Pricing Blueprint
Built and taught for MKTG 6120 at Schulich, through the Product Management Club.
The Vision
I needed a better way to teach pricing. So I built one.
I was running the pricing module for MKTG 6120 (Fundamentals of Product Management and Marketing of SaaS/Tech Products) through the Schulich Product Management Club. Slides and case studies weren't landing. So I built a game where each team describes their startup, an AI generates a full market around it, and I walk the room through three rounds of live pricing decisions from the Game Master dashboard. The leaderboard is projected. Everyone can see who's winning and why.
The Challenge
I was teaching pricing strategy to MKTG 6120 (Fundamentals of Product Management and Marketing of SaaS/Tech Products) through the Schulich Product Management Club. Slides weren't cutting it. Students could define price elasticity on an exam but had no feel for what happens when a competitor undercuts you.
The Process
Built a live game and ran it in class. Teams described their startup, an AI generated a full market for each one, and I walked the room through three rounds: setting a launch price, responding to a competitor, and building tiered packaging. I projected the Game Master dashboard and controlled the pacing.
The Impact
The class got competitive fast. Teams joined by QR code, argued over pricing decisions in real time, and debriefed around a projected leaderboard. 20 minutes of gameplay covered more ground than the pricing lecture it replaced.
Running MKTG 6120 at Schulich
Teaching the pricing module, Game Master dashboard projected to the class
The Insight Board ranking teams by revenue, coverage, and margin
How It Works
The whole game runs in 20 minutes.
Set Your Launch Price
20 simulated customers, each with a willingness to pay. Drag the slider, watch the avatar grid turn green as customers convert. Revenue, margin, and coverage update as you move.
A Competitor Arrives
A competitor (AI picks the name) shows up at 80% of your price. Hold your ground, drop to match, or add a feature. You lose customers, keep customers, or squeeze your margin. Pick one.
Build Your Tiers
Design Basic, Pro, and Premium tiers. Pick features from the AI-calibrated set. The game projects revenue across customer segments and locks in your final score.
Design Decisions
The AI does the setup
Each team writes a product description. The AI returns willingness to pay, margin rates, eight features, and a competitor name. The instructor just clicks "Begin Round."
No backend, no accounts
All state lives in localStorage, synced across tabs with polling. Students scan a QR code, type a team name, and they're playing. No sign ups, no database, nothing to maintain between semesters.
Scoring drives the debrief
Final scores weight revenue (40%), customer coverage (30%), and margin (30%). Each team gets a narrative line explaining what their strategy actually did. The class discussion starts from the scoreboard.
Fits in one class
Three rounds, a winner, and a debrief. The whole thing takes about 20 minutes. Students leave having actually made pricing decisions instead of reading about them.