What pricing strategies have worked for you at an early-stage startup?
Donavan Trieu
15 replies
I've been diving into the world of pricing through Madhavan Ramanujam's Monetizing Innovation and am fascinated by the intellectual nature of the strategies. Pricing seems to be an overlooked aspect of product or growth strategy. Definitely a balancing act between generating revenue and providing value to customers, especially for early-stage start-ups.
Any pricing thoughts or insights for early-stage makers?
Replies
Saul Fleischman@osakasaul
Auto-Hashtag API
Study the competition, do side-by-side comparison tables so as to make it easier for shoppers to choose your thing. Oh, and shorter free trials. 30 days was a fail for us; 7 days works great.
Hope these help!
Share
My simp strategy: Price it really, really high and see how many people buy
(side note, started 8 companies since 1989, all cashflow positive in 90 days or less)
Introwise
One thing to consider - make it as simple as possible. If you're just a new product you potential users might not have the patience to understand the limits and feature differences between the plans.
SaaS for Greater Good
Consulting for early-stage companies we've found that a value-based pricing strategy works well. This means setting our prices based on our product's value to our customers, rather than simply what our competitors are charging. By understanding our customers' unique pain points and needs, we can price our product in a way that makes it a no-brainer for them to invest in. Additionally, we've found that offering tiered pricing options, such as a basic plan and a premium plan, can appeal to a wider range of customers with varying budgets and needs.
Personally, I usually start by comparing with competitors, evaluating my product's value, and calculating my spendings to find a great pricing strategy.
But keep in mind, finding the right price can take some trial and error. Good luck!
As a startup founder, I've learned that pricing can be a challenging aspect to figure out. It is essential to get the right balance between generating revenue and providing value to your customers, especially at the early stages of your startup.
One strategy that has worked for me is value-based pricing. With this approach, you set your prices based on the perceived value that your product or service provides to your customers. To determine the value of your product, you need to do market research, analyze your competitors' pricing, and survey your potential customers to understand their willingness to pay.
Another strategy that has worked well for me is tiered pricing. This approach involves offering different pricing tiers based on the level of service or features your customers receive. This strategy can help you cater to different segments of your target market and maximize your revenue potential.
Kommunicate
Hi Donavan, pricing based on features should be at the center of the strategy. Competitors for same products have different pricing. But the one that wins, wins on features.
At an early stage, I would stay competitive in terms of pricing. Then, once you've established some of the most value that your users are receiving from your product, you can think of updating the pricing. For example, I had clients in the past that wanted themes. As a team, we decided to change our pricing so that if someone wanted a specific theme, they would need to be on the highest-tier plan. The value was high enough for them to justify the price. So getting feedback on what your clients want as they are using your product can help you structure your pricing.
I want to see what other people say about their products and pricing strategies.
There are a few pricing strategies that have worked well for early-stage startups in the past, such as freemium models, tiered pricing based on features or usage, and early-bird pricing for early adopters. However, it ultimately depends on your unique product and market.
every startup is unique, so it's important to test and iterate until you find the pricing strategy that works best for you.
WebCurate
For branition.com, I'm currently focused on its growth and traffic, and once it has a substantial amount, I'll plan to add pricing for add-on services.
I've seen this strategy being applied by many big companies.
I hired a coach and asked him.
To be honest this was a huge sticking point for me starting out.
I hated the feeling of agreeing to work at a lower price than I felt I could have asked--it got to a point where I would rather lose a few sales because my price was high.
But asking someone in the field is a sure bet IMO.
Use free engagement as a proxy for willingness to pay first, especially in DTC/B2C.