Payment for web apps is a consistently difficult problem. Subscriptions are on an order of magnitude more difficult. Anniversary dates? Pro-rating? Compliance issues? Charging back only a portion of the order? Upgrading your pricing structure and tiers without modifying the code? Rebate codes? Yeah, to build a subscription billing system that can eventually scale with the business, it would be like building another product. With Publictivity, I spent an enormous amount of time trying to figure out a solution. We settled on Zuora over Aria Systems. They're a great team that knows SaaS like the back of their hand (first salesforce employees+early webex). They're not self service yet though.
I've said it to most of my entrepreneur friends: there is tremendous opportunity for a YC type startup that makes subscription billing painless + developer friendly. I'm talking API calls, plug in the merchant processor, and you're done. Get started instantly, with no need for "enterprise sales calls"+"integration strategy calls". If you're making a web app in a weekend for fun, and want to charge on a subscription basis, you're pretty much SOL. You talk about gaping hole problems? This is a hole so big it's a rip in the space time continuum.
Update: I JUST found this: http://spreedly.com via @ryancarson. Looks to be a start in regards to what I'm talking about.
I've said it to most of my entrepreneur friends: there is tremendous opportunity for a YC type startup that makes subscription billing painless + developer friendly. I'm talking API calls, plug in the merchant processor, and you're done. Get started instantly, with no need for "enterprise sales calls"+"integration strategy calls". If you're making a web app in a weekend for fun, and want to charge on a subscription basis, you're pretty much SOL. You talk about gaping hole problems? This is a hole so big it's a rip in the space time continuum.
Update: I JUST found this: http://spreedly.com via @ryancarson. Looks to be a start in regards to what I'm talking about.