Prompt Playbook: Getting ready for revenue PART 2

Fifteen plus years ago, when I started my first online business, adding payments was an absolute nightmare.

You needed a merchant account (weeks of paperwork and credit checks). Then you needed payment gateway integration (custom PHP code that barely worked). Then SSL certificates (expensive and complicated to install). Then PCI compliance (lawyers and security audits). Then webhook handling (pray your server didn't crash when payments came through). And probably some more stuff I’ve blocked from my mind because of the trauma…

I spent three months just trying to accept a simple £20 payment. Three (I was about to swear here…) months. And when it finally worked, I was terrified to touch anything in case it broke.

Today? Stripe handles the merchant account, gateway, compliance, fraud prevention and webhooks. Lovable writes the integration code. What took me three months now takes one day. Hell, 5 minutes once you know what you are doing.

Not easy. But simpler. Much simpler.

Let's get started

Yesterday we built the velvet rope - user accounts that gate access to your AI tool. Today we're adding the payment systems that makes this a real business.

First, we need to decide: subscriptions or flat rate?

Subscription vs Flat Rate Decision

Generally, AI tools work best with recurring subscriptions because of how these tools are used. Your costs are ongoing (API calls every time they use your tool), so your revenue should be ongoing too.

Put another way your costs (API usage) are metered. So meter the costs for your customer too. The more they use the tool the more you pay for API so it’s only fair that your customer also pays more.

But…subscriptions aren’t the only way to charge here. Just the norm. Very briefly

Subscription Model (Standard)

• ie. $39/month for 100 AI generations

• Clear usage limits protect your costs (downside)

• Predictable revenue stream

• Can offer different tiers later for different access levels

Flat Rate Model (Riskier but Simpler)

• $199 one off

• Much simpler to build and explain to customers

• Risky if the users i) use the tool heavily and ii) continue to do so!

• Works if you know average usage will be far below cost

One-time payments feel simpler, but they're (generally!) terrible for AI tools. Your costs are ongoing (API calls every time they use your tool), but your revenue is one-time. Eventually you're paying to serve old customers for free.

It can work but it’s harder to pull off. Dan Kulkov is a brilliant example of flat rate success. His AI tools charge one-time fees (lifetime, upfront) for unlimited access because he's studied his users and knows their average usage is far below what would hurt his margins. How? Experience and data. The problem is you don't necessarily know that yet, so it's risky!

For your first version: If you're confident about usage patterns, flat rate makes the purchase decision much easier for customers. If you're not sure, start with subscription limits. For most people it’ll be subscriptions.

We’ll base. the rest of this process on subscriptions because i) it’s more relevant for most of you and ii) it’s more difficult. If you can set up subscriptions then flat fee is easy. So we cover the more difficult implementation.

Step 1: Create Your Stripe Account

If you haven't already, create a free account at stripe.com. This gives you access to both test mode (for development) and live mode (for real payments).

Once logged in, you'll see your Stripe Dashboard. This is where you'll manage products, view transactions, and get your API keys.

You may not be able to set up a Stripe account, depending on your region. If this is the case talk to ChatGPT about alternatives. Common alternatives are Paddle and PayPal. But check with ChatGPT to find alternatives relevant to you specifically. Once you have an account just replace Stripe below with whatever alternative you are using.

Step 2: Create Subscription Product in Stripe

Before connecting to Lovable, set up your subscription product in Stripe

In your Stripe Dashboard

1. Go to Products in the left sidebar

2. Click "Add Product"

3. Product Name: Your AI Tool Pro (or whatever you're calling it)

4. Pricing Model: Recurring

5. Price: $39

6. Billing Period: Monthly

7. Description: Monthly subscription for AI tool access

Save this product. You'll need its Price ID for the Lovable integration.

Start with one subscription tier. You can add Pro/Enterprise tiers later once you understand customer behaviour.

Also we’re just using this to get our integration up and running. We’ll work out the actual price in the next part of this guide. Right now we just need to get the connection in play - we can replace this subscription don’t worry!

That said if you know the price you’ll be charging go ahead and put that in now. It’ll save you time later.

Step 3: Connect Stripe to Lovable

Now for the fiddly bit. Believe me though it’s much easier than it used to be! We’ll get Lovable to do the heavy lifting for us.

Following Lovable's Stripe integration approach, you'll use the chat-driven setup. Important: Stripe integration doesn't work in preview mode - you need to deploy your app to test it. It should already be deployed but if you run into errors make sure you confirm this!

First, get your Stripe API keys

1. In your Stripe Dashboard, go to Developers → API Keys

2. Copy your Secret Key (starts with sk_test_ followed by aklj2l3nadkausd or some similar complex string of letters and numbers)

3. Keep this handy - you'll add it securely in Lovable

Do NOT share these keys with anyone! This includes NOT pasting it into Lovable’s chat.

Now in Lovable, use this prompt

I need to set up recurring monthly subscriptions with Stripe. Requirements:

1. Users can subscribe for $39/month recurring billing
2. Only active subscribers can access my AI tool
3. Handle subscription status (active/cancelled/failed payment)
4. Redirect to tool after successful subscription
5. Show subscription status in user dashboard
6. Handle subscription cancellation gracefully

Please create monthly subscription integration using Lovable's native Stripe support.

Don’t paste your key into this chat! Instead this chat will trigger a form to appear that asks for your key. This is basically taking your key securely into your Supabase (that we set up yesterday) without even Lovable being able to “see” it.

So when prompted, use the "Add API Key" feature to securely store your Stripe secret key.

What Lovable will create automatically

• Subscription checkout flow

• Database tables tracking subscription status

• Access control based on subscription status

• Edge Functions for webhook handling

• User dashboard showing subscription info

And it’ll hook everything up to the API key you’ve given it.

Step 4: Test Your Subscription Flow

Stripe has two environments. Test mode uses fake money and test cards. Live mode processes real payments. Always start with test mode.

Make sure you're in test mode in your Stripe Dashboard (toggle in top right).

Now head to your LIVE Lovable app and head to the payment screen (which should hvae been created in the last step)

Test Card Details: Use Stripe's test card numbers

• Card number: 4242 4242 4242 4242

• Expiry: Any future date (like 12/34)

• CVC: Any 3 digits (like 123)

• Other fields: Use any values you like

Fun fact: 4242 etc. is the Stripe test card so Stripe knows this is a test transaction and won’t block it as fraudulent.

It doesn’t work!

OK. 90% chance here that it’s not going to work.

Sorry.

Subscriptions are the most technically complex part of the entire AI Summer Camp. You're dealing with webhooks, subscription states, edge functions, and multiple systems that all need to work together.

Lovable will do a LOT of the heavy lifting. But if it nails it first time I’d be pretty surprised. Happy surprise, don’t get me wrong. But surprised!

You will more likely hit issues. That's not a reflection of your abilities - it's the nature of payment systems and the complexity of what we are doing. Remember that this is still waaaay easier than it used to be. But we’re still going to need to do some troubleshooting.

Don't be afraid to ask for help

• ChatGPT first: "I'm setting up Stripe subscriptions in Lovable and getting [specific error]. How do I debug this?"

• Lovable documentation: Check their Stripe integration guides

• Community: Ask in forums or Discord servers

• Professional help: If you're completely stuck, hiring a developer for a few hours is a reasonable investment if this is going to be a live business

The key is being specific about errors. Don't just say "payments aren't working, this sucks" - instead copy the exact error messages from browser, Stripe logs, or Supabase edge function logs. The more information you can give the easier to diagnose what’s up and how to fix it.

Your Deliverable Today

By end of day (or as long as it takes for this one!), you should have

• Stripe account set up with subscription product

• Working subscription checkout in your app

• Access control based on subscription status

• Tested subscription flow with test payments

If this is all rocking and rolling believe me, you’ve just pulled off something impressive.

Build in Public Content

Share your progress

"Day 32 of AI Summer Camp: Subscriptions are live.

Worked out Stripe, webhooks, subscriptions and more…phew!

First test subscription just went through. Seeing 'Subscription Active' in my dashboard hits different. Now it’s time to move this to paying customers…”

What's Next?

OK we have the basic mechanics in place. Tomorrow we nail down your pricing strategy. Should you do $29, $39, or $49/month? Usage limits or unlimited? One tier or multiple? We’ll work all this out tomorrow.

Keep Prompting,

Kyle