01
Tell us what's expensive
Pick the category closest to the cost you need to control after someone signs up.
STOP SUBSIDIZING UNPROVEN SIGNUPS
Let users try your product without giving strangers an open tab.
Ask for a credit card too early and real customers bounce. Skip it, and every new account can burn credits, compute, and time. AfterAuth gives you the third option: keep signup open while controlling what each user gets next.
Early access
How much does your next stranger cost?
We're looking for AI, dev tool, and usage-based teams losing money on signups that never convert.
What early access means
What happens after you sign up
Tell us where your product gets expensive after login. We'll prioritize teams with the clearest need and follow up with the smallest useful integration path.
02
We scope the first integration
When the preview is ready, we follow up with the smallest useful path for your specific problem.
03
No card, no hidden commitment
This is a prelaunch list, not a purchase. An early-adopter SDK is available if you want to explore on your own.
HOW IT WORKS
One decision. Five teams can use it.
Product defines it. Ops ships it. Support explains it. Finance audits it. And the founder sleeps.
Decision · No. 8F12A3Policy v4
$0.35 of compute credit, allowed.
Allowed
subjectuser_3f8c91ab
policydefault/early-trust
cap remaining$1.65 / $2.00
signals+email · +1 call
decided in11ms
SIG · 3a:b2:f1:90:c4:8e
What this unlocks
A founder wants to keep signup open without handing every new account a blank check. AfterAuth gives them a receipt for the decision, not another mystery log line.
- Explain a block or limit without digging through raw logs.
- Show finance why a free account got $0.40, not an open budget.
- Trace costly access decisions for no-card users.
- Ship an AI promotion with real costs and real paid conversions.
- Let support see the exact signals and policy behind the outcome.
- Tune post-signup earned access without punishing real customers.
Field notes
Topics we're exploring
Free Access and Pricing Strategies for SaaS and AI Products
A research note on entry motions, pricing metrics, and guardrails for SaaS and AI products.
Read field note
What is AfterAuth?
A public scaffold for the plain-language explanation of AfterAuth.
Read field note
The primitive is a post-auth trust decision
Why the missing primitive sits after identity and before costly AI usage.
Read field note
Who are we looking for?
The small, growing usage-cost teams AfterAuth is built to help first.
Read field note
Buy versus build got compressed
How AI harnesses changed the build equation, and why the after-auth control plane is the wedge that remains.
Read field note
The messy middle of PLG AI economics
Why costly AI activation needs a trust decision between open signup and a card gate.
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Why cards are a blunt instrument
A field note on keeping activation open without handing every new account a full budget.
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Why the old signup bargain broke
Why costly activation needs a trust decision after login and before expensive usage.
Read field note
Why should I trust you with my credit card?
The tension between proving value and protecting margin when usage has real marginal cost.
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Be the SOR, or Feel the SWORD
In the age of GenAI, be the SOR or perish.
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Depth Is Not Demand
What/why do we build, when building has never been faster?
Read field note