Every pricing method assumes data you do not have yet. This one uses the only input available before launch — what your customer pays for the alternative.
Working out how to price a SaaS with no customers feels impossible, because every published method assumes data you do not have. It is not impossible. It just uses different inputs — and getting it roughly right at launch matters more than any feature you could add instead.
The most expensive pre-launch mistake is not the wrong price. It is no price, and launching to find out.
Pricing is the decision that compounds. Every customer you acquire at the wrong number stays at that number, often for years, and correcting it later means a migration, a notification and some churn.
A feature you get wrong costs you the time it took to build. A price you get wrong costs you a percentage of every pound the business will ever earn. Founders who spend four months building and an afternoon pricing have that ratio backwards.
There is a second, less obvious cost. Your price determines who shows up. A $9 tool attracts people with $9 problems, and those customers churn faster and demand more support — which then reads as a product problem. If you want a sense of what micro-SaaS founders charge before you pick your own number, the range is wider than most people assume.
You have no usage data and no billing history. What you can get is the cost of the thing your customer does instead — and that number is your anchor.
Name the specific alternative. For a scheduling tool aimed at therapists it might be a paper diary and an hour of admin each week, or a generic booking tool at $30 a month, or a receptionist. Each of those implies a completely different ceiling.
| Their current alternative | What it costs them | Your realistic ceiling |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing — they tolerate it | Nothing | Very low. Reconsider the segment. |
| A spreadsheet plus manual work | 2–4 hours a month | Roughly the value of those hours |
| A generic tool that half-fits | $20–50/month | At or above it, if you fit better |
| A freelancer or assistant | $300+/month | Substantially higher than most founders dare |
The first row is the important one. If the honest answer is that people currently do nothing, you do not have a pricing problem — you have a demand problem, and the validation checklist is the right page.
Ten prospects, four questions each. This is a week of work and it is the only real input you have.
Never ask what they would pay. People are poor at pricing hypothetical products and generous with encouragement — the Mom Test covers why questions about the future produce useless answers.
The number you want is the third answer. If eight of ten already pay $40 a month for something adjacent, you have a defensible anchor and no need to guess.
Three practical rules once you have the anchor.
Price at or above the closest paid alternative if you fit the niche better. Being cheaper than a generic tool signals you are a lesser version of it, which is the opposite of the specialisation you are selling.
Avoid the sub-$20 band for B2B. It attracts consumer-grade expectations, does not clear a business buyer's threshold for taking a decision seriously, and requires far more customers for the same revenue.
One price, not three. Tiers require segments you have not met yet — tier packaging covers when to add the second.
A useful check on your candidate number: imagine telling a prospect the price out loud. If you would want to apologise or explain, it is probably right. If it feels comfortable, it is almost certainly too low.
You will, somewhat, and it is recoverable in both directions — but not symmetrically.
Priced too low is the common error and the more annoying one. Raising prices later means grandfathering, notice periods and some churn, all manageable but real work — the price increase playbook covers the sequence.
Priced too high is easier. You lower it, and the customers who already paid feel good. Almost nobody complains about a price drop.
That asymmetry is the argument for starting higher than feels natural. The downside of too high is a slower first month; the downside of too low is a structural problem you carry for years.
Put it on the page and launch. A price that exists and might be wrong beats a price you are still researching — deciding when to launch covers that call, and the launch playbook covers the sequence once you have.
Once customers exist, the method changes entirely: you can ask what they replaced, watch what they actually use, and move to value-based pricing. The pricing framework covers that transition, which usually happens around twenty customers.
Price against the alternative your customer uses today rather than against other SaaS tools. Ask ten prospects what they currently spend on anything related — that existing budget is your only real data point and it gives you a defensible anchor.
Yes. Launching without a price wastes the one moment when attention is concentrated and gives you no information about willingness to pay. The most expensive pre-launch mistake is not a wrong price — it is no price.
At or above the closest paid alternative if you fit the niche better, and generally not below $20 a month for B2B. Being cheaper than a generic tool signals you are a lesser version of it, which contradicts the specialisation you are selling.
The asymmetry favours charging more. Priced too high is easy to fix — you lower it and existing customers feel good. Priced too low means grandfathering, notice periods and churn when you correct it, and you carry the problem for years.
No. People are poor at pricing hypothetical products and generous with encouragement. Ask what they do today, how long it takes, and what they currently pay for anything related — answers about the past are reliable in a way answers about the future are not.
One. Tiers require segments you have not met yet, and inventing them before launch means three columns you will have to change together. Add the second tier once you can describe who buys it.
Tell Marcus who it is for and what they do today. You get one recommended price and the reasoning behind it.
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