How to Price Your MVP
Value-based pricing frameworks for a product nobody's bought yet.
“The worst number you can put on your MVP is zero. The second worst is 'cheap enough that no one will complain'.”
The Insight
Pricing is not a calculation — it's a conversation with the market about how serious both of you are. When founders under-price, they don't win customers. They win tourists. And tourists never teach you anything about your product.
01
Price Against Pain, Not Against Cost
Ignore what it costs you to deliver. Ask instead: what is this pain costing the customer this year? If a broken process is costing them £50,000 in lost deals, charging £500 feels insulting on both sides — to them, because it signals low ambition; to you, because you can't afford to iterate. Aim for 10% of the pain, and build your delivery to deserve it.
02
Start With Three Tiers, Not One
Even on day one, offer three options — call them Starter, Professional, Flagship. You'll learn which tier people reach for, which they resist, and where the psychological ceiling lives. Pricing research via real purchase decisions beats six months of 'how much would you pay?' surveys. You also learn fastest from the people who pay most.
03
Raise the Price Until Something Breaks
Every 10 customers, raise your price 20%. Keep going until your close rate drops meaningfully. That's your ceiling — for now. Most founders die with £1,200 on the table because they were scared to ask for £1,800. Pricing is a muscle, and MVP stage is the safest time to train it: the stakes are tiny and every no teaches you.
The Takeaway
You can't discover real demand at a fake price. Charge like you believe in the product — then earn the right to keep that price every single week.
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