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Pricing is one of the most powerful levers a company has, yet it is also one of the most misunderstood. Too often, pricing is treated like a one-time decision or a simple number change. In reality, it is a continuous process that shapes profitability, growth, and long-term strategy.
In Episode 2 of the tgndata Podcast, Alex Kakouratos sits down with Krzysztof Szyszkiewicz, Partner and Co-Founder of ValueShips, to explore what pricing decisions really are, why the idea of a “perfect price” is misleading, and how businesses can build a pricing process that evolves with the market.
This episode is Part 1 of our pricing series with Krzysztof, focused on the foundation of every pricing strategy: making the right pricing decisions.
Krzysztof Szyszkiewicz is Partner and Co-Founder of ValueShips, a consulting company specializing in transforming businesses into more profitable ventures by optimizing pricing strategy, monetization models, discount governance, and overall business performance.
With a strong focus on pricing as a discipline, Krzysztof supports companies across SaaS, e-commerce, marketplaces, professional services, and traditional B2B industries. His work helps organizations shift from ad-hoc pricing decisions to structured pricing processes that can scale as the business grows.
Pricing decisions are not only about “how much should we charge.” They also include how a company structures monetization, how it manages discounting, how it evaluates customer sensitivity, and even when it chooses not to act.
In this episode, you will learn:
What a pricing decision really is, and why not acting is also a pricing decision
Why there is no such thing as a permanent “optimal price”
How pricing evolves as a company matures from startup stage to enterprise scale
Why pricing must be treated as a process, not a one-time event
How discounting can quietly destroy profitability if not governed properly
What pricing guardrails are and why they matter for customer trust
How e-commerce businesses should approach daily and weekly pricing decisions
Why pricing ownership inside a company is often unclear and how to fix it
How frequently pricing decisions should happen across different business levels
A key takeaway from the conversation is simple but powerful:
There is no “good price” that lasts forever.
Markets change. Competitors change. Customer expectations shift. Costs fluctuate. Demand rises and falls. That means pricing decisions must be revisited regularly, not just when something feels wrong.
Krzysztof explains pricing as a living process that evolves over time, much like marketing or sales processes. Businesses that treat pricing as a structured function are far more likely to improve margins and avoid long-term profitability issues.
The episode explores how pricing decisions look different depending on the stage of the company:
Early-stage pricing decisions
At the beginning, pricing decisions often focus on:
Growth-stage pricing decisions
As companies grow, pricing expands into:
Advanced pricing decisions
One of the most practical parts of the discussion is how pricing works in e-commerce, where pricing is not updated once per year, but often daily.
Krzysztof highlights how e-commerce pricing becomes stronger as more data layers are introduced, including:
Website views vs. conversions
Revenue per visit
Inventory and warehouse levels
Shipment timing and stock availability
Competitor pricing and market positioning
Cross-sell and upsell impact
This transforms pricing into an iterative improvement cycle where companies test, measure, and adjust continuously.
Discounting is one of the most common reasons businesses lose margin without realizing it.
In the episode, Krzysztof explains why discount management must become a structured process, supported by clear rules and guardrails. Without guardrails, companies risk creating illogical pricing scenarios that damage customer trust.
Examples include:
Larger packages priced lower than smaller packages
Similar product variations priced inconsistently
Discounts applied without understanding margin impact
Guardrails are not just about protecting profitability. They protect credibility.
Another key topic is ownership. Many organizations do not know where pricing should sit.
Krzysztof explains that pricing ownership often depends on the company structure, but commonly sits within:
Finance
Product or portfolio management
Sales
However, no matter where pricing lives, it only works when the pricing function has two things:
Access to data
A strong voice inside the organization
Without authority, pricing becomes a recommendation that never gets implemented.
Pricing decisions happen at different speeds depending on the level:
Product-level pricing can be daily or even hourly in e-commerce
Category-level decisions often happen weekly
Portfolio-level decisions tend to be monthly
Strategic pricing direction is typically reviewed quarterly or every six months
The bigger the decision, the more cautious and structured it needs to be.
This episode is for:
✔ Pricing Managers and Pricing Analysts
✔ E-commerce Directors and Marketplace Teams
✔ SaaS Founders and Revenue Leaders
✔ Category and Product Managers
✔ Commercial Operations Teams
✔ Finance and Strategy Professionals
If you are trying to improve margins, build scalable pricing governance, or move beyond manual decision-making, this episode provides a strong foundation.
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