Introduction

Nowadays we hear about “the consumerization of IT” and removing friction from user funnels everywhere. This episode covers how sometimes that can be the wrong move for the business even if users and the market think a freemium go to market is the best approach.

Bobby Pinero is Co-Founder & CEO of Equals, a next-gen spreadsheet. He was previously the first finance hire at Intercom and employee 20. In this episode, we cover why Freemium didn’t work for Equals and how Free Trial is actually a better fit. Bobby describes tips for building a horizontal product, how he approaches founder driven marketing, lessons from Intercom and how even seemingly small internal communication emails can have a massive impact on the business. This episode debunks a lot of popular blog posts out there now and instead focuses on first principles thinking to arrive at what makes sense for each business and product.

Where to Find Bobby:

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbypinero/

* Twitter: https://twitter.com/bobbypinero

Where to Find Shomik:

* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/

* Newsletter: https://www.shomik.substack.com

* Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.

In this episode, we cover:

(00:44) - What Equals Does

(03:38) - Building a Horizontal Product

(08:15) - Guiding Different Personas Through the Product

(10:55) - Leveraging Templates for User Adoption

(12:26) - Product Market Fit and Bespoke Onboarding

(14:06) - Deciding to Go Freemium

(15:36) - Why Retention Decreased as a Result of Freemium Without Top of Funnel Growth

(18:40) - How Some Friction Can Help Users Discover the Product

(20:06) - Reversing the Freemium Decision

(22:22) - Why Free Trial is Working Well

(24:07) - Equals Vs Intercom Go-To-Market Motions

(26:58) - Overcoming the Data Connectors Friction

(28:23) - Founder Driven Marketing

(30:28) - Showing the Product Through Consistent Product Demos & Launches

(32:49) - Learnings from Intercom

(34:34) - Jobs to Be Done for Intercom & Equals Aligning to Pricing & Packaging

(36:57) - Doing Things That Don’t Scale for Basic Reporting with a Big Impact

(40:05) - Setting a Culture of Showing the Product, Challenges, & Wins

Show Notes:

* Blog Post Describing Equals Decision to Stop Freemium

* Bobby’s Demo of Equals’s Newest Product - Dashboards

How to Subscribe:

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