Fuzzball SaaS Prepaid Token Billing Model with Unified Portal Backend

March 21, 2026 at 1:29 AMtechnicalhigh

Situation

Drove adoption of prepaid token ('CIQ Tokens') billing model for Fuzzball SaaS MVP, with unified Portal backend as single source of truth for all user accounts and token balances. Free tier deferred to fast-follow. MVP requires account + credit card to run workflows.

Reasoning

Prepaid tokens mitigate CIQ's financial risk from chargebacks on expensive compute jobs. Unified Portal backend creates a single customer identity across all CIQ products — strategic infrastructure investment that pays dividends across future products. Free tier deferred to reduce MVP scope while maintaining the long-term vision. Peter pushed hard for this exact design and got what he wanted.

Additional Context

Meeting with Greg, Bjorn, Jonathon, Chris Wolford. Bjorn initially proposed post-pay but deferred to team. Greg proposed prepaid tokens. Peter drove the unified Portal architecture decision. Keycloak integration already assigned to Portal team. Jonathan to create engineering tickets.

Observed Evidence

Fathom summary confirms prepaid token model adopted, unified Portal backend decided, free tier deferred. Peter confirmed he 'pushed hard for this exact design and got what I wanted.' Bjorn deferred to team assessment. Jonathon tasked with engineering tickets.

Confidence Breakdown

22/35
Evidence
8/30
Pattern
18/20
Source
15/15
Corroboration

Reasoning Depth Analysis

Org Signal:CIQ building a unified product platform, not siloed tools
Who Affected:Portal team (Keycloak integration), future product teams, sales (pricing model)
Precedent:Token model could extend to other CIQ services — platform play
Consequences:Shapes entire Fuzzball SaaS business model and user experience
Timing:MVP scope decisions needed now to unblock engineering

Source

reflection

AI Confidence

93%

Related Context

🎥
Fuzzball SaaS Tech Planning

fathom

Prepaid token model adopted. Portal backend as single source of truth. MVP requires account + credit card. Free tier deferred.

Outcome

No outcome recorded yet.

Decision ID: ba07b030-5b39-43af-80be-bebf770f4522