RS313: Unfair Advantages with Jason Cohen

May 22, 2024

Jason Cohen, founder of WP Engine and seasoned entrepreneur, shares invaluable insights on driving startup revenue growth during his chat with Craig. He discusses the importance of strategic pricing and delivering compelling value propositions. Jason emphasizes building a community around your brand as a critical asset and introduces his innovative 'adjacency matrix' method for expansion. They also explore distinguishing between tactical setbacks and long-term success, ensuring that branding evolves authentically post product-market fit.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Markets Have Natural Size Limits

Every product has a market carrying capacity that limits organic growth without expanding offerings.
Companies grow beyond that by adding products, geographies, or extracting more pricing power.

ADVICE

Justify Premium By Specifying Value

Be specific about what you're better at and why customers will pay more for it.
Quantify or clearly communicate value (e.g., faster site → more revenue) to justify premium pricing.

INSIGHT

Value Extends Beyond Product Features

Value can come from the ecosystem around a product, not the product features themselves.
Community, mission, and culture create real customer willingness to pay beyond features.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

This episode is sponsored by ChurnKey: Optimize your company’s retention and supercharge growth with Churnkey.

Are you looking to fuel your startup’s revenue growth? Jason Cohen, founder of WP Engine, joins Craig behind the mic on this episode of Rogue Startups. Join Jason and Craig as they delve into strategies for sustained revenue growth, even when certain metrics plateau. Discover the power of pricing strategies and delivering enhanced value propositions to justify premium prices. Learn how diversifying variables beyond product features can make your business highly desirable to your market.

Moreover, Jason emphasizes the pivotal role of the community in authentic company development. Uncover the importance of leveraging existing assets and explore his innovative “adjacency matrix” method for strategic expansion.

Got any thoughts on our content or ideas for upcoming episodes? Reach out to Craig via email at podcast@roguestartups.com. If you’ve found our podcast valuable, don’t hesitate to share it with others. If you could spare a moment, leave us a review on iTunes. We appreciate your support and look forward to connecting again next week!

Highlights from Craig and Jason’s conversation:

Determining success or failure as a founder and business owner
Strategies for becoming the market leader in your industry
Importance of building a community to enhance customer value
Distinguishing between brand, company culture, values, and mission
Identifying when branding becomes crucial for a startup’s success
Deciding between staying focused on your core business or expanding into new ventures
Embracing a culture of innovation despite the risk of failure
Achieving a balance between personal fulfillment, skill development, and company needs
Practical applications of AI for internal operations and enhancing customer experience

A Little About Jason:

With over 27 years of experience in business and software development, Jason Cohen is the founder of WP Engine where he has served in several roles including CEO, Head of Engineering, Head of Product, and CTO. Jason Cohen is the Chief Innovation Officer at WP Engine, with a focus on the intersection of corporate and technology strategies as well as continue as the company’s executive sponsor for the headless platform, Atlas. Jason is a serial entrepreneur, having built four technology startups to more than $1 million in annual revenue. He is a founding member and mentor at Capital Factory, and was previously a founder of Smart Bear and IT WatchDogs. Jason received the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2017 Central Texas Award for Technology.

Links & Mentions from This Episode:

WP Engine

Jason on Twitter/X

Jason’s Blog

Rogue Startups Resources:

Follow Craig on Twitter/X

Castos

Founder Insights