Welcome to the Gildre October 2025 Newsletter - How to Price your Product & Services for Customers/Clients

Because how you price isn’t just a number on a page, at Gildre, this month is all about pricing strategy. Pricing shapes how customers perceive your product, impacts your runway, and can make or break fundraising conversations. We’ll be unpacking practical frameworks and real examples to help you master it.

Join our October Invite-Only Workshop: "Unlock the Secrets to Attracting High-Value Coaching & Consulting Clients", hosted by Berk C. Celebisoy; on Thursday, October 30th. Berk brings decades of experience as an executive coach and advisor at Alchemist Accelerator and Founder Institute where he works with founders across the globe in service and product-based businesses.

Register for Berk’s Event here: https://luma.com/cwjhnn7g

Your Price Tag Isn't Just a Number: It's Your Tech Startup's Whole Strategy

In this crazy, fast-paced tech world—where a new AI tool pops up every five minutes and your competition is only a Google search away—your pricing strategy is more critical than ever. It's not a dusty spreadsheet item; it's a living, breathing part of your product, your marketing, and your company's survival. Forget the old-school "cost-plus" model; we're in the age of value-based pricing, and if you’re not nailing it, you’re leaving serious money and growth on the table.

The Essential Pricing Strategy for a Modern Tech Startup

1. The Core Mindset: Value-Based Pricing

Forget cost-plus or competitor-matching. In the current market, your price must be based on the value you deliver, not your expenses.

Old Thinking
Cost-Plus: My software costs me $100/month to run, so I’ll charge $150.
New Thinking 
Value-Based: My software saves a business $5,000/month in labor, so I’ll charge $1,500.

2. The Actionable Value Equation (A Must-Do)

You can't price on value if you don't quantify it. This is your most essential homework:

• Monetize the Benefit: Calculat e the annual dollar value your product delivers to a customer. (e.g., increased revenue, reduced labor cost, prevented loss).

• Apply the Rule of Thirds: Price your product to take only 1/3 of that total value. The customer keeps the remaining 2/3 as a massive incentive to buy.

3. Choosing Your Modern Pricing Model

In the age of SaaS and APIs, your pricing model must reflect usage and scale. Choose one that aligns your success with your customer's success:

4. The Iteration Imperative (Test Constantly)

Your first price is a guess. Use data and conversation to constantly refine it.

• Initial Discovery: Before launch, ask potential customers for their "Willingness-to-Pay." Ask for the price that is a "bargain" (your floor) and the price where they would "hesitate" (your ceiling).

• The Price Increase Goal: Plan to raise prices regularly. If you deliver increasing value, your price must reflect it. A common benchmark for testing is to raise prices until you see about a 20% loss in potential deals, and then find the right profitable balance.

Rent the Runway (RTR) revolutionized the clothing industry by selling access and utility over ownership. Their pricing model is a textbook example of using tiers and a strong value metric to capture different customer segments, from the casual user to the high-frequency fashion enthusiast.

Takeaways from the RTR:

1. Price Against the Alternative's High Cost: Your value proposition should be anchored against the highest cost the customer currently faces. For RTR, that's the full retail price of a designer dress. For your software, it might be the cost of hiring 3 extra full-time employees.

2. Monetize Utility, Not Just Presence: RTR doesn't charge per account; it charges per utility (the number of clothing slots/items) you get out of the warehouse. Your pricing should reflect the intensity of use, which often requires a usage-based metric rather than a fixed subscription.

3. Use a Low-Commitment Entry Point: The one-time rental option is essential. Not every customer is ready for a monthly subscription. Give them a transactional, high-value entry point that showcases your core strength (in RTR's case, quality and logistics) before asking for a long-term commitment.

This video, made by our member Hariharan Jayakumar, explains how anchoring prices against perceived value and alternatives can still fail if the business model itself isn’t viable.

Pricing is only one part of the journey. At Gildre, driven founders connect to celebrate wins, tackle obstacles, and speed up growth, backed by mentorship and tools that truly make an impact.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Gildre Community you can schedule a conversation with Managing Partner, Taiga Gamell here.

Cheers,
Eliana