Evolution of Software Distribution from Microsoft's Perspective

In this episode, CJ is joined by Jason Kap, the founder and CEO of Blue Rocket, a world-renowned pricing consultancy for top enterprise tech companies like Salesforce, Cisco, PagerDuty, Brex, and GitLab. Jason discusses the invaluable experience he gained working at Microsoft under Bill Gates in the early 2000s, including his role in the canonical antitrust case. Then he takes a deep dive into all things pricing, covering where in the organization pricing should sit, how often companies should update their pricing models, his philosophy on discounting, how CFOs can better work with sales teams to determine pricing ranges, the role of framing and psychology in how a deal is presented in price to the end consumer, and how this all relates to corporate strategy.

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TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Preview and Intro

(02:21) Sponsor - Maxio | NetSuite

(05:27) Microsoft Culture in the Early 2000s

(08:06) Pricing and Packaging the Microsoft Office Suite

(10:30) The Antitrust Law and Consent Decree

(12:34) The Project That Jason Shot Down

(14:58) Online Services and the Origin of SaaS

(17:54) Managing Big Projects: the “No Delegation Rule”

(19:18) Sponsor - Mercury

(20:39) Decisions in Pricing: Company Strategy, Segmentation, Financial Strength

(22:43) Ideal Location for Pricing Within an Organization

(25:02) Repackaging Products and Considering Competition

(26:53) An Introduction to Value-based Pricing

(32:15) Challenges in Competitor Comparison and Pricing

(35:58) An Explanation of Non-price Terms

(41:55) Jason’s Philosophy of Discounting

(48:52) Evolving Your Discounting Strategy Over Time

(50:53) Frameworks for Discounting: The Pricing Maturity Model

(51:49) Discounting for Different Macro Environments

(55:04) Anecdotes from Jason’s Career

(1:00:51) Wrap