Field note
Complimentary access is a journal, not a courtesy
21 May 2026
Staff grants, support make-goods, and founder friends still hold entitlements. If finance never sees the list, paid metrics inflate in silence.
Support teams grant a month to calm a ticket. A founder adds a journalist. Product still counts a paid seat if the flag is the same flag used for a collected charge. None of this is wicked. It is unlisted.
A leakage reading should include a list of entitlements with no matching merchant row. The list is often short. It is rarely empty. Once named, finance can either journal it as a discount or product can use a different flag.
Do not wait for year end. Complimentary access grows in the weeks before a launch, which is exactly when boards look at “active paid”.