The fastest way to price a product with zero data: ask 15–20 potential customers the four Van Westendorp questions and start where "too cheap" and "too expensive" intersect. It takes an afternoon, not a month. No historical sales data, no pricing analyst, no focus groups — just structured conversations, which is exactly what your corporate career trained you for.
You've built something. Maybe it's almost ready to launch. Maybe it's already live. And you're stuck on the one question that keeps you up at night: how much should I charge? Here's the irony. You probably spent years building business cases, justifying budgets, making investment decisions. But when it comes to pricing your product — the one that's finally yours — you freeze. So you do what most people do: pick a number that feels "safe." €9 a month. Maybe €19 if you're feeling bold. And you just set the ceiling on your entire business.
Why pricing terrifies you (even though it shouldn't)
I get it. I've been there. When I started pricing the ADAPT Methodology — transformation engagements that now command six figures — I had zero data too. No benchmark. No comparable product on the market.
The fear is real. Price too high and nobody buys. Price too low and you can't sustain the business. The middle feels like a coin flip. But pricing is a business skill. It's not code. It's not some mysterious technical art. It's strategy, positioning, and understanding value — the exact things your career has been training you for.
So why do most people default to cheap? "I'll raise prices later once I have traction." Here's the problem with that plan: it almost never works. Data from Price Intelligently shows that SaaS companies implementing significant price increases (more than 20%) experience churn spikes of 15–30%. Starting cheap and planning to raise later is like digging a hole and planning to climb out.
The Van Westendorp method: 15 conversations, 4 questions
You don't need a data science team or thousands of survey responses. You need 15 conversations. The Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter was developed in the 1970s, and it's dead simple. You ask four questions:
| # | Question | What it marks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | At what price would this be so expensive you wouldn't consider it? | The ceiling |
| 2 | At what price is it getting expensive, but you'd still consider it? | Upper edge of the range |
| 3 | At what price would it be a bargain — a great deal? | Lower edge of the range |
| 4 | At what price is it so cheap you'd question the quality? | The floor |
That's it. Four questions, asked of 15–20 potential customers — if you've already done the work of finding your first customers, these are the same people. When you plot the answers, you get a price range, not a single number. The sweet spot sits where "too cheap" and "too expensive" intersect. That's your optimal starting price.
Is it perfect? No. There's typically a 10–20% gap between what people say they'll pay and what they actually pay. But it's infinitely better than guessing. And it takes an afternoon, not a month.
What I learned pricing FIKR Space
When I built FIKR Space — 11 products, total investment of €2,750 — I had to price something nobody had seen before: an integrated ecosystem for solopreneurs. My instinct? Start cheap. Get users. Figure it out later. My better instinct? Talk to people first.
I asked a version of those four questions to early users. What I found surprised me. The price I thought was "reasonable" was actually in their "so cheap I'd question the quality" range. They expected to pay more. They wanted to pay more, because a higher price signalled that this was a serious tool, not a weekend project.
That insight — that price signals quality — is backed by hard data. A study from the Journal of Consumer Research found that customers use price as a proxy for quality when evaluating SaaS. When you price too low, you're not being generous. You're telling the market your product isn't very good.
The quick-and-dirty pricing stack
If 15 conversations feels like a lot, here's the minimum viable version:
- Find the anchor. What's the closest alternative your customers use today? What do they pay for it? If they pay €49/month for a tool that does 60% of what yours does, you have your floor. It's competitive analysis — something you've done a hundred times in your career.
- Calculate the value. If your product saves someone 5 hours per week, and their time is worth €75/hour, that's €1,500/month in value. You should capture 10–20% of the value you create. That puts you at €150–€300/month, not €19. This is just ROI math — you already know how to do this.
- Test with the "too easy" signal. Launch at your calculated price. If 100% of prospects say "that's super affordable" and buy instantly with zero hesitation — you're too cheap. You want 10–20% of serious prospects to say "that's expensive, but worth it." That tension means you're in the zone.
- Talk to 5 people who said no. Not everyone. Just 5. Find out if it was price or something else. Usually, it's something else.
Your first price is a hypothesis
There's no perfect price. There never will be. Pricing is a living thing — you'll change it. ProfitWell analyzed data from over 37,000 subscription companies and found that companies who revisit pricing quarterly grow 2–4x faster than those who set and forget.
What holds people back isn't the wrong price. It's spending weeks agonizing over the "perfect" price instead of launching, learning, and adjusting. In corporate, you didn't wait for perfect data before making a decision. You used the best information available and course-corrected. This is no different — except now you're making the call for your business. And with the cost of building at an all-time low, every pricing decision you get right flows straight through the metrics that actually matter.
Set it. Ship it. Learn.
Frequently asked questions
How do I price a product with no sales data?
Run the Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter: ask 15–20 potential customers the four price-perception questions and start where "too cheap" and "too expensive" intersect. Cross-check by pricing at 10–20% of the measurable value your product creates.
Should I start with a low price and raise it later?
No. SaaS companies implementing price increases above 20% experience churn spikes of 15–30%, per Price Intelligently. Starting cheap sets the ceiling on your business and is expensive to undo.
How accurate is the Van Westendorp method?
There's typically a 10–20% gap between what people say they'll pay and what they actually pay. Treat the result as a defensible range, not a guarantee — your first price is a hypothesis you refine with real sales.
What if buyers say my price is "super affordable"?
If 100% of prospects call your price affordable and buy instantly with zero hesitation, you're too cheap. Healthy pricing lives where 10–20% of serious prospects say "that's expensive, but worth it" — and buy anyway.