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“Willingness to Pay combines a hands-on repricing approach with high-level guidance for businesses looking to expand their vertical presence. With their guidance, we designed our business model to drive profits and capture larger market opportunities.” ­– Morten Krarup Kristensen, Co-Founder and CEO of Proper

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1. 300% increase in ARR
2. 80% price increase
3. 146% unit fee price increase for SMBs

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About

Proper is a leading Danish property management company that automates processes like rent collection, payment reconciliation, and tenant communication. Their software simplifies the management process for 1,000+ landlords while creating a best-in-class experience for tenants. Morten Krarup Kristensen and Jacob Funch founded Proper with a total funding of €7.3M by leading Danish VCs like by Founders and Preseed Ventures and angel investors like Kim Baroudy and Christian Shin.

Situation: Fueling growth and profitability required an optimized pricing framework

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“We knew the product had more value than what we were charging. We wanted a team with the experience to reshape our pricing architecture so we could solidify our market presence and expand our customer base.”

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Proper built a substantial customer base across Denmark and The Netherlands and raised seed funding from venture funds like Preseed Ventures, Seed Capital, and private investors. Their next goal was to secure additional capital and roll out their product in Germany.

Their pricing structure, however, did not align with their growth plans. The price point did not reflect their platform’s value because it had not been updated since the product was in its early stages. While this had helped Proper attract customers initially, not increasing pricing meant the company left significant money on the table. 

Their pricing model of €7 per unit per month further complicated growth since it didn’t offer a scalable structure that worked across small, mid-sized, and enterprise customers. The low price undermined the company’s ability to position the product as a premium offering in the market. This also squeezed profit margins, limiting monetization and making it harder to secure future investment rounds.

At the same time, any packaging and pricing initiatives had to increase revenue with minimal churn to gain the approval of investors and board members before implementation.

Proper needed a new pricing model that would increase ARR on the existing customer base while also allowing to go upmarket to enterprise and to new markets like Germany.

If successful this would position the company favorably for the next capital raise.

What we did: Step-by-step packaging and pricing redesign 

Working closely with the Proper team, we reviewed the competitive landscape and how the product captured value for all customer segments, types, and sizes. We then created two packages, one for SMBs offering ‘Easy portfolio management’ and one for large companies to achieve ‘Enterprise automation’.

The new pricing structure added a base platform fee that scaled from €0 to €5K/mth with customer size and combined this with a unit fee that started at €15 and dropped as low as €4 per unit per month for the largest potential accounts.

This way the unit fee scaled proportionally with customer size, while the fixed flat fee created a substantial revenue floor to ensure baseline monetization. This strategy enabled Proper to capture enterprise-level clients without losing SMBs. The framework also provided more flexibility during negotiations, allowing Proper to close deals with customers outside their typical target range.

To manage risk, we conducted targeted pricing tests with new customers to determine pricing for each segment. We first tested a 40% increase and, when conversion rates remained strong, progressively moved to 60% and finally an average 80% increase.

The step-by-step implementation secured buy-in from Proper's management and board and accelerated the project timeline. The pricing effort was then rolled out gradually—starting with new customers and moving to the existing customer base to minimize churn risk.

Throughout the transition, we delivered implementation support, including a structured framework for sales to address customer inquiries about price changes. This mitigated risk and prepared Proper for future price adjustments to boost ARR growth through price adjustments.

Outcome: 300% increase in ARR

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“Willingness to Pay helped us feel more confident in our business in taking the position of a more premium offering with a higher price point.”

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Here’s a look at the impact of our partnership on Proper’s new pricing:

1. 300% increase in ARR
2. 80% price increase
3. 146% unit fee price increase for SMBs

The new packaging and pricing framework appropriately mirrors Proper's value delivery across all customer segments. This allowed Proper to increase pricing and expand profit margins significantly.

Since implementation, Proper has scaled ARR from €500K to €2M, with price increases across flat fee pricing and unit fees. They’ve retained 95% of their existing customer base and increased profit margins.

The structure has positioned Proper as a premium player, attracting enterprise customers and raising funding from investors like 14Peaks Capital, a Swiss venture fund, and ALFA Ventures, a leading real estate investment firm, securing the capital for new market expansion.

In addition, Proper’s team is now equipped with the necessary framework for future price increases, including price testing, implementation, and securing executive sign-off.

At the time of writing, Willingness to Pay continues to support Proper across various commercial initiatives. We have helped them launch their revenue management software as a standalone product in 2023 and explore potential acquisition opportunities for their core services. We will serve as their advisors as they scale their new offering globally across different customer segments.

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