Price is part of the product

Most builders treat price as a number they pick at the end, after the product is built, by surveying competitors and landing somewhere in the middle.

Backwards.

Price is part of the product. The number IS positioning. It tells the customer what the product IS:

• A $0 product is a hobby tool, a marketing front, or something whose value comes from network effects (TikTok, Wikipedia).
• A $1 product is a price test. The dollar amount is symbolic. You're sorting "people who would pay any amount" from "people who would only ever use free things."
• A $5 to $20 product is for someone with a recurring need but no corporate budget. Personal tools. Hobbies they take seriously.
• A $20 to $100/month product is for someone whose work depends on it. Adult. Employed. Or running a small business.
• A $100+ product is for businesses, or for serious work tools where the buyer is a professional and the cost is a write-off.

When you set a price, you're telling the customer which of those buckets you're in. The price IS the positioning. Pick the wrong number and the customer reads the wrong category off the menu, and you lose the sale before they read the second sentence.

So how do you pick? Start with one question.