New AI Pricing Models: Avoiding the ‘Too Hot’ Zone

The Pattern: Salesforce’s AELA (Agentic Enterprise License Agreement)—flat fee, shared risk, “all you can eat”—signals a structural shift.

Enterprise vendors are learning that extraction without value creation triggers revolt.

The Bet: Major enterprise platforms introduce pricing flexibility that would have been unthinkable in 2024.

Why It Matters

Value creation must exceed value capture:

• V/E Ratio = New Value Created ÷ Value Captured
• When V/E > 2, you’re in the Goldilocks Zone
• When V/E < 1, you’re extracting more than creating—revolt is guaranteed

The Framework

Mental Model: The Value/Extraction Ratio

V/E = New Value Created ÷ Value Captured. When V/E > 2, you’re Goldilocks. When V/E < 1, you're extracting more than creating—revolt is guaranteed.

Strategic Implications

• Usage-based pricing creates perverse incentives when AI increases usage
• Flat-fee models align vendor and customer interests on value creation
• Shared-risk structures signal confidence in actual value delivery

The vendors that figure out Goldilocks pricing will capture the enterprise AI market.

This is part of a comprehensive analysis. Read the full analysis on The Business Engineer.