I undercharged my first product for months because I thought "cheap gets users."
It got users who never paid for anything else either. And I still had no idea what the thing was worth.
If you've got like 8 customers and a Notion doc full of competitor screenshots, this is the pricing process I wish I used earlier. No fancy research firm. No Van Westendorp spreadsheet you'll never open again.
Stop copying the $29 tier
Most early pricing pages are a collage.
Someone's Starter at $19. Someone else's Pro at $49. A free plan because "growth." None of that is your customer. It's cosplay.
Competitors are a sanity check after you have a number. They are a terrible starting point when you don't know what job people hire you for.
Price from the ugly alternative
Write one sentence:
Today, without us, [role] spends [hours/money/risk] doing [job].
Then ballpark the yearly cost of that mess. Be boring. Spreadsheet hours. Missed follow-ups. A VA they already pay. Tool sprawl.
Your price is a slice of that pain, not a slice of AWS.
Rule of thumb I actually use: start around 10–20% of the yearly value you can defend in a sales call. If you can't say the value out loud without squinting, you don't have a price yet — you have a feature list.
Example: if a solo researcher burns ~4 hours a week on a messy brief (~$8–12k/year of their time at a modest freelance rate), a $49–79/mo tool that cuts that in half isn't "expensive." It's lazy math they can feel.
Ask five people the weird question
Not "what would you pay?" People lie. They say $20 then ghost at $19.
Better asks after they've felt a win:
- What were you using before this (even if it was sticky notes)?
- Roughly how much time/money did that cost you last month?
- If this disappeared tomorrow, what would you do instead?
- At what monthly price would this feel stupidly cheap?
- At what price would you pause and need a manager / spouse / spreadsheet?
You're hunting the shrug zone — where they stop negotiating and just say "yeah that makes sense." Write the range down. Average it later. Don't average your fear into the number.
Those conversations are also why getting on a call with your first ~15 users beats another anonymous survey form. Pricing words show up when someone's annoyed, not when they're filling Typeform.
Ship one offer, not a museum of tiers
Early SaaS loves three columns. You don't need three columns.
One paid plan. Clear monthly + yearly. Maybe a tiny founder discount with an end date. That's it.
Free plans train people to never pay unless the free tier is intentionally crippled and you have a path to upgrade that isn't "please notice us."
Usage limits are fine. Feature bingo is not. If Pro only adds "priority support" and a badge, you're inventing tiers to look grown up.
When I need a fuller walkthrough of anchors, early raises, and the undercharging traps, I keep this Aura++ Studio note on pricing with almost no data — same problem, more checklist energy.
Raise on new people, not old ones first
Your first 10 buyers are also your research team. Don't punish them every time you grow a spine.
Pattern that hurt less:
- New price for new signups
- Grandfather old folks for 3–6 months (or forever if you promised)
- Tell them before someone finds the new page and screenshots you
If nobody ever flinches at your price, you're probably cheap. A few "hmm that's a stretch" messages are data. Silence plus zero upgrades is also data.
What I track for 30 days (tiny sheet)
Columns I actually keep:
- Asked price / paid price
- Plan
- Objection (too expensive / need to think / wrong ICP / billing fail)
- Did they hit the first win before paying?
If most cancels never activated, that's not a pricing problem. That's an onboarding problem wearing a pricing hat. Fix the win first.
If they activate and still bounce at the number, your slice of value is wrong — or you're talking to tourists.
The part founders skip
Put the price on the public page. Early.
"DM for pricing" feels safe and kills signal. You want the people who close the tab. They're teaching you.
Also: say the number on calls without apologizing. "It's $59/mo" is a sentence. "It's only $59, super affordable, happy to discount" is how you train buyers to negotiate with your anxiety.
A weekend pass if you're stuck
Saturday morning: write the ugly-alternative sentence for your best ICP.
Saturday afternoon: five short calls or voice notes with people who already tried the product.
Sunday: pick one number in the shrug zone. One plan. Update the page. Tell existing users what's grandfathered.
Don't A/B test three prices with 22 visitors. You'll invent a story out of noise.
When I'm putting an early tool in front of builders, I care more that the offer is clear than that the branding is perfect — boards like Aura++ only help if the page behind the listing can say what it costs and who it's for without a scavenger hunt.
If you want a second pass on where to show the priced thing after the offer is honest, I keep a living map of best launch platforms for that step.
Pick a number you can defend. Ship it. Listen. Raise for the next strangers.
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