Breaking pricing inertia: building an experimentation culture with Tomas Lorinc, Temporal

In this episode of Unpack Pricing, Scott Woody, co-founder and CEO of Metronome, talks with Tomas "Tlo" Lorinc, Head of Monetization at Temporal Technologies, the leading open-source Durable Execution platform.

They discuss how to overcome the inherent fear companies have around changing prices and why building your "pricing muscle" through regular iteration is essential for growth. Tlo (formerly of Auth0, Okta, and Digital Ocean) shares his methodology for field testing new pricing models, the strategic balance between art and science in pricing decisions, and why creating a high-trust environment is crucial for pricing experimentation. The conversation explores how to establish effective pricing councils that drive decisions rather than just updates, strategies for segmenting developer-focused products for enterprise markets, and preventing pricing erosion when moving upmarket. Tlo also offers insights on building worldviews through continuous research, managing cross-functional alignment on pricing changes, and why consistency often matters more than simplicity when scaling a complex product portfolio.

FULL TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE HERE:

⁠http://metronome.com/podcast/unpack-pricing/breaking-pricing-inertia-building-an-experimentation-culture-with-tomas-tlo-lorinc⁠

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Follow:

Scott: ⁠https://x.com/l3amm https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-woody-21677121/⁠

Tlo: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomas-lorinc-54957518/ ⁠

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Check out:

Temporal: ⁠https://temporal.io/ ⁠

Metronome: ⁠https://metronome.com/⁠

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Preview and Intro

(01:15) Tlo's Background in Monetization

(01:15) Tlo explains his role at Temporal and previous experience at Auth0 and Digital Ocean

(02:00) Why companies fear pricing changes and the importance of exercising this muscle

(04:48) Exploring ways to gradually build pricing iteration capabilities

(10:00) How to effectively use sales teams to test new pricing approaches

(13:17) Which sales rep profiles work best for pricing experiments and why

(15:22) Traits needed in a good pricing professional based on company goals

(20:54) Balancing developer-friendly pricing with enterprise sales models

(25:22) How to have strategic pricing conversations with executive teams

(29:41) Creating effective pricing councils that can actually make decisions

(33:41) Determining who should be responsible for the quality of pricing change execution

(36:28) How packaging can be used to validate and address market segments

(42:07) Why segmentation is inevitable for B2B SaaS products

(46:57) The balance between data-driven decisions and intuition in pricing

(52:24) Pricing research across multiple sources and methods

(58:41) Advice for pricing leaders in their first months at a new company

(1:01:30) Wrap