Madhavan Ramanujam: Why Hope Is Not a Pricing Strategy

12 May 2026 · 0 min

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In this talk, Madhavan Ramanujam argues that founders often overlook pricing when testing product‑market fit, leading to misleading feedback. He explains that testing a product without incorporating price results in hearing only positive reactions, as people may like the product but not be willing to pay the intended price. Using a sparkling‑water example, he shows how asking “Do you like it at $10?” changes the conversation and reveals true price sensitivity. The core message is that pricing must be embedded in market tests to avoid wasted effort and false confidence in product viability.

We worked on the product for 2 years without no idea of some, whether someone would actually pay for this. That seems so wasted. Many founders, when you talk about product market fit, they would say, yeah, we tested the product for making sure there's a fit in the market and we are developing the right product. I mean, someone comes and asks me, do you like this sparkling water? I like it. Do you like it at $10? The whole conversation is different. So if you don't put pricing as part of your product market test, you're often hearing what you want to hear.