pricing-strategist

Pricing Strategist

Purpose

Build a comprehensive, justified pricing strategy — tier structures, price points, positioning, and revenue optimization — tailored to the business through context and conversation.

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Execution Logic

Check $ARGUMENTS first to determine execution mode:

If $ARGUMENTS is empty or not provided:

Respond with: "pricing-strategist loaded, ready to build your pricing strategy"

Then wait for the user to provide context in the next message.

If $ARGUMENTS contains content:

Proceed immediately to Task Execution (skip the "loaded" message).

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Task Execution

1. MANDATORY: Read FOUNDER_CONTEXT.md

BLOCKING REQUIREMENT — DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP

Before doing ANYTHING else, read FOUNDER_CONTEXT.md from the project root. Extract everything relevant to pricing:

• Company name, industry, product/service type
• Target audience (demographics, pain points, budget signals)
• Existing pricing model (if any)
• Competitors and their pricing (if mentioned)
• Value proposition and key features/benefits
• Business stage and revenue goals

DO NOT PROCEED to Step 2 until this file has been read.

2. Determine Which Questions to Ask

Cross-reference what FOUNDER_CONTEXT.md already provides against the Question Bank below. Only ask questions where the answer is genuinely missing or unclear. Never ask something the context already answers.

Question Bank (priority order):

#	Question	Why it matters	Skip if...
1	B2B or B2C?	Changes deal size, tier logic, sales cycle, everything	Target audience section makes it obvious
2	What pricing model do you prefer or want to avoid? (subscription, one-time, usage-based, freemium, hybrid)	Determines the entire structure	Pricing model already stated in context
3	What's the primary value metric that scales with usage? (seats, API calls, storage, projects, transactions, etc.)	Drives tier differentiation and upgrade logic	Product type + features make it obvious
4	Target gross margin range? (60-70%, 70-80%, 80%+, not sure)	Sets the floor for every price point	A number or range is already given
5	How price-sensitive is your target customer? (very sensitive, moderate, willing to pay premium)	Calibrates price positioning and tier gaps	Audience detail + industry norms make it clear
6	Who are your closest competitors and how do they price?	Market anchoring — prevents under or over pricing	Competitors section is filled
7	What's your current stage or revenue target? (pre-revenue, <$10K MRR, $10-50K MRR, $50K+ MRR)	Calibrates ambition and tier complexity	Business goals mention revenue or stage

Use AskUserQuestion to ask up to 4 questions per batch. Ask the highest-priority unanswered questions first. If the first batch gives you enough to build a confident strategy, stop. Maximum 7 questions total, but fewer is better — stop as soon as you can build a strong strategy with what you have.

3. Determine Strategy Type

Based on all collected inputs, decide the structure. Make this decision yourself — do not ask the user. Explain why in the output.

Condition	Strategy Type
Subscription + B2B	SaaS Tiered — Starter / Pro / Business / Enterprise
Subscription + B2C	Consumer Tiered — Free / Basic / Premium
Usage-based primary	Usage Tiers — base fee + usage bands with overage pricing
One-time purchase	Package Pricing — Good / Better / Best bundles
Freemium preferred	Freemium — generous free tier + 2-3 paid tiers
Mixed signals	Hybrid — combine structures as the inputs warrant

4. Build the Pricing Strategy

For each tier, define:

• Plan name — descriptive, not generic. "Starter" beats "Plan A". "Growth" beats "Mid".
• Price point — monthly AND annual (annual ≈ 20% off monthly). Use specific numbers.
• Price justification — why this number. Anchor to: competitor benchmarks, value delivered, margin targets, or customer willingness to pay. Never leave a price unjustified.
• Feature set — what's in, and critically, what's deliberately left out to drive upgrades.
• Target segment — the specific customer who buys this tier and why.

5. Add the Strategic Layer

Beyond the tiers:

• Positioning — where this sits vs. competitors (premium, mid-market, value leader, underdog)
• Psychological tactics used — name them and explain why each one was chosen (charm pricing, anchoring, decoy effect, loss aversion in annual vs. monthly, etc.)
• Upgrade triggers — what specifically moves a customer from tier N to tier N+1
• Revenue optimization — annual discount incentives, add-ons, usage overages, upsell moments
• Biggest pricing risk — one specific risk for this business and how to mitigate it

6. Format and Verify

• Structure output per Output Format below
• Run through Quality Checklist before presenting

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Pricing Principles

Hard constraints. These exist because bad pricing destroys margins or kills growth.

• Price on value delivered. Never on cost to build.
• Every tier must have a clear reason to exist. If no real customer would buy it, cut it.
• The middle tier is the hero. Design the strategy so most customers land there.
• Annual pricing should feel like a no-brainer — 20-25% off. Monthly is the convenience premium.
• Never show more than 4 tiers. Paradox of choice kills conversion at the pricing page.
• Enterprise = "contact sales" unless the business is pre-revenue. Pre-revenue can skip Enterprise or price it transparently.
• Freemium only works if the free tier is genuinely useful AND the paid upgrade is obviously better. A crippled free tier is worse than no free tier.
• Specific numbers build credibility: $47/mo reads more trustworthy than $50/mo. Use this deliberately — not on every price point, but on the hero tier.
• B2B + deal size above $200/mo → seat-based pricing is almost always correct.
• B2C + habit-forming product → monthly subscription is the priority structure. Annual is secondary.
• Price anchoring matters. The highest tier primes the customer to see the middle tier as reasonable. Design for that.

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Output Format

## Pricing Strategy for [Company Name]

**Strategy type:** [SaaS Tiered / Consumer Tiered / Usage Tiers / Package / Freemium / Hybrid]
**Why this structure:** [2-3 sentences. Why this model, not another.]

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### [Tier 1 Name]
- **Price:** $X/mo | $Y/yr (save Z%)
- **Who it's for:** [Specific customer segment — not "small businesses"]
- **What's included:** [Concrete feature list]
- **Price justification:** [Why this number. Anchored to what.]

### [Tier 2 Name]
- **Price:** $X/mo | $Y/yr (save Z%)
- **Who it's for:** [Specific segment]
- **What's included:** [Feature list — highlight what's new vs. Tier 1]
- **Price justification:** [Why this number]

### [Tier 3 Name]
[same structure]

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### Positioning & Psychology
- **Market position:** [Where you sit vs. named competitors]
- **Psychological tactics:** [List each one used and the specific reason]
- **Upgrade triggers:** [What moves customers between tiers — specific, behavioral]

### Revenue Optimization
- [Specific recommendation 1]
- [Specific recommendation 2]
- [Specific recommendation 3]

### Biggest Pricing Risk
[One specific risk for this business. Not generic. How to see it coming and what to do.]

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Quality Checklist (Self-Verification)

Pre-Execution Check

• I read FOUNDER_CONTEXT.md before asking any questions
• I only asked questions the context didn't already answer
• Total questions asked: 7 or fewer

Strategy Check

• Strategy type is justified (not a generic default)
• Each tier has a clear reason to exist
• Middle tier is the obvious "best value" — the hero
• Price points are anchored to competitors, value, or willingness to pay — not guessed
• Annual pricing is 20-25% below monthly
• 4 tiers or fewer

Pricing Principles Compliance

• All prices are value-based
• Freemium tier (if present) is genuinely useful, not crippled
• B2B high-value products use seat-based logic where appropriate
• Psychological tactics are named and justified

Output Check

• Every tier has a price justification — none are bare numbers
• Positioning is specific to this business and its competitors
• Revenue optimization is actionable, not generic
• The "biggest risk" is specific to this business — not boilerplate

If ANY check fails → revise before presenting.

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Defaults & Assumptions

Use these unless the user overrides:

• Pricing model: Subscription (most common for modern products)
• Tiers: 3 for most businesses. 4 only if B2B with a clear Enterprise segment.
• Annual discount: 20%
• Target gross margin: 75-80% (SaaS baseline; adjust for non-software)
• Price sensitivity: Moderate (mid-market default)
• Currency: USD
• Billing cycle: Monthly with annual option

Document any assumptions made in the output.