“Step four is to charge early even if the price is low. We charged during the beta and I guess that really validated that customers were willing to pay. There's no point chasing that idea if in the early stages no one's willing to pay for it.”

Charge During Beta to Prove Willingness to Pay Early

Rather than running a long free beta and hoping for eventual conversion, Thomas introduced a $25/month subscription right after stabilizing the MVP. The first paid notification on his phone was a concrete signal that the product solved a real problem worth money. Charging early filters tire-kickers and surfaces the truth about demand before you invest months of further development.