When should I charge?

Hey Jasper,

It's a phrase that sounds good in theory but the truth is you'll never know what "ample value is".

It's vague and completely subjective. There are some people who are going to love the product you create and some are going to view it as absolute trash.

It's a GOOD thing that you're worried about providing value and not putting out a bad product - it means you're a good person with good intentions.

However, this more often than not turns into perfectionism.

The truth is that your product doesn't need to be perfect or even very good. Most of the people who buy what you are selling at the early MVP stage are not really buying the product, but they are buying the vision that you are selling them of what the product can be. They are putting their trust in you, knowing that this version is not the end stage.

And you'd be surprised how long that stage lasts for. HubSpot got to $29 million ARR with a product that the founder/CTO believed was terrible and yet their customers LOVED them because they bought into the vision and belief system that the company had sold them (I case study HubSpot on my website if you're interested in reading: www.thebluntmethod.com)

Long story, short - charge money immediately because you never know.

Best

Chris

Charge your customers as soon as possible.
Client willingness to pay is the best validation.

Also, expect to tinker with the pricing model and prices in general.
You will probably not get it right at the first attempt.
But that's OK.

Everyone struggles with pricing.
Even the biggest companies.

So don't be afraid to experiment.

Yours,
KodingKitty

I had the same concern as you when I first released my product Gemoo, but a couple of months later, a user asked me via online tickets when will we start charging, and one of my interviewed users said I should start charging if I want to get high-quality feedback. That's the time when I realized maybe charging earlier is not as bad as I imagine, even from some users’ perspectives.

Charging itself could be one of the best ways to test if the product provides value.

One of my users inspired me: There is no clearer customer validation than a sale. When sales go up and so does the quality of feedback, which attribute to the difference between feedback from customers (paid users) versus users. He said. You should always listen to your customers instead of free users because those willing to pay are often more reflective of your target, and their feedback is valued most. I am very grateful for his unreserved sharing.

I've written down my thoughts in the post If I Can Start Over, I’ll Charge My Users Earlier, and you can check it out if you'd like to see all my learnings during the journey.

I've linked this video talking about pricing your product.
It's a great video that has helped me navigate the start, but important takeaways are to price immediately, however there are ways to offer discounted services depending on the framing of it. Your product should be wanted enough to pay for

This is a great question! I like to use a strategy that involves assessing willingness to pay early on. Here's how it works:

1. Offer a deal to waitlist signups / potential customers and tell them they can have a discount on the first version of the product when it's ready if they fill out a form for pricing feedback, like this: https://7hkdcfzbmr0.typeform.com/to/qJULW8FO

2. Use the results from the form to establish an acceptable range of prices for your product. This is known as the Van Westendorp model: https://themaykin.com/blog/a-complete-guide-to-van-westendorp-how-to-graph-it-in-excel

After you do these steps, you will be able to confidently charge a fair price. The key is doing a good job of laying out what problems the product solves, the product details, specifications, and clear benefits people stand to gain. The data can get skewed if people don't understand what the product is.

Hope this helps!