A friend with a healthcare startup discussed pricing strategy with me after reviewing Y Combinator’s Kevin Hale in the video “Startup Pricing 101.” My friend learned that setting prices too low can hurt a startup by undermining the brand and perceived value for the early adopters critical to young startups. Revisiting Past Insights on Pricing […]

Inflation has been a hot topic in the pandemic economy. Beyond base effects (the artificially low prices produced by a shutdown economy), in many industries the prices for materials, goods, and even labor have soared. Suddenly, businesses need solid pricing strategies not only to earn attractive profits but also just to stay solvent. Marketplace recently […]

My wife recently relayed to me an odd story told to her by a car rental agent. This agent told my wife about a woman who for months has rented the same Escalade over and over, renewing her rental agreement for a few weeks at a time. Escalades are considered premium/luxury rentals, so the bill […]

The “tragedy of the commons” (Garrett Hardin, 1968) is a concept in economics that describes how a group of self-interested individuals can destroy a shared (and free) resource. Hardin’s classic is example is a group of herders who destroy a pasture as each herder maximizes his/her number of grazing cows to make the most use […]