How to price a first offer with no customers yet

The instinct to price low to reduce the risk of rejection is understandable but usually backwards. A too-low price doesn't just cost revenue — it changes who buys. Very low prices attract price-sensitive buyers who are more likely to churn and less likely to give useful product feedback, compared to buyers who chose you on value.

Grandfathering — locking in early customers at their original price when you raise prices later — solves the fear of pricing too low permanently. It's far more common and far less painful than the alternative: discovering six months in that the price should have been double, and having to either eat the difference or damage trust by raising prices on existing customers.

For services or agency-style offers, a simple rule works well when there's genuinely no data: price at what would make you slightly uncomfortable to say out loud. That discomfort is usually a sign you're pricing near what the market would actually support, not evidence you should lower it.

Willingness-to-pay conversations work best framed indirectly. Asking "what would you pay for this?" gets unreliable answers because people either lowball to be polite or guess randomly. Asking "what does this problem cost you today?" and then proposing a specific number and watching the reaction gets a far more honest signal.