Aur Sunao: the ₹499 plan that lost money on every user
Team of 6
2024
Case study
Unit economics, Excel, Figma
Keep the ₹499 price, cut included listener minutes from 80 to 60, sell counsellor sessions separately at ₹450 and drop the AI chatbot. The plan stays profitable even if subscribers use every included minute: +₹67.
Contribution per subscriber per month. Bars between show what changed.
Source: model Unit Economics sheet, rows 5, 9, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18
01The problem
The Basic plan bundled ₹1,170 of pay-per-use value for ₹499, so every new subscriber made losses worse.
Concept app for anonymous peer listening and counselling · 6-person team project, Semester 5, 2024 · unit-economics review added in 2026
02What I did
- Analysed the user survey (54 respondents) and built personas.
- Built a live unit-economics model with sensitivity analysis.
- Designed the pricing and wrote the recommendation.
03Results
Recommended planOriginal plan
Monthly profit after fixed costs (₹70,000 original, ₹67,500 recommended).
Source: model/Aur_Sunao_Unit_Economics.xlsx, Scenarios sheet logic
| Original | Recommended | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per month (₹) | 499 | 499 |
| What's included | 80 listener minutes + one 30-min counsellor session + AI chatbot | 60 listener minutes; counsellor sessions sold separately at ₹450; no AI chatbot |
| Cost to deliver (₹ per subscriber per month) | 761 | 357 |
| Contribution (₹ per subscriber per month) | -262 | +154 |
| Fixed costs (₹ per month) | 70,000 | 67,500 |
| Break-even | Never | 440 subscribers |
Source: model Inputs sheet; model Unit Economics sheet row 22; model Unit Economics sheet row 18; model Unit Economics sheet row 20; model Unit Economics sheet row 21
| Finding | Share |
|---|---|
| Prefer a human listener over AI | 80% (2 of 54 chose AI) |
| Rate privacy 5 out of 5 | 78% |
| Need someone weekly or daily | 39% |
| Have used such a platform | 11% |
Assumptions. 80% payout share (the team's own split), 80% usage of included minutes, Razorpay's 2.36% gateway fee, 15% of subscribers buying one ₹450 counsellor session a month at ₹79 margin, and fixed costs from the team's FY25 snapshot. Break-even = ₹67,500 ÷ ₹153.5 = 440 subscribers. Across 50–100% usage and 60–85% payout share, break-even ranges from 193 to 1,837 subscribers.