not less. This is what we launched last week, and it will make Warp’s business much more sustainable. 4/ Switching pricing is hard, and stinks for our customers in the short-term Switching to the new model is painful for our customers who were getting the benefit of the old breakage-based fixed-request model. For our heaviest users, costs go up because now they are paying for more of what they use. If you are a Warp customer reading this, I’m sorry for the pain. We are trying to make the transition easier by offering bonuses as you transition to our new plans – you will have gotten emails about this. We are also now offering the ability to bring your own API key if you don’t want to pay Warp for AI at all (although you still will need to be on a subscription plan). Fundamentally, we had to make this change to sustain the business and I hope this explanation helps.

Every CFO I talk to says the same thing: "We want the benefits of battery storage, but not the headache of owning one." Well, guess what just became reality? Battery Energy Storage Systems-as-a-Service (BESSaaS) is flipping the script on how companies think about energy infrastructure. Instead of fronting massive capital for a battery system, businesses can now subscribe to storage like they do Netflix. Here's why this matters more than you might think. The early deployments are showing some fascinating patterns. Companies are signing 15-20 year contracts with quarterly subscription fees, treating energy storage as an operational expense rather than a capital investment. The kicker? Day-one returns are actually achievable because the revenue generation and cost savings exceed the subscription fee immediately. But the real story isn't just about financial engineering. It's about what becomes possible when you remove the biggest barrier to adoption. What's particularly interesting is watching how businesses that traditionally focused on cybersecurity and operational risk are now applying that same strategic thinking to their power systems. That shift in mindset is everything. When energy infrastructure becomes as routine as IT infrastructure, we see adoption patterns that traditional project finance never could have unlocked. The use cases are getting wild too. Oil and gas companies aren't just considering BESSaaS for their operations—they're using it to transform methane flaring sites into flexible grid assets that can participate in energy markets. Data centers, EV charging hubs, and even facilities with oversized solar are all finding ways to monetize flexibility they never knew they had. This isn't just about batteries, though. It's about proving that subscription-based infrastructure models work for hard assets in the energy sector. Heat pumps, DC charging infrastructure, demand flexibility systems—they're all watching this space closely. Which industries do you think will be the biggest surprise adopters of subscription-based energy infrastructure? I'm betting we see some unexpected players make moves in the next 18 months.

We used to talk about car subscription like it was a novelty. A way to ‘test the waters’ with flexible ownership. A niche product for a niche customer. But things have changed. Subscription is now outperforming expectations — not just in usage, but in economics. The fastest-growing mobility companies in the world aren’t selling cars. They’re monetising access. FINN, a subscription-based mobility startup, grew revenue from €3.2M to €444.3M in just three years. That’s not a trial — that’s a business model. And OEMs are starting to ask a different question. Not should we do this — but how do we do this in a way that makes sense for everyone involved? Because for OEMs, subscription only works when your dealers and finance arm are aligned around the vehicle as a profit-generating asset — not just at the point of sale, but across its full lifecycle. Done right, subscription becomes more than a flexible ownership model. It becomes a strategic lever to: • Unlock wholesale revenue at the factory gate • Deliver recurring margins during the subscription term • Support CPO pipelines and downstream sales • Align OEMs, captives and dealers around shared incentives We’ve just published a framework to help OEMs bring this to life — grounded in real-world results from the partners we work with every day. Link in comments

Wealth management is a top 10 fastest-changing industry right now. Firms that adapt (the right way) will press forward. Firms that stagnate will die. Here’s how myself and my team at Lifeworks adapted to build a 21st-century RIA firm: First, we dove headfirst into digital marketing to bring in new clients. Let's face it, the days of relying solely on referrals are over. We started creating content that our ideal clients would actually want to read and share — blog posts, videos, social media, the whole nine yards. By consistently putting out valuable content, we started attracting leads like clockwork. Next, we shook up our pricing model by introducing subscription-based planning. “But what would that even look like for an RIA?” Instead of just charging based on assets under management (which can be confusing and breed mistrust), we separated planning into its own transparent service. Clients pay a flat subscription fee based on the complexity of their situation, and in return, they get access to our top-notch planning platform. This has allowed us to profitably serve a wider range of clients and incentivizes our team to keep delivering value year after year. To make our high-touch planning possible, we had to get serious about systematizing our processes. We went through every step of the client journey with a fine-tooth comb, looking for ways to make things more efficient and impactful. We started using powerful planning software to automate repetitive tasks. This freed up our advisors to focus on the meaty, high-value work. We also started regularly reaching out to clients with goal updates, educational resources, and more to keep them engaged and on track. The results have been pretty incredible. Our digital marketing efforts have led to a big jump in qualified prospects coming through our (virtual) doors. Our subscription model has helped us grow our client base substantially. And our systematized service model has driven a noticeable boost in planning fees and growth in assets under management. But most importantly, our clients tell us they feel more confident they’ll reach their financial goals. I won't sugarcoat it — this transformation was painful. It took months of work. We know we're not done evolving — far from it. The wealth management firm of the future will be tech-savvy, planning-obsessed, and, above all, relentlessly focused on the client. And that's exactly what we're building, one step at a time.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝗮𝗦 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 & 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁. 2025 wasn't just a correction; it was a bifurcation. The market split into two distinct realities: those who built Agentic Infrastructure and those who got stuck in the Wrapper Trap. I've just completed a deep dive into the data, and the signal for 2026 is clear. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 "𝗪𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗿" 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹: Companies like Jasper showed us that renting intelligence without a proprietary data moat is a race to zero margins. 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝘁-𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴: If AI does the work, charging per human seat is a broken model. We saw this with the headwinds facing traditional productivity tools. 𝗛𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 "𝗗𝗼-𝗜𝘁-𝗔𝗹𝗹" 𝗧𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀: The era of the generic bundle is fading in favor of deep, vertical specialization. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗱: 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲-𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗨𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: Perplexity and Datadog didn't just offer tools; they delivered answers and diagnoses. 𝗗𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: The biggest winners (like ServiceTitan and Veeva) layered AI onto proprietary, industry-specific workflows that generalist models can't touch. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝗛𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗼𝗻: We are moving from SaaS (Software as a Service) to Service-as-Software. The winner of 2026 won't be the tool that helps you work; it will be the agent that does the work. 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗣𝗶𝘃𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲: 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗹𝘆: Own the workflow, not just the chat interface. 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴: Move to hybrid models (Subscription + Consumption) to capture the value of AI labor. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 "𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰" 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲: Your moat is no longer just your code; it's your integrations and data permissions. Grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with High-Velocity Leaders in 2025. 2026, we are just getting started.

Subscription models exist everywhere. Few use them to tell a story. So when I look at LAMP LDN, I love their monthly taper subscription tied to the colors of the season. It’s visual, trend-driven, and turns a functional item into a collectible moment. Brooklyn Candle Studio takes a different approach, curating scent instead of color. Each month tells a new story in fragrance form. What’s interesting is that Nest once offered a similar subscription but no longer does. Jo Malone, on the other hand, calls theirs a gift subscription. That small shift in language might actually be the smarter move. Candles are one of the most giftable categories in home, so “gift” may resonate more than “subscription.” It suggests thoughtfulness, not routine. From a merchandising perspective, that framing matters. A gift subscription is emotion-led. A monthly subscription implies automation and expectation. One feels more transactional than the other. Most candle subscription boxes in the market today, like Vellabox and Wickbox, focus on discovery and novelty rather than routine replenishment. They create excitement around what’s inside each month instead of promising the same product on repeat. Most larger mass brands, on the other hand, frame this as auto-ship or a finite subscription on core items, not a monthly discovery club, which is why the white space remains creative drops and exclusives. The value is in surprise. I’d still love to see a retailer like Anthropologie or a brand like The Thymes explore a fresh take on this model. Limited-run color and scent drops, as well as decorative forms, could easily tap into the seasonal mindset of the customer. *image via LAMP LDN