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Pricing Strategist

Use when designing or revisiting product pricing — selecting a pricing model (subscription seat-based, usage-based, value-based, freemium, or hybrid), running Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter analysis on WTP survey data, or designing Good/Better/Best packaging tiers. Recom…

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By alirezarezvani
19k2.7kUpdated 3 days agoPythonMIT

Skill Content

# pricing-strategist

## Purpose

Help Commercial, Product Marketing, and CMO functions answer three questions at the pricing-design moment:

1. **Which pricing model fits this product + customer + market?** (subscription seat-based, usage-based, value-based, freemium, hybrid)
2. **What does the customer actually pay before it feels too expensive?** (Van Westendorp PSM on WTP survey responses)
3. **How should we package this into tiers?** (Good / Better / Best — with anti-pattern detection)

The skill recommends **a model and a range**. The human picks the number, owns the trade-offs, and runs the GTM.

## When to use

- Launching a new SaaS / API / AI tool and choosing the first pricing model
- Revisiting pricing after 18+ months of GTM data (model shift, not just price increase)
- Designing or redesigning tier packaging (Good/Better/Best, Bronze/Silver/Gold)
- You have Van Westendorp survey data and want the optimal price range
- A board / exec is asking "what should we charge?" and you need the structured answer
- You suspect your packaging has anti-patterns (decoy tier, feature dump, no upgrade trigger)

**Do not use for:**
- Per-deal discount approval → `deal-desk`
- Strategic CMO positioning, brand, category creation → `c-level-advisor/cmo-advisor`
- Whole-company revenue strategy → `c-level-advisor/cro-advisor`
- Technical-sale enablement → `business-growth/sales-engineer`

## Workflow

### Step 1 — Assess customer context

Fill `assets/pricing_brief_template.md` (≈ 20 min). Capture: industry, deal size avg, customer count, value drivers, adoption curve, consumption pattern (seat / usage / value / hybrid), competitor models.

### Step 2 — Pick the pricing model

Run `scripts/pricing_model_picker.py --input brief.json --profile saas --output markdown`. Output ranks 5 models by fit-score 0-100 with trade-offs. Decision logic is deterministic: low usage variance + high seat-attach → subscription wins; power-law usage + variable customer value → usage-based wins.

### Step 3 — Validate WTP with Van Westendorp PSM

If you have survey data (≥ 4 questions per respondent: too cheap / bargain / getting expensive / too expensive), run `scripts/wtp_analyzer.py --input survey.json --output markdown`. Output: 4 intersection points (OPP, IDP, PMC, PME) and the Range of Acceptable Prices.

PSM gives a **range**, not the price. See `references/van_westendorp_methodology.md` for common misinterpretations.

### Step 4 — Design packaging

Run `scripts/packaging_designer.py --input features.json --profile saas --output markdown`. Output: 3-tier Good/Better/Best assignment with anti-pattern flags (decoy tier, feature dump, no upgrade trigger, Bronze loss leader, Enterprise no-anchor).

### Step 5 — Decide

Take model + range + packaging into the pricing committee. Skill does not commit the number — you do.

## Scripts

- `scripts/pricing_model_picker.py` — 5-model fit scorer (subscription / usage / value / freemium / hybrid)
- `scripts/wtp_analyzer.py` — Van Westendorp PSM implementation
- `scripts/packaging_designer.py` — Good/Better/Best tier designer with anti-pattern detection

All scripts: stdlib only. `--help` and `--sample` work on all three.

## Quick example

```bash
# Emits a scored 5-model pricing-fit recommendation (subscription / usage / value / freemium / hybrid) for the built-in example
cd commercial/skills/pricing-strategist && python3 scripts/pricing_model_picker.py --sample
```

## References

- `references/saas_pricing_canon.md` — Skok, Tunguz, Campbell, Ramanujam, BVP, Shevlin, Stanford GSB
- `references/van_westendorp_methodology.md` — original 1976 paper, NMS refinement, Conjoint.ly, Sawtooth, ESOMAR, Lipovetsky, Decision Analyst
- `references/packaging_anti_patterns.md` — ProfitWell, OpenView, BVP vertical SaaS, Ramanujam, Poyar, SaaS Capital

## Assumptions

- Pricing decisions are joint: Commercial owns the model + tier shape, Product owns the features-per-tier, Finance owns the discount envelope, Legal owns the contract.
- Van Westendorp PSM is a **directional** tool. N ≥ 30 minimum, N ≥ 100 preferred. Below 30, the script emits a sample-size warning.
- "Value-based pricing" requires a measurable customer value driver (revenue lift, cost saved, time recovered). If you can't measure it, don't pick value-based.
- Industry profiles tune defaults — they don't override your data.
- This is a decision-support skill, not a price oracle. Output is a model + range, never the number.

## Anti-patterns

- **Recommending a specific number.** This skill emits a model and a range. Final price is a human commercial decision involving deal-desk policy, competitive intel, and strategic intent that this skill cannot know.
- **Using PSM with N < 30.** Statistical noise dominates. The script warns; respect the warning.
- **Treating PSM as "the price."** PSM gives a Range of Acceptable Prices (RAP) and an Optimal Price Point (OPP). Test the range in market, don't anchor on a single intersection.
- **Picking value-based pricing without a measurable value metric.** Without instrumentation to show customer ROI, value-based collapses into "whatever they'll pay" — which is just bad usage-based pricing.
- **Designing tiers before picking a model.** Tier structure depends on the model. Run pricing_model_picker first.
- **Packaging "feature dumps" into the Best tier.** If Best has 3x the features for 2x the price, customers buy Better and never upgrade. See `packaging_anti_patterns.md`.
- **Hidden usage-based pricing inside subscription tiers.** "Up to 100k API calls/mo, then $X per 1k" disguised as a "Pro tier" is two pricing models in one. Customers notice. Pick one.
- **Confusing this skill with deal-desk.** Pricing strategy = the menu. Deal-desk = approving discounts off the menu. Different decision, different cadence, different owner.

## Distinct from

- **deal-desk** — per-deal discount approval, MEDDIC, deal scoring. Operates daily on existing pricing.
- **c-level-advisor/cmo-advisor** — strategic positioning, brand, category. Pricing strategist consumes positioning as input, doesn't generate it.
- **c-level-advisor/cro-advisor** — full-funnel revenue strategy, comp plans, territory design. Pricing strategist is one input to CRO.
- **business-growth/sales-engineer** — technical sale, POC scoping. Sales engineering operates after pricing is set.

## Forcing-question library (Matt Pocock grill discipline)

Walked one at a time by `/cs:grill-commercial` or the orchestrator. Recommended answer + canon citation per question. Never bundled.

1. **"Is your customer paying for outcomes, seats, or usage?"**
   Recommended: outcomes (value-based) if you can measure them; usage if marginal cost is variable; seats only if usage is roughly flat per user.
   Canon: Ramanujam 2016 (*Monetizing Innovation*) — Mistake #1 of 9: seat-based pricing on a usage-variable product caps TAM at ~20% of WTP.

2. **"Do you have a measurable value metric, or are you guessing?"**
   Recommended: instrument the value metric BEFORE going to market with value-based pricing.
   Canon: Patrick Campbell / ProfitWell research — value-based without instrumentation collapses into bad usage-based pricing.

3. **"What's the variance in customer usage across your top decile vs. median?"**
   Recommended: variance > 10x → usage-based wins; variance < 3x → subscription wins; in between → hybrid with usage overage.
   Canon: Kyle Poyar (*Growth Unhinged*) — high-variance products lose 60%+ of revenue on flat-rate plans.

4. **"What's your competitor's pricing model, and why are you choosing the same or different?"**
   Recommended: surface the differentiation hypothesis explicitly. Identical pricing = identical value claim.
   Canon: David Skok (*For Entrepreneurs*) — pricing is a positioning signal.

5. **"What sample size do you have for WTP analysis, and is it segmented?"**
   Recommended: N≥30 per segment for PSM, N≥100 for conjoint.
   Canon: van Westendorp 1976 / Sawtooth Software methodology — sub-30 PSM is statistical noise.

6. **"What's the ONE feature that forces a tier upgrade?"**
   Recommended: every Better and Best tier needs a single non-negotiable upgrade trigger.
   Canon: Ramanujam (*Monetizing Innovation*) — Mistake #4: tiers with no clear differentiator make 70% of customers pick the cheapest.

Walk depth-first. Lock 1-3 before opening 4-6. After all 6 are answered, invoke `pricing_model_picker.py` → `wtp_analyzer.py` → `packaging_designer.py` in sequence.

How to use

  1. Copy the skill content above
  2. Create a .claude/skills directory in your project
  3. Save as .claude/skills/claude-skills-pricing-strategist.md
  4. Use /claude-skills-pricing-strategist in Claude Code to invoke this skill

README

View on GitHub

Claude Code Skills & Plugins — Agent Skills for Every Coding Tool

345 production-ready Claude Code skills, plugins, and agent skills for 13 AI coding tools.

The most comprehensive open-source library of Claude Code skills and agent plugins — also works with OpenAI Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor, and 9 more coding agents. Reusable expertise packages covering engineering, DevOps, marketing (incl. AEO — Answer Engine Optimization for LLM citation), security (PreToolUse hooks), compliance, C-level advisory (incl. founder-mode CFO/CMO/CRO/CPO/COO/CHRO/CISO/GC/CDO/CAIO/CCO/VPE personas + 21 /cs:* slash commands), productivity (capture/email/reflect), an academic research stack (litreview/grants/dossier/patent/syllabus/pulse/notebooklm + hybrid router), and enterprise Research Operations (clinical-research/research-finance/market-research/product-research, v2.9.0).

Works with: Claude Code · OpenAI Codex · Gemini CLI · OpenClaw · Hermes Agent1 · Mistral Vibe2 · Cursor · Aider · Windsurf · Kilo Code · OpenCode · Augment · Antigravity

License: MIT Skills Agents Personas Commands Stars SkillCheck Validated

5,200+ GitHub stars — the most comprehensive open-source Claude Code skills & agent plugins library.

What Are Claude Code Skills & Agent Plugins?

Claude Code skills (also called agent skills or coding agent plugins) are modular instruction packages that give AI coding agents domain expertise they don't have out of the box. Each skill includes:

  • SKILL.md — structured instructions, workflows, and decision frameworks
  • Python tools — 579 CLI scripts (all stdlib-only, zero pip installs)
  • Reference docs — 702 templates, checklists, and domain-specific knowledge files

One repo, thirteen platforms. Works natively as Claude Code plugins, Codex agent skills, Gemini CLI skills, Hermes Agent skills, Mistral Vibe skills, and converts to more tools via scripts/convert.sh. All 579 Python tools run anywhere Python runs.

Skills vs Agents vs Personas

SkillsAgentsPersonas
PurposeHow to execute a taskWhat task to doWho is thinking
ScopeSingle domainSingle domainCross-domain
VoiceNeutralProfessionalPersonality-driven
Example"Follow these steps for SEO""Run a security audit""Think like a startup CTO"

All three work together. See Orchestration for how to combine them.

Quick Install

Gemini CLI (New)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills.git
cd claude-skills

# Run the setup script
./scripts/gemini-install.sh

# Start using skills
> activate_skill(name="senior-architect")

Claude Code (Recommended)

# Add the marketplace
/plugin marketplace add alirezarezvani/claude-skills

# Install by domain
/plugin install engineering-skills@claude-code-skills          # 24 core engineering
/plugin install engineering-advanced-skills@claude-code-skills  # 25 POWERFUL-tier
/plugin install product-skills@claude-code-skills               # 12 product skills
/plugin install marketing-skills@claude-code-skills             # 43 marketing skills
/plugin install ra-qm-skills@claude-code-skills                 # 12 regulatory/quality
/plugin install pm-skills@claude-code-skills                    # 6 project management
/plugin install c-level-skills@claude-code-skills               # 28 C-level advisory (full C-suite)
/plugin install business-growth-skills@claude-code-skills       # 4 business & growth
/plugin install finance-skills@claude-code-skills               # 2 finance (analyst + SaaS metrics)

# Or install individual skills
/plugin install skill-security-auditor@claude-code-skills       # Security scanner
/plugin install playwright-pro@claude-code-skills                  # Playwright testing toolkit
/plugin install self-improving-agent@claude-code-skills         # Auto-memory curation
/plugin install content-creator@claude-code-skills              # Single skill

OpenAI Codex

npx agent-skills-cli add alirezarezvani/claude-skills --agent codex
# Or: git clone + ./scripts/codex-install.sh

OpenClaw

bash <(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills/main/scripts/openclaw-install.sh)

Manual Installation

git clone https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills.git
# Copy any skill folder to ~/.claude/skills/ (Claude Code) or ~/.codex/skills/ (Codex)

Multi-Tool Support (New)

Convert all 345 skills to 9 AI coding tools with a single script:

ToolFormatInstall
Cursor.mdc rules./scripts/install.sh --tool cursor --target .
AiderCONVENTIONS.md./scripts/install.sh --tool aider --target .
Kilo Code.kilocode/rules/./scripts/install.sh --tool kilocode --target .
Windsurf.windsurf/skills/./scripts/install.sh --tool windsurf --target .
OpenCode.opencode/skills/./scripts/install.sh --tool opencode --target .
Augment.augment/rules/./scripts/install.sh --tool augment --target .
Antigravity~/.gemini/antigravity/skills/./scripts/install.sh --tool antigravity
Hermes Agent~/.hermes/skills/python scripts/sync-hermes-skills.py --verbose
Mistral Vibe~/.vibe/skills/./scripts/vibe-install.sh

How it works:

# 1. Convert all skills to all tools (takes ~15 seconds)
./scripts/convert.sh --tool all

# 2. Install into your project (with confirmation)
./scripts/install.sh --tool cursor --target /path/to/project

# Or use --force to skip confirmation:
./scripts/install.sh --tool aider --target . --force

# 3. Verify
find .cursor/rules -name "*.mdc" | wc -l  # Should show 346

Each tool gets:

  • ✅ All 345 skills converted to native format
  • ✅ Per-tool README with install/verify/update steps
  • ✅ Support for scripts, references, templates where applicable
  • ✅ Zero manual conversion work

Run ./scripts/convert.sh --tool all to generate tool-specific outputs locally.

Skills Overview

345 skills across 17 domains:

DomainSkillsHighlightsDetails
🔧 Engineering — Core51Architecture, frontend, backend, fullstack, QA, DevOps, SecOps, AI/ML, data, Playwright Pro (test gen, flaky fix, migrations), self-improving agent (auto-memory curation), security suite, a11y auditengineering-team/
⚡ Engineering — POWERFUL78Agent designer, RAG architect, database designer, CI/CD builder, security auditor, MCP builder, AgentHub, Helm charts, Terraform, self-eval, llm-wiki, tc-tracker, autoresearch-agent, reliability portfolio (feature-flags-architect, kubernetes-operator, chaos-engineering, slo-architect), ship-gate, security-guidance PreToolUse hook, Matt Pocock skills (write-a-skill, caveman, grill-me, handoff, grill-with-docs)engineering/
🎯 Product17Product manager, agile PO, strategist, UX researcher, UI design, landing pages, SaaS scaffolder, analytics, experiment designer, discovery, roadmap communicator, code-to-prd, apple-hig-expertproduct-team/
📣 Marketing468 pods: Content, SEO + AEO (aeo — E-E-A-T audit, citation tracking across 5 LLMs), CRO, Channels, Growth, Intelligence, Sales + context foundation + orchestration routermarketing-skill/
🚀 Productivity6capture (brain-dump-to-action), email pair (inbox-setup + inbox-triage), reflect (journal), handoff (Matt Pocock-inspired), andreessen (market-first decision mode)productivity/
🎨 Marketing (top-level)1landing — single-file HTML landing-page generator (4 design styles, GSAP patterns, brand palette validator)marketing/
🔬 Research (academic)8research orchestrator (hybrid router + fallback) + 7 specialists: pulse, litreview, grants (NIH), dossier, patent, syllabus, notebooklmresearch/
🧪 Research Operations ✨v2.9.05Enterprise/cross-functional research: orchestrator + clinical-research (study design), research-finance (R&D program finance), market-research (sizing/survey/segmentation), product-research (user research) — each with onboarding + customization + opt-in autoresearch bridgeresearch-ops/
📋 Project Management9Senior PM, scrum master, Jira, Confluence, Atlassian admin, templates + bundled Atlassian Remote MCPproject-management/
🏥 Regulatory & QM18ISO 13485, MDR 2017/745, FDA, ISO 27001, GDPR, SOC 2, CAPA, risk managementra-qm-team/
🛡️ Compliance OS9Compliance operating system — controls, evidence, audit-readiness workflowscompliance-os/
💼 C-Level Advisory66Full C-suite (CEO/CTO/CFO/CMO/CRO/CPO/COO/CHRO/CISO/GC/CDO/CAIO/CCO/VPE) + founder-mode agents + orchestration + board meetings + culture & collaborationc-level-advisor/
📈 Business & Growth5Customer success, sales engineer, revenue ops, contracts & proposals, BizDev toolkitbusiness-growth/
🏭 Business Operations7Orchestrator + process-mapper, vendor-management, capacity-planner, internal-comms, knowledge-ops, procurement-optimizerbusiness-operations/
🤝 Commercial8Orchestrator + pricing-strategist, deal-desk, partnerships-architect, channel-economics, commercial-policy, rfp-responder, commercial-forecastercommercial/
💰 Finance4Financial analyst (DCF, budgeting, forecasting), SaaS metrics coach, business investment advisorfinance/

Personas

Pre-configured agent identities with curated skill loadouts, workflows, and distinct communication styles. Personas go beyond "use these skills" — they define how an agent thinks, prioritizes, and communicates.

PersonaDomainBest For
Startup CTOEngineering + StrategyArchitecture decisions, tech stack selection, team building, technical due diligence
Growth MarketerMarketing + GrowthContent-led growth, launch strategy, channel optimization, bootstrapped marketing
Solo FounderCross-domainOne-person sta

…

Footnotes

  1. Hermes Agent is BYO-sync tier: the repo ships a pre-generated .hermes/skills/claude-skills/ tree, but you run python scripts/sync-hermes-skills.py once locally to install into ~/.hermes/skills/. Uses the same agentskills.io SKILL.md standard — no format conversion. ↩

  2. Mistral Vibe is also BYO-sync tier: the repo ships a pre-generated .vibe/skills/claude-skills/ tree, run ./scripts/vibe-install.sh once locally to install into ~/.vibe/skills/. Same agentskills.io SKILL.md standard — no format conversion. Docs: https://docs.mistral.ai/mistral-vibe/agents-skills. ↩

View source on GitHub

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