The Simultaneous Pricing Paradox
Economic Law #8
“You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”
— Traditional economics“Watch me.”
— Liana Banyan
The False Dichotomy
Every business school teaches the same pricing lesson:
Price Skimming:
- Start high, capture early adopter surplus
- Gradually lower price to reach broader market
- Risk: Slow market penetration, competitors undercut
Market Penetration:
- Start low, maximize market share
- Build volume, then potentially raise prices
- Risk: Leave money on the table, attract price-sensitive customers
The Conventional Wisdom: You must choose one. They are mutually exclusive strategies.
The Reality: This is only true when you’re selling a product that exists in the present moment.
The Storage Breakthrough
What if you could sell something that doesn’t exist yet — but will?
What if early backers could pay a premium for future value rather than present goods?
What if that stored value made later entry accessible to everyone?
That’s the Simultaneous Pricing Paradox.
How It Works
The Forever Stamp Model
The USPS Forever Stamp demonstrates the principle:
- Buy at today’s rate ($0.68)
- Use anytime in the future
- Even when postage is $0.85, $1.00, $1.50
- You’re not “making money” — you’re getting the same service later
The Joules Implementation
Liana Banyan extends this to platform services:
| When You Back | Multiplier | $50 Spent → | What You Get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-Mint | 5× | 250 Joules | 250 units of future service |
| Minted | 3× | 150 Joules | 150 units of future service |
| Production | 2× | 100 Joules | 100 units of future service |
| Distribution | 1.5× | 75 Joules | 75 units of future service |
| Established | 1× | 50 Joules | 50 units of future service |
The Paradox Resolved
Price Skimming: Early backers pay full price ($50) and get premium value (5× multiplier). We capture their surplus willingness to pay through enhanced future value, not higher present price.
Market Penetration: Later entrants pay the same $50 but get 1× value. The existence of stored value (Joules already in circulation) creates a liquid market. The platform is accessible because value already exists.
Both happen simultaneously:
- Early backers: Premium value for early risk (skimming)
- Later entrants: Accessible entry into established ecosystem (penetration)
- Same price point, different value propositions
The Equation
Early(Premium) + Stored(Value) = Skim + Penetrate
Where:
- Early(Premium) = Multiplied Joules for early backers (captures surplus)
- Stored(Value) = Accumulated Joules in circulation (enables accessibility)
- Skim = Capturing early adopter willingness to pay
- Penetrate = Making market entry accessible
Why This Isn’t Possible in Traditional Economics
Traditional pricing assumes:
- Present-moment exchange — You buy something that exists now
- Fixed value — The thing you buy has a set worth
- Zero-sum timing — Early buyers pay more OR less than later buyers
The Simultaneous Pricing Paradox breaks all three:
- Future-value exchange — You buy potential services, not present goods
- Variable value — Early backing gets multiplied future value
- Positive-sum timing — Early buyers get MORE value, later buyers get ACCESSIBLE entry
The Ghost Credits Connection
The Ghost Credits system enables this paradox:
Phase 1: Ghost Shopping
- People “buy” with fake money
- Demand is validated without commitment
- No price skimming yet (nothing real exchanged)
Phase 2: Soft Pledge
- Real credits, refundable
- Early backers commit at premium multiplier
- Price skimming begins (capturing early adopter surplus)
Phase 3: Launch
- Pledges convert to orders
- Product/service enters production
- Market penetration begins (accessible to all)
The key insight: By the time you’re penetrating the market, you’ve already skimmed the early adopters — through VALUE, not PRICE.
Real-World Application
Scenario: New Service Launch
Traditional Approach:
- Launch at $100 (skim early adopters)
- Lower to $75 after 6 months
- Lower to $50 after 12 months
- Result: Slow adoption, price-sensitive customers wait
Simultaneous Pricing Approach:
- Pre-Mint backers: $50 → 250 Joules (5× value)
- Launch backers: $50 → 50 Joules (1× value)
- Same price, different value
- Result: Early adopters get premium value, later entrants get accessible entry
The Numbers
| Metric | Traditional Skimming | Traditional Penetration | Simultaneous |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early Revenue | High | Low | Medium |
| Early Adoption | Low | High | High |
| Early Adopter Satisfaction | Medium (paid more) | High (paid less) | High (got more) |
| Market Accessibility | Low initially | High | High |
| Long-term Loyalty | Low (felt gouged) | Medium | High (rewarded for risk) |
The Wry Observation
Every platform says “early adopters get rewarded.”
Most of them mean: “Early adopters pay more and get the same thing.”
We mean: “Early adopters pay the same and get MORE.”
That’s not marketing. That’s math.
Connection to Other Laws
| Law | Connection |
|---|---|
| Forex Absorption | Multipliers work the same globally |
| Ratchet Accumulation | Stored Joules can only increase in value |
| Quality Alignment | Premium value attracts quality early backers |
| One-Way Valve | Value captured at backing time, decoupled from future |
| Structural Gleaning | Early backer surplus funds Gleaner’s Corner |
| Generosity for Potential | Accessible entry enables potential |
| Inception Principle | Novel combination of existing pricing concepts |
| Cold Start | Pre-sold capacity enables risk-free launch |
Conclusion
The Simultaneous Pricing Paradox is Economic Law #8 because it resolves a fundamental tension in pricing theory.
Traditional economics says: Choose skimming OR penetration.
We say: Store value as potential services, and you can do both.
- Early backers pay premium → get multiplied future value (skimming)
- Later entrants pay accessible price → join established ecosystem (penetration)
- Same price point, different value propositions
- Both strategies execute simultaneously
Early(Premium) + Stored(Value) = Skim + Penetrate
That’s not a paradox. That’s just better economics.
Next: Jeep of Theseus Cold Start — Pre-ordered services eliminate all risk but acts of God
Jonathan R. Jones is the founder of Liana Banyan Corporation. The Simultaneous Pricing Paradox emerged from 37 years of asking: “Why do we have to choose?”