Gary Bailey

FinTech Strategic Advisors Ltd

Advising startups and challenger businesses on:
- Finance Function Strategy 
- Monetization Models
- Unit Economics
- Cost Innovation
- Revenue Controls

Finance & Monetization Consultant

The Talent Capitalist

Founder

ARTICULTURE C.I.C.

Articulture supports the development of innovative, high quality outdoor arts and diverse engaged audiences in Wales.

Monetization Non Executive Director

CandidateX

Board Advisor to founders

CandidateX is a Diverse Talent tech start-up accelerating inclusion in the workplace through a unique blend of tech, analytics and strategic partnerships.

Monetization Board Advisor

Zedosh

Zedosh is an AdTech startup focused on improving consumer brand experience.

Monetization Advisor

ICAP

ICAP {now part of CME} operates a global cross-asset network, connecting market participants to an established suite of post-trade processing, workflow, and credit risk services. Market leader, servicing over 50% of the trillion-dollar PB market.

Head of Product FX & Interest Rates

ICBC Standard Bank Plc

ICBC Standard Bank Plc is a global top 5, Trillion dollar bank, specifically strong in emerging markets Commodities, and Fixed Income. The dominant bank in Asia and Africa in retail and Investment banking.  

Key Focus:
- Pricing Controls
- New Product Approvals
- Product Portfolio Management 
- Revenue Management:- $1bn per annum
- Talent Management:- 60-80 team  
- Managing Regulatory Compliance Relationship with PRA/FCA:- Quarterly
- Cost Innovation:- 20% reduction per annum

Head of Product Control, Financial Control & KYC Transformation

Nomura

Nomura is a top 20 global bank with Retail, Asset Management, Wholesale (Global Markets and Investment Banking), and Merchant Banking divisions.  

Key Focus:
- Revenue Management:- $3bn per annum
- Talent Recruitment - 20-30 team  
- Product Management
- New Product Approval
- Cost Innovation:- 15% per annum

Head of Product & Financial Control

Monetization, Simplified: For Beginners

Monetization Made Simpler: DIY Pricing & Monetization Tools.

Bringing Big Business Pricing & Monetization Methods to Startups & Small Business Owners.

Ps. I’m an old school Chartered Accountant so don’t be surprised if I mention the dirty word ‘Profit’ now and again. Please don’t hold it against me. 🙏 

Teaching Monetization as a Discipline 

“You mean you’re happy with mediocrity and the status quo?”

This is what most Ai startups sound like to potential customers.

Apart from starting a fight, it doesn’t lead to many sales.

And it highlights the massive problem Ai startups face.

Most N+1 startups (e.g. CRM for garages) need only innovate on product or go to market.

But Ai startups need to win at all four of the PUMA model:

1. Product
2. User Workflow Adoption 
3. Monetization Model
4. Analytics (success metrics)

The Monetization model is the biggest challenge.

Seat based pricing ain’t going to work if your tool helps employers lay off staff!

Usage based pricing is neat. But, variable compute costs will scare most customers.

Price the work. Price the outcome.  Price the ???

There’s no clear answer.

But whatever the answer, the first question that most will ask is:
 “Can you measure the value creation?”

If they can’t - the status quo looks pretty good.

#monetization #pricing #aimonetization

Inspiration Credits to an excellent Substack- ‘Focused Chaos’ 
…go sign up.

THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LLM

Meta vs Microsoft: Snake in the Eagle's Shadow

Meta plans to make little or no money from Ai.

Microsoft is on target to make $10bn a year from Ai.

No, this isn't a battle of David vs Goliath.

It's Goliath vs Goliath!

The battle of:
* Closed Source vs Open Source

* Free vs Premium

* Top Down vs Bottom Up

* Good vs Evil [maybe this is a little too much - even for Linkedin?]

New Week. New Models [Llama 3]. New Moves:

* This is the kind of battle that every strategy nerd dreams of.

* The strategy version of Sugar Ray Leonard vs Mavin Hagler.

* The Snake in the Eagle's Shadow.

Microsoft is a monetization machine. 

But Meta, like Microsoft, is also attempting to commoditize the model layer. 

And monetize the data instead!

This is an epic battle of: 
* Models

* Motion [go to market] &

* Monetization

Most of the betting is on Microsoft, but never write off the Meta man. 

I mean, anybody who does MMA fighting for fun and willing to splash $20bn on a virtual playground [remember the Metaverse] is not to be trifled with!

#ai #monetization

The Tyranny of Successful Business Models:

Why No One's Building Pyramids Anymore.

And it’s nothing to do with pyramid schemes!

Ever wondered why the last pyramid in Egypt was built around 1550 BCE, a whopping 1500 years before Cleopatra's time? 

Turns out, they ran out of pharaohs who wanted afterlife insurance. 

It was also super expensive and the payback? 

Well, it's kind of a ghost town on ROI Avenue.

Fast forward to today: 
Why is it that McKinsey is cutting staff while Accenture is raking in $2 billion from AI gigs? 

Seems everyone has an opinion on consulting!

Let’s dive into what I call the 3i’s of consulting:

1. Insurance - You’re not missing out on the cool kids’ table. ‘Best Practice’

2. Innovation - Fresh out of the box ideas. ‘Industry Alpha’

3. Income - Show me the money!

Big name consultancies, like MBB and Accenture, are often in the insurance biz:

1. Keeping you in the loop with the best practices.

2. Saving you from ‘lone wolf’ exec moves. (No Steve Jobs-style surprises here!)

And

3. “Don’t blame me—McKinsey & Company said it was a good idea!”

Meanwhile, those who focus on making you richer are usually called Agencies dealing in products or marketing.

So, here’s the million-dollar question:

1. Is Ai going to toss the 'best practice' playbook out the window?

2. Are these consulting giants going to push harder into selling innovation or making you more bucks?

Michael Maboussin’s ‘Kind vs Wicked Environment’ framework helps explain this: 

Traditional consulting is a "kind" environment—things move slow, and feedback loops are sluggish and subjective.

But Ai? 

It’s like digital marketing consulting—things move fast, and the stakes are high! 

And objectively measurable!

The lower down the consulting food chain you go, the riskier it gets. 

And what’s more? 
Client demands get real. Fast.

Remember, nobody in 1888 Oklahoma needed insurance. 

The land rush hadn’t even started! 

So why buy insurance when there’s nothing to insure yet?

In a world of Ai, big brand consultants selling insurance may need to move up the risk ladder and either sell -  innovation or income.

Accenture is making this move. 

Who will follow?

#monetization, #businessmodel, #Ai

Don’t Say:
"This is going to Revolutionise the way ‘We’ work." 

Say this instead:
"This is going to Revolutionise the way ‘He’ works!"

...And point 👉  to one of their colleagues when saying it.

This will invoke a nod of 'Yeah, he’s a lazy bugger'.

Or an off the cuff
'Our cleaner is in the office more than that bloke!'

And most likely end in a sale.

Remember in Ai Sales: 
don’t say 'We', say 'He'.

This one trick increased my Leads by 69.97% and Conversions by 43.3678% 😆 

#Ai #Sales #Monetization

“Life is divided into the horrible and the miserable. That's the two categories.”

Annie Hall (Woody Allen)

Many Ai investors are avidly sorting their Ai portfolios into these two categories.

LLMs are the shining lights in this Ai invest-fest.

For sure, they’ll be the value creation and capture machines. 

That’s what all the podcasts say.

Well. 
Maybe! 
Not?

With a large appetite for ‘compute and cash’ - even OpenAi is faced with hard choices.

As Mr Escobar once said to his prospective industry minnows: 
Plato y Plomo

You can choose the “Silver or Lead.”

Many LLMs have taken the silver from Amazon & Microsoft to stay in the game. 

But beware, Meta prefers to use lead as opposed to silver.

Their latest LLM is just the opening salvo in this clash of the titans.

#ai #LLM #Llama

LLMs | Meta vs Microsoft: Snake 🐍 in the Eagle’s 🦅 Shadow

“Is Profit Market Fit dead?”

OpenAi has:

1.  Raging Product Market Fit

2. A great product that people want

But…
3. It might have trouble making a profit.

If finding the PMF was enough:

1. Companies that sell software wouldn't spend 40% of their money on sales and marketing.

2. The stock market IPO window would always be open.

3. We wouldn't see startups that are worth a lot but can't make a profit.

People often talk about finding the perfect product, but they forget about making profit.

1. Having a great product means people really want it.

But

2. It doesn't mean your company can definitely make money from it as it grows.

Finding Product Market Fit builds trust and belief in the team.

And if you don't have it, even the best business plan won't work.

But the real challenge is moving from having a great product to making a real profit. 

This involves:

1. Cost Control: 
Can you offer your product in a way that still makes money?

2. Pricing Strategy: 
Are you charging enough to make a profit from the value you create?

3. Market Dynamics: 
Is the market big enough, and are you in the right profit pool to make money?

Should we start worshiping at the Church ⛪️ of Profit Market Fit instead?

#monetization, #pricing #profitmarketfit #productmarketfit

BYD (Build Your Dreams) = Tesla’s Nightmare 

I told Elon to phase out the low end Tesla sales

He laughed, called me some names and trolled me on X for a week.

Standard.

I’m not sure what upset him so much as I stroked his ego a little by telling him:

1. Tesla is still the market leading EV

2. It defined a category that most had left for dead

3. Tesla's level of innovation is insane.

But, as we know, pioneers don’t always reap the rewards.

I mean. The man himself, Nikola Tesla, ended life a near pauper.

And don’t even mention what happened to the vehicle company named Nikola!

But, you know what really irked him was me pointing out that:

1. BYD is kicking A$$ with a pretty decent and cheap EV

2. The Geopolitics around China ain’t great 

3. The politics of not being allowed car dealerships in some US States still limits Tesla's growth

Given the recent softening in demand, Tesla is running a more conventional playbook:

1. Slashing prices 

2. Increased spending on Ads

3. Cutting staff

The increased advertising is great. 

But probably ain’t gonna work. 

GM and Ford spend like $3bn each on Ads. Tesla spends less than $10m

That’s like 300 times more. That’s a lot!

Well, that’s the bad news 📰 out the way.

Visa. 
What? 
Visa. 

Tesla could become the Visa of Electric ⚡️ Vehicles 

What?

Hear me out.

My hierarchy of great business models goes a little like this:

1. Products 
2. Platforms 
3. Protocols 

Products can make a great companies.

Platforms like Google make better businesses.

But the holy grail is a Protocol.

Visa and MasterCard are protocol businesses.

They grind out margin day after day.

12 basis points here. 13 basis points there.

Protocol businesses are:

1. Free Cash Flow machines

2. Net Margin monsters

3. EPS magicians (heavy share buy-backs)

But unlike Visa or platform businesses like Google, Tesla should get less scrutiny from the FTC.

Open Source limits the anti-trust shouts. 

“How can I be a monopoly when anybody can use my open source design!”

But Tesla makes 80% of its gross revenue from car sales. 

I hear you say.

Yes, but only a small percentage of its net income!

The largest net margin % is Carbon Credits. As much as 38% of net income.

The next biggest is Services and Charging - the potential Visa

In numbers, there are:
1. Only ~2,500 Tesla Charging stations in the US

2. Over 125,000 petrol gas stations in the US

50X difference. 

Visa had this cash to card growth potential in the 80s.

And Monetization?

How can Tesla turn the charging network into a Visa like machine:

1. Supercharger protocol fees
2. Open Source license fees
3. Subscriptions
4. Data sales
5. Energy storage
6. And, the ‘Charging Credit Card’, of course!

Don’t stop making cars altogether - just focus on the high end luxury class. 
…The ‘Haute Couture’ model.

So I said:
“Elon, skip the platform FSD play and go straight to becoming a protocol.”

The EV Protocol. EVP for short.

#Tesla #Monetization

The Law of Under-utilised Supply.

Some of the best 2010s startups Monetized spare capacity. 

Underused supply.

Here are a few:

Instagram:
Under-utilised supply of photos 

Airbnb:
Under-utilised supply of rooms

TikTok / YouTube / Social:
Under-utilised supply of attention 

Uber:
Under-utilised supply of qualified car drivers 

So what?

The average Accountant often studies degree-level math, economics or science

However, the average PQE only utilises less than 10% of this intellect.

Therefore, intellect is the under-utilised unit.

Underused supply.

Accountants are not alone.

Many corporate roles leave intellect as an underused resource!

Platforms such as Upwork and Fiverr bundled Labour with intellect. 

But a new era of startups will emerge that unbundle intellect from labour.

Ai will accelerate this trend.

Accountants may be the first of many office-based jobs in line for this revolution 

#accountant #ai

Your:

↳Product is Creation

↳Growth is Expansion

↳Marketing is Influence

↳Sales is Execution

↳Customer Success is Satisfaction

Then
↳Monetization & Pricing is capturing all that valuable work.

Go on, give your Pricing nerd a hug 🤗

#monetization #pricing

The CFO wants to be the CEO

The Deputy CFO wants to be the CFO

Everybody else is a Deputy to the Deputy CFO 

If you’re not in line for the throne, you have to be known for something.

To be the go-to person for something.

To specialise. 

For Finance Professionals:
- in 1995 it was Excel
- in 2000 it was VB
- in 2005 it was SQL
- in 2010 it was Cloud Ledgers
- in 2015 it PowerBi
- in 202O it was Python

And in 2025?

- Pricing & Monetization?

What do you want to be known for?

#monetization #finance #pricing

Ask yourself one question: 
Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?”

[Dirty Harry - Clint Eastwood]

Today. 
Today, these are the words of Satya Nadella and Microsoft.

In no time at all:

1. They’ve managed to convince VCs to spend billions on LLM R&D to help Microsoft find product market fit

2. They’ve managed to lock in LLMs by financing them with Azure credits 

3. They’ve already managed to commoditise the most exciting piece of tech in years (LLMs)

Legendary work. 

Strategy masterclass.

You the man!

But wait a minute.

1. How many MS users have actually mastered their $30 per month Ai add-on functionality 

2. How many MS users have actually created value with this add-on

3. How many users have leveraged the free MS Ai University to up-skill (if there is one)

Yes. 

Microsoft has killed it on the Value Capture front.

But Value Creation with Gen Ai is still up for grabs

Who ya got?

My bet will be on startups that can find a good vertical use case. 

And, more importantly, an opposite Monetization Model

If Microsoft is SaaS, then go for a single outright sale.

The 37signals software rebels have already issued a rallying call with their ‘Once’ mantra.

This is the Monetization opportunity. 

- They go SaaS Perpetual. 
- You go Single One-Off

And if you’re worried about repeat sales. 

Don’t!

The speed of LLM updates means that you’ll be able to offer substantial reasons for one-off customers to upgrade

Don’t fight a Samurai with a sword. 

Fight them with a sheath (behave!).

#ai #monetization #aimonetization

Why do Mathematicians get so much love? While Marketers ‘Can’t Get No Satisfaction’ (as Mick Jagger would say)

Is Marketing the Cinderella of Business?

Rarely invited to the ball (boardroom). 

Yet, they’re expected to dance whenever the music plays. 

I’m a recovering Accountant - so I still have some addiction to math.

If I’m not careful when someone throws out a statistical violation, I still find myself in the…

‘This Aggression Will Not Stand!’ mode. 😡 

But I find marketing more fun than math. 

We’ve had ‘data is truth’ rammed down our throats.

But if the customer is always right. 

Then marketing may not always be…
‘the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.’

But it’s a better version of the truth than just math.

People don’t buy math. 

They buy marketing.

Go on. 

Give your local marketer a hug.

They deserve it.

#accountant. #marketing

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