At 19, Harry Stebbings raised $1.75M by telling CEOs their competitors were interested (creating FOMO) and pricing sponsorships at $95k. This price point often falls just below the $100k budget line that requires more approvals, bypassing corporate red tape and securing a faster 'yes'.
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When selling high-ticket services, don't raise prices incrementally. Instead, make a significant jump (e.g., from $3,800 to $8,000). If it doesn't sell, you've gained valuable market data and can simply re-price the next cohort. The upside of finding a new price ceiling far outweighs the risk of a single failed launch.
A massive valuation for a "seed" round can be misleading. Often, insiders have participated in several unannounced, cheaper tranches. The headline number is just the final, most expensive tier, used to create FOMO and set a high watermark for new investors.
When selling to enterprises, founders can feel intimidated asking for large contract values. A powerful yardstick is to frame the price relative to a fully-loaded engineer's salary (e.g., 'is this worth half an engineer to you?'). This contextualizes the cost against a familiar, significant budget item.
Raise capital when you can clearly see upcoming growth and need resources to service it. Tying your timeline to operational milestones, like onboarding new customers, creates genuine urgency and momentum. This drives investor FOMO and helps close deals more effectively than an arbitrary deadline.
Instead of stating a single number, introduce price as a range based on what similar customers invest to solve comparable problems. This normalizes the cost, provides a clear budget anchor, and frames the conversation around investment and partnership rather than a transactional price tag.
Enterprise leaders aren't motivated by solving small, specific problems. Founders succeed by "vision casting"—selling a future state or opportunity that gives the buyer a competitive edge ("alpha"). This excites them enough to champion a deal internally.
Merge's founder views the seed round not just as a capital raise but as a test of street smarts and sales skills. How a founder manages intros, creates FOMO, and navigates the "dating game" with VCs is a direct indicator of their future success in acquiring actual customers.
Giving away free Proofs of Concept (POCs) positions you at the "bottom of the food chain." Charging even a small amount, like $5,000, forces the customer to take the project seriously and, crucially, begins the official vendor onboarding process within their company.
Counterintuitively, selling high-value solutions to wealthy individuals or large companies often involves less friction. Affluent buyers with significant pain points focus on the value of the solution and have the budget, simplifying the sales cycle.
When a tool gets massive attention but users aren't willing to pay (like Trust MRR), pivot the business model to advertising. Create scarcity by offering a limited number of ad slots and rewarding early advertisers with lower prices. This builds FOMO and generates more reliable revenue.
