Closing — trial to paid

A prospect who sent a hologram, got it back inside 48 hours, and answered the pain question is a trial candidate. This page turns that into a paying account. Quote live pricing only — the offer on the signup page and in page 09 is the only thing that exists.

The live offer (the only thing you may quote)

• Free 3-month trial. Full access, their own schedule. Start it at https://api.apertureapi.com/signup.
• After the trial, two live paths, both shown on the signup page:
• Pay-as-you-go: $0.03 per reconstruction.
• Monthly plans: $50, $500, or $5,000 / month. Paid by card through Stripe on the signup page.
• Free validation, then a design partnership (decided 2026-10-13; two offers since 2026-10-19). Step 1 is a bounded FREE validation: up to ~20 raw frames, one rig configuration, one independent reference measurement, 10 business days, acceptance threshold and paid-next-step line agreed in writing BEFORE data (marketing/sales/offer-structure.md). Step 2 is one of the two paid design partnerships (page 22): Software ($10,000, ~90 days, lab's own rig) or Hardware ($25,000, ~4 months, our capture instrument built to order). There is no separately quoted paid pilot any more.

Do not restate dollar figures in writing beyond what the signup page shows; link to it so a price can never drift from the live one.

NOT YET APPROVED — do not offer until page 09 lists it. A flat annual lab license (around $2,500/yr) appears in the 09-22 plan. It is an operator decision that has not been made. Until page 09 lists it, the live metering and monthly plans above are the entire menu. Do not offer, quote, or imply the annual license.

Objection handling

• "Can this replace the measurement my QA process depends on?" — "No, and our own report says so in writing: absolute accuracy, uncertainty and repeatability ship as not-yet-established, traceability flagged false. What the free validation does is produce the one artifact that would change that — your frame, your reference, our reconstruction, all committed." Say the "no" before they ask.
• "How accurate is it?" — no number. "We don't claim accuracy; we prove the same input and config give the same result, and anyone can recompute it."
• "How fast / how many per hour?" — no number. "I won't quote a rate I haven't committed a benchmark for; if throughput decides this, that benchmark is the validation's first deliverable."
• "Does it beat interferometry / replace our Zygo?" — "Beside it, not instead of it — a second measurement point on data you already have."

Fiscal-year-end PO timing

Institutions commit money through a purchase order, and the easiest time to get one signed is near their fiscal-year end (many US universities: June 30; confirm each one). Ask early: "When does your group's budget year close?" and line the trial up so the paid decision lands with budget still open.

Who signs

The operator countersigns everything — trials, validations, partnerships, LOIs. A rep never binds the company: you gather intent, the operator signs. If a prospect is ready to commit, hand it to the operator with the logged history.

What to log, and how it counts

Per closing prospect: trial start date, plan chosen (PAYG / $50 / $500 / $5,000 / pilot), PO timing, and who on their side signs. The authoritative customer count is whatever scripts/count_customers.py reports — run it for the number; never hand-maintain a separate tally.

Artifact when done: an activated trial account (visible in the signup system) and, at conversion, a count that scripts/count_customers.py reflects.

Buyer pages to pair with this page: procurement packet · design partnership brief · validation docket. Pipeline stages and KPIs: page 00.