Stripe integration · BetaBeta
Stripe with AI: your SaaS metrics without building a dashboard
Tessa reads your Stripe subscriptions and charges, works out this month’s MRR and tells you when a payment fails or churn ticks up.
This connection is in beta: it works, but we are still testing it with real accounts.
Knowing your MRR shouldn’t take a spreadsheet
At an early-stage startup, MRR gets calculated by hand whenever an investor asks: export from Stripe, strip out trials and discounts, add it up. In between, nobody checks failed payments until the customer has already left.
Dedicated metrics tools are good, but they’re one more tool, and they know nothing about your email, your pipeline or what was decided in the last meeting.
How it works with Tessa
- 1
Create a restricted key in Stripe
Read-only access to customers, subscriptions, invoices and charges. Tessa refuses full secret keys, which could change data.
- 2
Tessa calculates the metrics
MRR from active and past-due subscriptions, normalised to a month and excluding tax and discounts; new and churned subscriptions this month; failed charges.
- 3
She tells you when it matters
The manager’s weekly brief has a metrics section, and you can ask Tessa “which payments failed this month?”.
- 4
It feeds the investor update
The monthly investor draft combines Stripe metrics with invoicing, pipeline and key decisions.
What you get
- Truly read-onlyWith a restricted key, Tessa can’t charge, refund or change anything in your Stripe account.
- Catch failed payments earlySee this month’s failed charges before they turn into churn.
- Metrics with context“Why did MRR drop?” Tessa can cross-check churned customers with your emails and minutes.
- Customer data protectedFor failed payments, the customer’s email is masked before it reaches the AI model.
- Separate from your billingThis connection is only for your metrics. It has nothing to do with how you pay for Tessera.
How Tessa calculates each metric
To keep the numbers explainable, the maths is simple and documented. If your business uses a different definition, it’s worth knowing before showing them to an investor.
- MRR: active or past-due subscriptions, normalised to a month, excluding discounts and tax. Free trials don’t count.
- New: subscriptions created this month that didn’t end up incomplete.
- Churn: subscriptions ended or cancelled this month.
- Failed payments: charges with a failed status this month.
- On very large accounts, the result says if reading was cut short.
What Tessa reads for each person stays private, your data is stored in the EU and nothing goes out without your approval.
Frequently asked questions
How do I connect Stripe to Tessa?
In the Stripe dashboard, create a restricted key with read access to customers, subscriptions, invoices and charges. Paste it into Tessera’s Integrations.
Can I use my normal secret key?
No. Tessa only accepts restricted keys, which start with “rk_”, so you know it can’t modify anything.
Does MRR include discounts?
No. It uses subscription prices normalised to a month, without discounts or tax. It’s a guide figure, not an accounting one.
Does Tessa contact customers with failed payments?
She can draft the email if you ask or set up a routine, but sending to customers waits for your approval by default.
Why is it in beta?
Stripe reads have been tested against simulated data and not yet with enough real accounts.
Keep reading
- FeaturesBetaYour MRR and failed payments, without opening StripeConnect Stripe with a read-only key and Tessa tracks your MRR, new subscriptions, churn and failed payments, and flags what matters. (Beta)
- FeaturesYour investor update, with the numbers already inTessa drafts your investor update with revenue, collections, MRR, pipeline and key decisions already filled in. You review it and send it.
- GuidesHow to write an investor update (with a template)How to write a monthly investor update: which metrics to include, how to share bad news and a ready-to-copy template you can send this month.
- IndustriesAn AI assistant for startups doing everything with a tiny teamTessa watches for customers in trouble, builds your pipeline from email and drafts weekly and investor updates. Connect Google and Slack today.
- FeaturesYour company's pulse, in one message a weekEvery week, what needs your attention: blocked or overdue work, unpaid invoices, cash position and what to tackle first. No employee tracking.
What does your team look like?
Same AI for both. Where you start is what changes.
Startups
5 to 30 people
Grow without losing the thread
Tasks from email and Slack, follow-ups, sales and investors, without everything landing on the founders.
Companies
30 to 250 people
What gets decided gets done
Minutes and tasks from every meeting, commitments that get followed up and a pulse per team, without watching anyone.
Connect Stripe and have your metrics ready without opening a spreadsheet.
Start freeFree plan for teams of up to 3 people. Anything that leaves the company waits for your approval.