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.
—
SPONSORS:
Maxio is the only billing and financial operations platform that was purpose built for B2B SaaS. They're helping SaaS finance teams automate billing and revenue recognition, manage collections and payments, and put together investor grade reporting packages. 🚀 Request a demo at www.maxio.com/runthenumbers for 10% off your first year.
NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than 37,000 thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and get a customized KPI checklist.
Mercury is the fintech ambitious companies use for banking and all their financial workflows. With a powerful bank account at the center of their operations, companies can make better financial decisions and ensure that every dollar spent aligns with company priorities. That's why over 100K startups choose Mercury to confidently run all their financial operations with the precision, control, and focus they need to operate at their best. Learn more at mercury.com.
Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust®; Members FDIC.
—
FOLLOW US ON X:
@cjgustafson222 (CJ)
@turpentinemedia
—
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
Get full access to Mostly metrics at
www.mostlymetrics.com/subscribe
Run the Numbers