
#69 Why Founders Underprice — From Someone Who Priced for 8 Years
## Guest IntroductionI'm joined by Gregor Biljardt, CEO of Mondrio and a former Simon-Kucher pricing lead who spent roughly eight years pricing startups before building an agentic pricing platform. He's seen exactly where founders leave money on the table — and why the AI era just rewrote the rules.## Episode SummaryPricing is one of the highest-leverage levers a founder has, yet most set it once on gut and never touch it again. The bigger shift: AI has turned pricing from a static, annual exercise into a living system that has to move as fast as the product ships — and the seat-based models most teams default to can quietly erode your margins the moment agents start doing the work.## Key Points- 🔥 The one-sentence realization that made him walk away from an 8-year pricing career- 💡 Why founders keep undercharging — and the healthy sign that you're priced right- 🎯 The margin trap that punishes you for shipping better AI- 🚀 Why copying OpenAI's $20 price tag might just be copying someone's guess- 🧭 The pricing move most founders skip at Series A — and pay for later- 💰 What to always ask for before you hand a customer a discount- ⚙️ Who should actually own pricing when you're pre-seed to Series A## Important Links- You can reach Gregor Biljardt at https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregorbiljardt- Vishesh, your host at https://vishesh.space- Checkout Mondrio at https://mondrio.io- Hands hurt while you use the keyboard or mouse? https://tryneo.dev## Chapters0:00 - Introduction0:10 - Why he left 8 years of pricing consulting to build Mondrio1:46 - "You can't do pricing with a report": pricing as a living system2:45 - Pricing moves that matter at pre-seed, seed, and Series A4:46 - Why founders undercharge and leave money on the table8:45 - Copying competitor pricing: the $20/$100/$200 trap11:09 - When is it too early to obsess over pricing?13:30 - How to price AI when agents, not seats, do the work15:15 - Outcome-based pricing: when it actually works16:42 - Why replacing seats with AI can cut your own revenue18:33 - Usage-based pricing and the predictability objection21:22 - Fair-use policies and the million-dollar-bill churn24:34 - Pricing is cross-functional: engineering vs sales blind spots30:41 - Discounting: always ask something back33:43 - The hidden work behind "simple" pricing35:29 - Who owns pricing from pre-seed to Series A37:44 - Changing pricing often without confusing customers42:41 - Mondrio's challenges: mindsets, services, and hiring49:06 - Roles Mondrio is hiring for in SF and Amsterdam50:32 - Book recommendation and where to find Gregor















