Monthly, annual or multi-year?

• monthly
• annual
• contract
• term
• commitment
• cash
• renewal
• churn

• What does a {unit} cost to acquire, and how many months of payments recover it?
• How long does a {unit} typically stay?
• Would buyers commit for longer in exchange for something they value?
• What breaks operationally if a customer commits for a year?

• acquisition cost per {unit}
• average customer lifetime
• current payment terms across the base
• cash position and monthly burn

• Acquisition is funded monthly while cash is consumed up front
• No commercial reason for a buyer to commit beyond a month

• If
  Acquisition cost takes more months to recover than the average lifetime
  Then
  Longer commitment is not optional; without it growth consumes cash faster than it creates it.
• If
  Customers stay long but pay monthly
  Then
  Annual terms convert existing behaviour into cash without changing the relationship.
• If
  Retention is unproven
  Then
  Do not sell multi-year. Locking in a customer you cannot yet keep buys a refund argument.

Offer one clearly-valued incentive for annual payment to the next five buyers, and record how many take it.

Read after 45 days.

• At least two of five take the annual term
• Cash collected in the period rises without a fall in {conversion}

• Nobody takes it at any reasonable incentive
• The incentive costs more than the cash is worth

• Uptake is real → Make the annual term the default presentation and keep monthly available.
• Uptake is nil → Cash must come from elsewhere — look at payment structure or acquisition cost, not term.

Aury can carry out: read company, prepare document, file memory, flag risk. Specialists involved: finance, sales.

Your approval: Contract terms and any commitment longer than twelve months are approved by the founder before being offered.

This needs legal review — get a qualified professional to look at your specifics before anything is signed or sent.

Applies where the relationship is recurring and retention is at least partly proven.

Longer commitments increase refund, cancellation and consumer-protection exposure, and the rules differ by jurisdiction and by whether the buyer is a consumer. Contract terms need qualified legal review before use.

• Sourced operator experience: Founder/operator case study analysed inside Aurygine — bootstrapped B2B software company, 2026
• Aurygine synthesis: Aurygine synthesis across founder journeys

Confidence: medium. Last reviewed 2026-08-25. Your company's own recorded results override this playbook whenever the two disagree.