4 builders who never spoke to each other

Ask what the problem costs, not what they would pay

Willingness-to-pay questions return polite fiction, because nobody knows their own number until money is actually at stake. Swap in questions with factual answers: what the problem costs them today, how often they would use the thing at a fair rate, where your value ranks against tools already on their invoice. Then name a figure in the conversation and ask for a commitment to it.

The method

1. 01

   Never ask a prospect what they would pay, because nobody knows that until real money is at stake; ask instead how often they would use it if the price were reasonable, and gather it in conversation rather than a formal survey.

2. 02

   Never ask a prospect what they would pay. Ask what this problem already costs them today, or what solving it would save.

3. 03

   Do not ask a prospect what they would pay. Ask them to rank your value against tools they already buy, from a roughly $10 a month tool up to an agency solution north of $300, and the comparison gives you both the value and a price.

4. 04

   In customer interviews, ask what they expect it to cost and why, who signs the cheque, who else has to approve, whether a return-on-investment argument would be welcomed or laughed at, and what would have to change for the price to double.

5. 05

   Raise price during customer development interviews instead of avoiding it, because what someone will pay is part of whether the product fits the market at all.

What it returned

• $700

  People who say they want a thing walk away from a demo of it once the tag reads $700, and phone app reviewers argue that something fine at $0.99 is not worth $1.99.

• Indy Hall had spent close to a year building the community first, so there were real people to ask, and Hillman treated the answers as a pulse reading nobody would be held to.

• Given as the replacement question for willingness-to-pay surveys.

• Cohen adds that if you get a real answer to the doubling question, that is often a sign to go ahead and double it.

Sources

• The ultimate guide to structuring your coworking space membershipsAlex Hillman · dangerouslyawesome.com · How we figured out the levels · 2015-10-01
• Pricing determines your business modelJason Cohen · longform.asmartbear.com · Pricing determines your business model · 2014-11-05
• Johannes Radig — Traveling the World and Raising Prices – The Bootstrapped FounderJohannes Radig · thebootstrappedfounder.com · 2024-03-27
• 💲 Why Is Charging $1 Infinitely Better Than Charging $0? - Trends.vcDru Riley · trends.vc · 🔧 Try This · 2025-05-19