Charge for it

This is the part I have hidden from the most. And I suspect it happens to plenty of people who come from design: we talk about value comfortably until it needs a number, and then we lower our voice.

Looking at what others charge and placing yourself slightly below is not research. It is fear dressed as method.

The signal that matters is simpler and rarer: somebody asking what it costs before you brought it up. That question is a person telling you they have already decided, and it is worth more than any survey.

The first number will be wrong. That is fine. A price is far easier to change than to introduce, so waiting until it “feels right” is an elegant way of not deciding. If you put it out and nobody leaves, you were cheap. Information, not failure, though it takes a while to sound like that.