First Customers (GTM)

How do I price my product when I am selling it myself and have no comparable competitors?

A starting point

In founder-led sales, price is a conversation, not a spreadsheet, so start higher than feels comfortable and let real deals correct you. Ask early prospects what they currently spend to solve this badly (people, tools, time) and anchor near that number. Charging too little signals it is a toy and attracts customers who churn, and you can always discount a specific deal but you cannot easily raise a price you have already published.

Go deeper

Hand-picked from around the web, each with a note on why it earns your time.

3 resources 3 link-checked

Read

📖 Book
✓ Link checked Paid Intermediate

Why we picked it When you are the only one selling something like your product, cost-plus and competitor benchmarks give you nothing to anchor on, and this book is the clearest case for the alternative: figure out what customers will actually pay before you finish building, then shape the product around that. Ramanujam ran pricing for hundreds of launches at Simon-Kucher, so the willingness-to-pay conversations he describes are practical, not theoretical. Treat it as a starting point for how to run those conversations, not a formula to copy.

Monetizing Innovation: How Smart Companies Design the Product Around the Price

From Wiley (2016) by Madhavan Ramanujam and Georg Tacke Book, ~240 pages

  • Have the willingness-to-pay conversation with customers early, before the product is done, so price shapes what you build instead of being an afterthought.
  • Different customers value your product differently: segment by willingness to pay rather than forcing one price on everyone.
  • Design the product and its packaging around the price customers will bear, not the other way around.
Open amazon.com →
✍️ Essay
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it Founders selling their own product almost always price too low, because they see every flaw in what they built and undercharge to feel safe. This is the canonical argument for the opposite instinct: take the highest number you are considering and go higher, because low prices attract the most demanding customers and signal low value. It is a starting point for your nerve, not a pricing method, so pair it with the harder value work in the other two picks.

Ramit Sethi and Patrick McKenzie On Why Your Customers Would Be Happier If You Charged More

From Kalzumeus by Patrick McKenzie (patio11) Long-form essay plus transcript, ~30 min read

  • You are almost certainly underpricing: the highest number you are comfortable with is usually still too low.
  • Cheap prices attract customers who perceive the least value and make the most unreasonable demands; higher prices attract better ones.
  • Price high and build the value to support it, rather than dropping price to apologize for early rough edges.
Open kalzumeus.com →
📄 Article
✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

Why we picked it This is the practical bridge between the mindset and the math when there is no competitor to price against: it says stop looking for benchmarks and instead study how customers actually derive value from using the product. Mele advises segmenting customers by how they get value, reading real usage and renewal data over surveys, and validating price with small controlled changes on real cohorts. It is honest that value-based pricing is work, not a shortcut, which makes it a good starting point rather than a promise.

Value-Based Pricing Strategy: What It Actually Takes in B2B SaaS

From Software Pricing Partners by Chris Mele Article, ~15 min read

  • With no comparable competitor, anchor on the operational outcomes customers get from usage, not on a market price that does not exist.
  • Group customers by how they derive value, not by demographics, so each segment can carry a price that matches its value.
  • Test willingness to pay with small, controlled price changes on real customers instead of trusting what surveys say.
Open softwarepricing.com →

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