Pricing Page Fantasy Has Entered Review
Three pricing tiers have been designed for a product with zero customers and one very committed founder.
A Field Guide to Pricing Page Fantasy Stages of Development, with Observable Indicators
Stage 1: The Product Exists Conceptually
A person has an idea for a side project. The project is in an early phase. The early phase, technically, is the only phase, because no output has been produced. The idea exists as a notion, a domain name purchased at 1am, and a color palette stored in a notes app.
The product does not have features. It does not have users. It does not have a name that can be said to another person without a lengthy explanation.
The person begins designing a pricing page.
Stage 2: Tier Architecture
Three tiers are conventional. The first tier is free. The second tier is the real tier. The third tier is for teams, which implies the project has the potential to be used by teams, which implies the project has potential.
The free tier must have enough features to demonstrate value but not so many that users would never upgrade. This balance is extensively considered for a project with zero users.
The second tier requires a price. Pricing requires market research. The person opens six tabs comparing competitor pricing. Two of the competitors are not direct competitors. This is noted.
Research continues.
Stage 3: Feature List Inflation
The second tier needs features that justify its price. Features are added to the list. Several features would require building infrastructure that does not yet exist. These are marked "coming soon" in a draft that exists in a private Notion document.
The Notion document has been shared with no one. It is thorough.
Stage 4: The Annual Discount Question
Should there be a discount for annual billing? Annual billing implies the product will exist for an entire year. This is an optimistic assumption for a product that does not yet exist.
The person adds the annual discount. It is presented as the more logical choice.
Stage 5: The Governing Rule
Visible preparation counts as revenue adjacent activity until the first customer forces a different standard. The pricing page functions as a commitment device: it makes the project feel real, which makes the project more likely to become real, which means the pricing page was not a detour but an investment.
This is accurate and also a description of how a person delays building the actual product by building governance structures for it instead.
Stage 6: The Project Is Supposed to Create Freedom
The project is supposed to create freedom, yet it keeps generating unpaid administrative work. The pricing page has been revised eight times. The Notion document has seventeen pages. The domain auto-renews in November.
Eventually pricing page fantasy acquires an unwritten enforcement system that everyone denies creating. Conversations about the project refer to it as a business. Nobody has asked why.
Observable Indicator
If the person can describe in detail what each tier includes, what the annual discount percentage is, and what the enterprise tier unlocks, but cannot describe what the product does for a paying customer: Stage 5 has been reached.
Proceed with caution.