The SaaS subscription model is broken. For years, brands have dutifully paid monthly retainers for MarTech stacks that promise the moon but deliver incremental gains at best. Rajesh Jain, founder of Netcore.ai, is calling time on this lopsided arrangement. He argues that in the age of agentic AI—where autonomous systems execute entire marketing workflows—the old “pay-for-access” model makes no sense.
If your technology is smart enough to run the campaign, why should the vendor get paid regardless of the outcome? Jain is pushing for an “outcome-based” pricing model. In his view, MarTech providers should be treated like business partners, not utilities. If an AI agent manages your email lifecycle or customer retention, the provider should earn a percentage of the actual incremental revenue generated, not a flat seat fee. It is a bold shift that moves the conversation from vanity metrics like open rates to the only one that keeps CFOs happy: bottom-line growth.
The current reality is often messy. Companies buy expensive suites—think Adobe, Salesforce, or Oracle—and then spend twice the subscription cost on consultants just to get the tools talking to each other. By the time a campaign launches, the margin is already eroded. When a software vendor is tethered to the client’s success, the product incentive shifts immediately. Bugs get fixed faster, onboarding becomes more aggressive, and the “fluff” features that clutter most dashboards simply disappear because they don’t contribute to the shared P&L.
Of course, this model is not without its friction. Measuring “incrementality” is the industry’s favorite parlor game. If a revenue spike occurs, was it the AI agent, the seasonal discount, or a random market shift? MarTech vendors will be hesitant to sign up for these KPIs unless they have full control over the execution, which leads to a centralization of power. Brands might find themselves trading the independence of their marketing strategy for the efficiency of a vendor’s algorithm.
Still, the transition to agentic marketing is inevitable. When software moves from a passive record-keeping system to an active participant that writes copy, segments audiences, and optimizes spend in real-time, the distance between “tool” and “agency” shrinks. Jain is essentially predicting the death of the pure-play MarTech vendor.
If you are a marketing leader, the writing is on the wall. Stop paying for shelfware and start demanding performance-linked SLAs. If your partners aren’t willing to bet their revenue on your success, you are not working with partners; you are just paying rent. The next wave of marketing isn’t about better dashboards; it is about accountability.
