Hey folks,

We’re on day 7/7 of being outside around a bonfire, and fall has officially fallen in Kentucky. Things are good. A couple things on my mind…

1. Pricing Surveys: This is super nerdy, but I've been doing Van Westendorp Pricing Studies lately to help people figure out pricing and packaging. Pricing surveys are tricky: If you ask “How much would you pay for X?” people bargain with you. If you ask “Would you pay $Y for X?” the data usually isn’t predictive of actual behavior. Enter Van Westendorp. You ask four simple questions:

• Too Cheap: At what price would it feel so inexpensive you’d question the quality?
• Good Value: At what price would it feel like a solid deal?
• Getting Expensive: At what price would it feel pricey, but still worth it?
• Too Expensive: At what price would it feel like too much to consider?

Plot those answers, and voila! you get a clean visual showing your healthy price range. You can even filter responses by different customer problems to identify how to package things. It feels like magic.

2. Atheist x Spiritualist x Christian Debate: Highly recommend this episode of Diary of a CEO where Steven hosts a debate between an atheist, a spiritual person, and a Christian about finding meaning in life. Starting around the 36-minute mark, it captures something I’ve been sensing — a cultural shift where many of the “new atheists” I know are becoming open to faith again for the first time in decades. This short clip highlights it perfectly if you only have 30 seconds. What do you think - are you noticing this too?

3. Dad As Backstop: This one’s a live experiment in the Allsmith household. As you know, we’ve got seven kids, our youngest is six months. When Chandler’s home alone with them, things can get… lively. If she’s nursing the baby and sees an older kid break a rule, she can’t exactly chase them down — so she either ignores it (and stews) or yells across the house (and chaos ensues). So this week we’re testing a new system: Chandler won’t correct the older kids (8+) in the moment. Instead, she’s writing things down, and at the end of the day, she gives me the list. I handle the conversations and consequences. So far: Chandler feels relieved, and the kids seem to be taking it seriously. Will report back after a week.Have you tried anything similar?

That's it for this week. Hope you can get outside!

Best,

Blake

P.S. I’m testing something new this fall - I'm taking on five founders one-on-one for a customer insight sprint to nail Product-Market Fit, pricing, and packaging all in one go. If you want clarity on who loves your product, why, and what to build or charge next, hit reply and let’s talk.