Should I raise my prices?
Every founder knows the feeling: you are underpriced, you have known it for a year, and you still have not raised. Not because the math is hard, but because you are the only one doing the math, and the fear votes too.
Priced too low, you fund your customers' margins with your own sleep. Raise clumsily, and your best accounts feel ambushed. The difference between those outcomes is rarely the number. It is the rollout.
How a board meeting attacks this decision
In an Elevate board meeting, this question is not answered by one voice. Each advisor comes at it from the seat a bigger company would pay an executive to hold:
- CFO: Models the increase against churn scenarios: what happens to revenue if 10%, 20%, or 30% of customers walk. Usually the answer surprises you.
- CMO: Separates the increase from the announcement. Customers forgive a raise they saw coming with a reason attached; they punish surprises.
- CSO: Asks what the price says about positioning. If nobody ever objects to your price, it is not a pricing problem, it is a signal you are selling to the wrong tier.
- COO: Checks whether delivery can absorb the customers you keep at higher expectations, because a higher price raises the bar you are judged against.
What that sounds like in the room
Chief Financial OfficerEven if churn doubles at +20%, we are up 11% on revenue within two quarters. The spreadsheet says raise; the only question is how.
Chief Marketing OfficerThen the risk is not the increase, it is the surprise. Grandfather existing accounts for 90 days and send the note from the founder, not from billing.
And what you walk away with
Every meeting ends with a written verdict: the decision, the risks named out loud, and action items with owners. For a decision like this one, that looks like:
Raise the base price 20% for new customers effective immediately; existing customers keep their rate for 90 days with a personal note. Next steps on your list: model the churn floor at three scenarios and draft the announcement before Friday.
Your board also remembers it. At your next meeting, the advisors know what you decided, what worried you, and what you committed to, and they will ask.
Bring the real version of this decision
Your first board meeting is free, no card required. Brief your board on your business, bring this exact decision, and leave with the call in writing. Or watch a complete example meeting first.