Snowflake's defining moves.
The defining strategic moves at Snowflake — each one explained and grounded in the record.
The Pricing Bet · Pricing
Snowflake Charges for the Gas, Not the Car. That's the Trap and the Genius.
Most enterprise software sells seats; Snowflake sells consumption — and it grew revenue per customer for years on that bet. But the same meter that expands also means every efficiency Snowflake ships can shrink its own revenue, a tension now in federal court.
7 min
The Pricing Play · Pricing
Snowflake Got Paid Only When You Used It. That Was Its Genius — and Its Trap.
Snowflake bet against the SaaS subscription playbook and billed customers by what they consumed. It pushed net revenue retention to 169% on the way up — then watched the same meter run in reverse, all the way down to 126% by January 2025.
8 min
The Moat Anatomy · Moat Anatomy
Snowflake's Moat Is Real. It's Also Quietly Draining, One Quarter at a Time.
The bull case says Snowflake has a fortress moat. Morningstar gives it no moat at all. The truth is in one number: net revenue retention has fallen from 158% to 125% in two unbroken years — the sound of a moat slowly losing water.
8 min