How to Price New Technology for Early Market Adoption

Why thinking long term about adoption, risk, and ecosystem growth often creates faster traction in the short term.

In new and emerging technology markets, one of the hardest questions founders face is how to price new technology. Pricing should optimise for learning and adoption rather than margin. When a new product is still finding its place, pricing decisions shape how willing customers are to experiment with it.

Innovations will not succeed unless people are aware they exist and understand how to use them. A lower upfront price gives customers room to invest in awareness, education, and experimentation. As awareness spreads, adoption follows, and adoption ultimately creates the market the technology depends on.

Many new and emerging technologies fail not because the solution does not work, but because the commercial model slows down the very adoption needed to prove its value.

Pricing, in this context, is not just a revenue decision. It is a market traction strategy.

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Early markets fail because customers carry too much risk

Emerging markets depend on a small number of early adopters willing to explore new possibilities. The most valuable of these are not simply price-sensitive customers, but strategic adopters looking for a competitive edge and the opportunity to shape how a new capability evolves.

When a technology first reaches the market, early customers take on more uncertainty than they would with established products. They must justify the investment internally, experiment with integration, and often educate their own users about why the technology matters.

This uncertainty shows up in several ways.

In practice this often means:

• Limited internal budget remaining for marketing or promotion, reducing the likelihood that users will discover or adopt the experience

• Unclear return on investment and little shared understanding of what success should look like

• Additional technical integration work, often with uncertain timelines or outcomes

Even when a technology is impressive, these risks slow down adoption. Buyers become cautious, pilots remain small, and experiments rarely evolve into long-term deployment.

Emerging markets depend on a small number of early adopters willing to explore new possibilities. Those early adopters test use cases, validate value, and demonstrate what the technology can achieve in the real world.

When they feel exposed to too much financial or operational risk, adoption slows before the market has a chance to develop.

Reducing that perceived risk is therefore one of the most effective ways to encourage early traction.

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Why short term revenue thinking can slow adoption

Technology alone is rarely enough to create adoption. The “whole product”, as described by Regis McKenna, includes everything required for customers to succeed with the innovation.

Startups often face pressure to generate revenue quickly. Investors expect commercial progress, and leadership teams want proof that the market exists.

In response, companies frequently apply traditional enterprise pricing models to technologies that are still emerging. Large licensing fees or expensive custom engagements may generate impressive short term revenue, but they can also slow the broader adoption the technology depends on.

Part of the problem lies in thinking about the product too narrowly. For emerging technologies, that surrounding context matters just as much as the technology itself. Customers need time to explore how the product fits into their workflows, how users respond to it, and where the real value appears. They need support and services - this is new to them.

When pricing makes experimentation expensive, those discoveries happen much more slowly.

The result is a paradox. A company may close a handful of high-value deals, yet the market remains small and uncertain. Without wider experimentation and adoption, traction never compounds.

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Pricing as a market traction strategy

The Valley of Death is the gap between early experimentation and sustainable revenue. Pricing strategies that reduce risk for early adopters can help technologies cross this gap.

When pricing consumes too much of a customer's budget, there is little left to promote the technology to users. Without visibility, even useful features remain undiscovered. In early markets, pricing is not just a commercial decision. It is part of the adoption strategy.

New and emerging technologies often face what founders describe as the “Valley of Death.” Early engagement generates learning and interest, but not yet enough revenue to sustain the business. During this phase, companies must balance two competing pressures: reducing barriers for early adopters while generating enough income to survive.

A different approach treats pricing as a mechanism for accelerating adoption rather than maximising revenue from each individual deal.

In emerging technology markets, the goal is not only to sell a product but to create the conditions for the market itself to grow.

That means designing commercial models that encourage customers to explore the capability rather than hesitate.

In practice this can include:

• Lower upfront costs to reduce the risk of experimentation

• Usage-based pricing that scales with adoption

• Revenue sharing models that align incentives

• Pilot programmes designed to test real use cases

• Milestone-based pricing that allows commercial terms to evolve alongside adoption

Each of these approaches changes the commercial relationship. Instead of asking customers to commit fully before results are proven, the model allows both sides to learn together.

As adoption grows and use cases become clearer, pricing power naturally increases. The real challenge is reaching that point.

This approach is not about discounting the technology. The goal is to align pricing with adoption so that both sides benefit as usage grows.

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Two commercial models in practice

Scenario 1, The One Off Experience

Situation: A brand commissions an immersive campaign or interactive installation.

Cost Breakdown:

1. An upfront fee for bespoke work

2. A licence fee to access the underlying software.

Impact:

• The campaign receives little or no supporting marketing budget

• It fails to generate significant attention or user engagement

• The technology is perceived as a novelty rather than a repeatable capability

Result: Revenue appears strong in the short term, but adoption never compounds.

How this could be mitigated:

Treat the custom work and the technology differently.

• The vendor could charge for the bespoke development required to deliver the experience while reducing or removing the licence fee.

• Pricing could be tied to engagement with the experience itself. Each interaction, session, or campaign use becomes the source of revenue.

This shifts the incentives for both sides. The brand now has more budget available to promote the experience and encourage participation, while the vendor benefits from the credibility of the brand and the opportunity to develop a strong case study.

As awareness grows, adoption follows, and the technology begins to build a presence in the market.

Scenario 2, Integrating the Technology

Situation: A brand integrates the software into their own platform or application

Cost Breakdown:

1. A licence fee to access the underlying software.

2. No integration services offered, just documentation & sample apps

Impact:

• The cost of integration means other changes across the app, such as interface updates and onboarding, do not happen

• It fails to generate significant attention or user engagement

• The technology is perceived as a novelty rather than a repeatable capability

• Maintenance costs eventually lead the brand to remove the technology from its platform

Result: Revenue appears strong in the short term, but adoption never compounds.

How this could be mitigated: Remove the license fee until traction is proven.

• The vendor could be tied to engagement. Each interaction, session, or campaign use becomes the source of revenue.

This shifts the incentives for both sides. The brand benefits from growing usage because the technology becomes part of its own product.

This makes it far more likely that the brand will:

• invest in marketing

• integrate more deeply

• experiment with new use cases

• encourage user adoption

The ecosystem grows and the technology becomes embedded.

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Conclusion: How to Price New Technology by Thinking Long Term

In new and emerging technology markets, the question of how to price new technology is closely tied to how quickly adoption can grow. Pricing strategies that prioritise short-term revenue can unintentionally slow the experimentation and integration needed for adoption.

Reducing the upfront barrier helps solve this problem. A lower upfront cost reduces customer risk and gives them room to invest in awareness and promotion. This creates momentum and can ultimately lead to far greater commercial opportunity than any single early deal.

This approach changes the economics for the startup as well. Optimising for adoption over upfront margin means startups pursuing this approach must operate lean enough to survive the learning phase while the market is still forming.

By lowering the financial barrier for partners, companies gain something equally valuable in return: the data, case studies, and product insight required to prove the technology’s value.

When pricing encourages customers to invest in adoption, you are not simply closing a sale. You are helping to build the market your technology ultimately depends on.

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A big part of my work is driven by a genuine curiosity about what’s being built and why, and a desire to help turn technical innovation into something people actually adopt.

In practice, that means digging into the technical detail, speaking with the companies and people who might actually need it, and bringing those insights back to shape both the product and the story around it.

If you're building new technology and trying to turn it into real adoption:

1. Email me at 👉📨 info@crwburgess.com

2. 👉 🔗 Take my short survey and I’ll share my perspective on your challenges