Most B2B SaaS companies approach pricing as a one-time exercise. Set it once, forget about it for 2-3 years, maybe adjust if investors or board members ask questions. That's guessing, not guesstimating.
In this episode, Björn W. Schäfer talks with Krzysztof Szyszkiewicz (Kris), Co-Founder of Valueships and one of Europe's leading pricing experts for technology companies. Kris breaks down the difference between gut feeling and data-driven price setting—and why that distinction determines whether you're leaving money on the table or capturing the value you actually create.
Three data points for early-stage pricing (zero to a few million ARR): Start with cost-plus (your costs + desired margin), add competition-based analysis (market acceptability), and layer in value-based thinking (how much profit do you generate for your customers?). Cost is good, competition is better, value is best. But here's the catch: most founders skip straight to copying competitors without understanding their own value metric.
Kris shares a concrete case from the job board market: Instead of following the crowd with pay-per-job-listing models, one newcomer flipped the model to pay-per-applicant—aligning pricing with actual value delivery rather than market convention. The question isn't "what does everyone else charge?" but "what creates value for my customer, and when does that value become tangible?"
For value-based and commission models, the benchmark from top SaaS companies: 20-30% of the value created. But that number comes with critical context—time-to-value matters. If your solution delivers results in 6 months vs. 6 weeks, your risk-adjusted pricing needs to reflect that.
Looking ahead: AI is forcing a fundamental shift in SaaS pricing. Unpredictable compute costs and the fast-fashion technology era (Sam Altman's term) mean pricing agility will become mandatory, not optional. Companies that rely on multi-year contracts without usage-based scalability will face margin pressure. Quarterly price adjustments—common in CPG and automotive—are coming to B2B software, whether we like it or not.
Kris' closing remark: "Always work on pricing. Pricing is a process, not a one-time exercise."
Guest: Krzysztof Szyszkiewicz, Co-Founder Value Ships | LinkedIn & Slack
Key Takeaways:
Guesstimation vs guessing: Use three data points (cost, competition, value)
Your value metric should be acceptable, scalable, and value-aligned
Benchmark for commission models: 20-30% of value created (context matters)
Time-to-value directly impacts your pricing power
Pricing agility (quarterly adjustments) will become mandatory in AI-driven markets
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