the pricing conversation nobody wants to have
self-serve and done-for-you aren't two tiers of the same thing. they're two different products, and they need two different companies' worth of focus.
spent time this week on pricing. self-serve platform versus done-for-you service. two totally different products.
the temptation is to collapse them into one offering. "let's serve both segments."
don't.
the low-tier customer owns the problem. they're paying for a tool because they want to be the fundraiser. they're willing to do the work because the work is their value proposition. they're the ones sitting in the investor meetings.
the high-tier customer owns a different problem. they don't want to learn the tool. they don't want to personalize the emails. they want to hire someone to do it.
if you price like the low tier and try to serve the high tier, you go out of business. if you price like the high tier and try to serve the low tier, you have a cost structure problem you'll never outgrow.
the founder's instinct is to blur it. "let's offer both and let the market decide."
the market won't decide. you'll just build a product that's great for nobody.
so: decide who owns the problem. price accordingly. build for them.
the other segment can wait until you're ten times bigger and have the capital to serve them properly.