Test pricing in the market, do not perfect it in a spreadsheet

Test pricing in the market, do not perfect it in a spreadsheet

You can model pricing forever and still be wrong, because the only opinion that counts is the one expressed by a buyer reaching for their card. Pricing is not a maths problem you solve once and finalise. It is a hypothesis you put in front of real prospects and refine based on what they actually do, not what they say they would do.

Start by listening before you set a number. Talk to buyers and lost deals, ask what they pay for alternatives and where their budget sits, and watch where they hesitate. The willingness-to-pay questions worth asking are about a specific outcome, not an abstract "what would you pay". People are unreliable about hypothetical prices and far more honest about what they already spend on the problem.

Then test for real. New pricing goes to new prospects first, where there is no existing relationship to disturb. A pricing-page experiment, a different number quoted to the next ten inbound leads, a higher tier offered to a fresh cohort: each gives you a signal that no spreadsheet can. Watch close rate, deal size, and which tier people pick. If your close rate barely moves when you raise the price, you were underpriced and you just found free margin.

Keep the loop running. Markets move, your product improves, competitors reposition, and the right price drifts. Revisit pricing on a regular cadence rather than treating it as settled. The founders who win on pricing are not the ones who guessed right at launch. They are the ones who keep testing, keep listening, and keep adjusting while everyone else leaves their launch price untouched for years.

INTERVIEW EWOUD: What is your actual process for testing a new price with B2B buyers, and a time the market told you something your model had got wrong? How often do you revisit pricing on a live product?