Stackable Labs is building a revenue strategy around free

Stackable Labs founder Adam Grohs is betting that humans can’t resist a free lunch software platform.

Launched earlier this month, Stackable is a self-funded, code-free platform that allows brands to craft customer support messaging by extending the capabilities of Zendesk, an AI-powered customer service and sales CRM platform. It’s currently free, as the brand seeks to reach customers fast and effectively. But how feasible is building a revenue strategy without paying customers?

This one’s on the house: When speaking on what pricing will someday look like, Grohs told Revenue Brew that he and his team will take an intuitive approach once it identifies large-scale users. While the founder didn’t identify specific parameters, he did give examples of what a paid situation might look like.

“If you want to build an application that does something pretty straightforward, you should be able to do that,” Grohs said. “If you want to go and build 100 applications for different companies, you should have no issue in the world paying an annual developer fee to be able to develop for the platform.”

Grohs also thinks it would be reasonable to charge fees for a paid application created on Stackable or implement a mixture of resolution-based fees for developers. But, Grohs said that he intends for some product version to always remain free, and in part his pricing strategy is a response to the popular usage-based model that is both confusing and frustrating consumers.

“It’s created this hesitancy in products coming out of legacy SaaS, where you just don’t trust usage-based models. You’re like, ‘That’s great, I don’t have to lock in. I don’t have to pay X, Y, and Z, but I don’t know how to calculate what it’s going to cost me because the usage metrics are in a thing that I don’t count today,’” Grohs said.

Buying into free: Kaan Tavli is practice director of applied AI, and customer and employee experience at Optimate.me, which is using Stackable to develop extensions. His view is that the platform’s effectiveness paired with the free accessibility will mean that Stackable could quickly become essential.

“What excites me most is the ability for Stackable to drive rapid adoption by removing traditional barriers to entry,” he wrote in an email to Revenue Brew. “Free products, when executed well, allow businesses to experience value immediately and embed the platform into their workflows early.”

But he added that Grohs and his team will have to effectively execute changes that allow for monetization. Currently, the platform is accessible on a waitlist basis; however, Grohs is doing outbound to bring companies on to the platform.

“The challenge is ensuring the platform delivers enough value to drive long-term engagement while maintaining a clear path to commercial expansion,” Tavli said. “Operational scalability and customer experience also become critical as adoption grows rapidly.”

Expert insight: Pascal Yammine is the CEO of AI-driven pricing firm Zilliant, and he said that a free rollout is “de-risking” usage for customers as they try out a new product. Similar to a free trial, Yammine said that “the goal is to lower the barrier to entry and prove value before asking for a long-term commitment.”

“The primary advantage is speed. This model allows for faster adoption and broader ecosystem growth. However, the risk in today’s market is scaling usage without a clear path to revenue,” Yammine wrote in an email to Revenue Brew.

Stackable might be gambling on growth, but according to Yammine, the future success of the platform depends on how Grohs and his team plan to effectively monetize the tool.

“The days of ‘growth at all costs’ are gone in today’s market as it’s nearly impossible to know your costs well before a model is launched,” Yammine said. “This model only works if it is highly intentional, and if customers see enough value to pay for expanded capabilities, higher usage, or premium services.”