What a Pricing Poll Taught Me About Listening to Feedback

I asked people what price I should charge. The results shocked me.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been building my new platform, EngLeadExpert.io, in public. And as part of that, I’ve been sharing milestones, behind-the-scenes decisions, and asking the community for input. One of the more interesting moments came when I posted a poll on LinkedIn asking:

"What do you think is a fair annual price for this platform?"

The offering is simple but ambitious:

• Two flagship self-paced courses at launch

• Interviews with engineering leaders from companies like Google, Meta, and Netflix

• A growing library of templates, worksheets, and resources

• Community access

• Office hours

And it's just getting started, I plan to keep building on it throughout the year.

The results were fascinating. The majority of responses suggested a price below £200. 60% of people suggested under £100. A small percentage selected higher tiers, including a few for £500+.

At first glance, that could feel discouraging. If I’d gone purely by the numbers, I might have felt pressure to launch at a low price point just to make it feel "accessible." But the more I looked at the poll, the more interesting things became.

I noticed that some of the people voting for under £200 were course creators themselves. Creators I know are charging £500–£1000 for short cohort-based courses. These are often 2–3 live sessions, a Slack channel, and a few resources. Good content, no doubt… but limited in scope and time-bound. Once the cohort ends, so does the experience.

Meanwhile, EngLeadExpert.io is designed to be a living, evolving platform. It starts with two full-length, high-production courses but will grow over time. By the end of the first year, it might include five courses, 50+ interviews, and dozens of templates and guides. It also includes regular office hours and a community of peers working on real leadership challenges in engineering.

So I had to ask myself: why are people offering much less, suggesting I charge much less?

That question led to a few important realisations about building in public, listening to feedback, and trusting your positioning.

Polls Reveal Opinion, Not Always Insight

When someone answers a pricing poll, they’re often thinking: "What would I like this to cost if I were buying it today?" They’re not necessarily considering the value, the transformation, or how it compares to other offerings they’ve paid for in the past.

That’s not dishonesty — it’s just human nature. But it means that polls tend to bias toward lower prices, especially if you offer a low-priced option first. It also depends on who sees the poll: a first-year engineer in a small company may answer very differently than an experienced manager with a training budget.

Not All Feedback Should Carry Equal Weight

One of the most valuable things that happened after the poll was the number of experienced course creators who reached out to me privately. People whose names you will probably know. These weren’t people who just voted in the poll or commented for visibility. They’d built platforms, shipped high-ticket products, and understood the realities of pricing.

Their advice?

“Go high, much higher than those polls are saying.”
“Be careful with pricing polls, they often reflect wishful thinking, not willingness to pay.”
“Serious learners value serious products.”
"Premium products deserve premium pricing."

It was a good reminder: if you’re building something you truly believe in, you can’t crowdsource your pricing strategy.

Premium Products Require Premium Positioning

Pricing low doesn't just reduce your revenue. It can also lower how people perceive the quality and seriousness of what you’re building.

If someone sees "£99/year," they think: "Oh, cool, another course library."

But if they see "£750/year," they stop and ask: "Wait… what exactly is included? What kind of results is this going to get me?"

And that’s exactly the conversation I want them to have.

I’m not selling a handful of videos. I’m building a platform that helps engineering leaders grow into the kind of managers and strategic thinkers teams actually want to work for. That doesn’t come from a checklist. It comes from depth, from lived experience, and from ongoing support.

Building in Public Means Filtering as Much as Listening

One of the reasons I chose to build in public was because I believe in transparency. I like being open about what I’m building, what decisions I’m making, and why. It keeps me accountable, and it helps others learn from the process.

But that doesn’t mean every piece of feedback should drive the strategy.

Sometimes the best thing you can do is say:

"Thanks for the input. I’m still going to do it this way."

Not because you’re stubborn, but because you know what you’re building, who it’s for, and why it matters.

So Where Did I Land?

The platform will be £750/year.

For founding members, the early believers, it will launch at £450/year for a month.

After that, it will never be on sale again.

And I feel good about that.

Because if I’m going to ask people to take their leadership seriously, I should do the same with how I position the platform that helps them grow.

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More soon,
Ryan Murphy

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