Subscription Start-Date in The Future (Platform + API)

Problem Statement

Today, Pelcro requires subscriptions to start immediately upon creation, which limits operational flexibility for customer support and sales teams. Many businesses need to create subscriptions in advance with a specific future start date—for example, when a customer signs up early but requests access to begin later.

User Story

As a subscription operations,

I want to create a subscription with a defined future start date,

So that subscription access, billing, and renewal periods begin on the requested date without manual follow-up or adjustments.

Subscription Creation & Configuration

For accounts using pelcro’s engine

1. A new input field, “Scheduled start date”, is available when creating a subscription.

2. When a scheduled start date is set, the subscription is created in a new scheduled status.

3. The subscription phase does not start until the scheduled start date.

4. No subscriber access is granted before the scheduled start date.

### Billing & Invoicing

1. Introduce a new option when creating a subscription:

2. Billing behavior

3. ☐ Bill immediately (advance invoicing)

4. ☐ Bill starting on the selected date

5. If Bill immediately is selected:

6. Current behavior remains unchanged (invoice gets generated & pays now)

7. If Bill starting on selected date is selected:

8. No invoice is generated at creation

9. Billing, invoicing, and renewal cycles are anchored to the selected date

10. The subscription is created with a scheduled status until the anchor date

11. This allows all invoices to be generated on the same weekday, regardless of when the subscription is created

12. Should work with AI plans

Activation & Revenue Recognition

1. On the scheduled start date:

2. The subscription automatically transitions from scheduled to active.

3. The first subscription phase begins.

4. Revenue recognition starts on the scheduled start date.

5. Subscription renewal dates are anchored to the scheduled start date.

APIs & Status Exposure

1. The new scheduled status is returned consistently across:

2. Open API

3. Core API

4. Webhooks

5. Status behavior is consistent with existing subscription statuses (e.g., active, canceled, expired).

Backward Compatibility

1. Existing subscription behavior remains unchanged when no scheduled start date is provided.

2. No breaking changes are introduced to existing APIs or integrations.