How can SaaS companies benefit from the seasoned insights of the Pricing I/O team to navigate complex market dynamics and achieve pricing excellence?

Today I’m speaking with Peter Cohen, Steve Inman, Mario Pereda, Emily Sanz and Amit Saraf - a special lineup of pricing experts from the Pricing I/O team. These experts have vast knowledge across various industries like airlines, freight transportation, and tech. Each of my talented colleagues shares their unique insights into the art of pricing. We engage in a dynamic roundtable discussion, unraveling the intricacies of delivering just the right amount of value without overextending, a vital strategy for maximizing utility in SaaS pricing. Our conversation reveals how to effectively capture value and tackle the complexities of pricing across different sectors, guiding SaaS companies toward optimal pricing models.

The discussion begins with a deep dive into why software packaging deserves more attention than pricing itself, with the team advocating for an 80/20 split in favor of packaging considerations. They explore why providing the right amount of value, rather than maximizing features, is crucial for customer satisfaction and revenue growth in SaaS businesses.

The conversation then shifts to analyzing Salesforce's recent move to conversation-based pricing for their AI agent service, charging $2 per conversation instead of traditional user-based licensing. The team debates the implications of this shift and whether it would work for smaller companies without Salesforce's data advantages and established customer base. The episode concludes with team members sharing their key advice for SaaS leaders in 2025, including the importance of customer feedback, service differentiation, careful discounting practices, and implementing effective pricing committees.

In this episode:
(00:00) Team Introductions - Pricing I/O team members including Peter Cohen, Steve Inman, Mario Pereda, Emily Sanz and Amit Saraf - each bringing different pricing expertise across industries

(05:09) “A-ha” moments, packaging vs pricing, why software packaging deserves more attention than pricing levels, with the recommendation to spend 80% of time on packaging and 20% on price points, why giving customers the right amount of value (no more, no less) is crucial for SaaS success

(17:41) Salesforce's move from user-based licensing to charging $2 per conversation for their AI agent, the pros and cons of this pricing strategy and its implications for the industry

(31:38) Team members share their top pricing recommendations for 2025, including:

- Getting customer and employee feedback regularly

- Focusing on services as a differentiator

- Being careful with discounting

- Implementing a pricing committee

(37:16) Closing remarks, favorite jams

Welcome to Street Pricing, the only show where proven SaaS (Software as a Service) leaders share their mindset and mistakes in pricing so we can all stop guessing and start growing. Street Pricing is hosted by Pricing I/O CEO and Pricing Coach, Marcos Rivera, sought after slayer of bad pricing. With 20 years of pricing expertise, he has helped price over 200 SaaS products and coached over 100 SaaS CEOs and counting! From the streets of the Bronx to CEO, Marcos wants to take the guessing out of pricing.

Resources:

Peter Cohen LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-co...

How can entrepreneurs unlock exponential growth by understanding and leveraging “discovery-led growth” in their pricing strategies?

Today, Street Pricing listeners are treated to Marcos’ discussion with Eric Weiss, CEO of Chaos to Clarity. Eric delves into the intricacies of entrepreneurial growth with an emphasis on understanding customer value. Drawing from his extensive experience, Eric highlights the transformative power of human-centered design through compelling case studies, such as differentiating an email marketing platform in a crowded market. Marcos and Eric also explore how companies can leverage customer feedback to enhance user experience and retention, advocating for a ‘discovery-led growth’ mindset.

Later in the episode, Eric provides valuable insights into the challenges and potential of AI in product development. Incremental integration is key to ensure reliable user experiences. You’ll hear the importance of empathy, strategic design, and continuous learning to achieve product-market fit and unlock market potential. This episode is a must-listen for entrepreneurs seeking to harness innovative strategies for growth and value capture.

In this episode:

(00:00) Guest intro of Eric Weiss, CEO of Chaos to Clarity

(04:10) Rewind story, the importance of customer value as a driver for pricing strategies and growth, free master classes

(15:26) Creating better interfaces, how companies can enhance user experience and retention through customer feedback, simplified onboarding, maintaining a discovery-led approach with continuous customer engagement

(20:43) How you can start your discovery-led growth - talk to your customers! Speak their language, ask the right questions, find the custom solution for them

(29:30) What’s going on today - Delving into the challenges of AI integration, the importance of balancing innovation with consistent user experiences, and avoiding customer churn, AI “Agency” - allowing to take steps for you

(41:37) Know your customer better than they know themselves - empathy in understanding customer needs and crafting elegant solutions, aiming to be the best in the market, value of knowing your customer and being a master in your field

(44:38) Closing remarks, favorite jam from Metallica

Welcome to Street Pricing, the only show where proven SaaS (Software as a Service) leaders share their mindset and mistakes in pricing so we can all stop guessing and start growing. Street Pricing is hosted by Pricing I/O CEO and Pricing Coach, Marcos Rivera, sought after slayer of bad pricing. With 20 years of pricing expertise, he has helped price over 200 SaaS products and coached over 100 SaaS CEOs and counting! From the streets of the Bronx to CEO, Marcos wants to take the guessing out of pricing.

Resources:

Eric Weiss LinkedIn

Chaos to Clarity

Marcos Rivera LinkedIn

Marcos Rivera X

Pricing IO

How did James McKay revolutionize financial services with his "20-minute term sheet" strategy, and why is speed more valuable than cost in today's financial landscape?

James is the CEO of VEN, and he joins me on today’s Street Pricing podcast to navigate the complex world of Revenue Operations (RevOps) and pricing strategies. Together, we chart the course from James' time at Clearco, where he revolutionized financial services with innovative pricing strategies, to his current focus on optimizing RevOps. Learn how the "20-minute term sheet" became a game-changer in providing rapid access to capital and why speed and flexibility are often valued more than the cost itself in financial services. James reveals the challenges of targeting more sophisticated clients and the vital role of clearly articulating a value proposition to overcome cost objections. Delve into tales of adapting pricing and packaging in response to market dynamics. RevOps emerges as the backbone of operational efficiency throughout these transformations.

In this episode:
(00:00) Guest intro of James McKay
(03:34) Rewind story, navigating pricing strategies for growth, "20-minute term sheet" campaign, challenges targeting larger companies, importance of speed and flexibility in financial services
(10:31) Defining revenue operations (‘RevOps’), optimizing for growth, defining a new business category, challenges in raising capital, and the role of RevOps in managing the customer journey
(14:31) RevOps best practices and timing, managing customer interactions, data governance, and infrastructure for companies transitioning to a repeatable sales process
(17:49) Founder-led sales transition complexity and timing, common issues and challenges, CRM data and customer journey mapping, CRM systems must accurately reflect the customer journey, measure funnel metrics, and balance automation with user adoption
(27:46) Managing sensitive data, a RevOps terminology debate
(33:26) Impact of AI on RevOps Professionals, RevOps is crucial for sales strategy, using a pragmatic approach and small improvements for growth
(40:24) Future growth and favorite jams

Welcome to Street Pricing, the only show where proven SaaS (Software as a Service) leaders share their mindset and mistakes in pricing so we can all stop guessing and start growing. Street Pricing is hosted by Pricing I/O CEO and Pricing Coach, Marcos Rivera, sought after slayer of bad pricing. With 20 years of pricing expertise, he has helped price over 200 SaaS products and coached over 100 SaaS CEOs and counting! From the streets of the Bronx to CEO, Marcos wants to take the guessing out of pricing.

Resources:
James McKay LinkedIn
VEN
Marcos Rivera LinkedIn
Marcos Rivera X
Pricing IO
Book: Street Pricing
Email Street Pricing for a consultation

How can defining an ideal customer profile (ICP) transform your SaaS pricing strategy and ensure your product's value is validated by early paying customers?

Niclas Lilja, the visionary Founder and CEO of Younium, shares insights on the evolving dynamics of SaaS pricing strategies. An industry trailblazer, Niclas illuminates his transformative journey from Medius to Younium, and shifting from traditional subscription models to innovative usage-based pricing. We get into the complexities of pricing decisions, looking at the balance between clarity and complexity. Niclas shares his art of iteration, negotiation, and maintaining alignment with customer success.

You’ll hear about defining an ideal customer profile (ICP) and securing early paying customers to validate a product's value and the evolution of defining an ICP over time. We delve into the psychological dynamics entwined with usage-based pricing and its diverse impact on companies of varying sizes.

In this episode:

(00:00) Niclas Lilja, CEO of Younium, shares his journey from Medius to founding Younium, the transition from traditional subscription models to innovative usage-based pricing, and clarity over complexity in pricing decisions

(11:36) Developing an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and an effective pricing strategy, securing early paying customers to validate a product's value, refining pricing models is an evolving process that can take years.

(16:59) Niclas’ advice on finding your narrative, crafting fair and simple pricing models, avoiding unexpected fees that can lead to customer dissatisfaction, balancing usage-based pricing with fair value attribution

(23:55) Looking into the future, impact of AI in refining pricing models, uncertainty and perceived security perceived by both sellers and buyers, especially for companies of different sizes, a balanced approach that combines variable and fixed elements to provide a strategic edge while ensuring fairness and transparency in pricing

(32:15) Moving beyond guesswork and focusing on value capture and growth, advice for listeners to apply these insights in their pricing strategies, “be precise to get to the price”!

(34:38) Favorite jam growing up in Stockholm

Welcome to Street Pricing, the only show where proven SaaS (Software as a Service) leaders share their mindset and mistakes in pricing so we can all stop guessing and start growing. Street Pricing is hosted by Pricing I/O CEO and Pricing Coach, Marcos Rivera, sought after slayer of bad pricing. With 20 years of pricing expertise, he has helped price over 200 SaaS products and coached over 100 SaaS CEOs and counting! From the streets of the Bronx to CEO, Marcos wants to take the guessing out of pricing.

Resources:
Niclas Lilja LinkedIn
Younium
Marcos Rivera LinkedIn
Marcos Rivera X
Pricing IO
Book: Street Pricing

What if your SaaS bundling strategy could do more than just boost immediate sales?

Join me, Marcos Rivera, as I unravel the strategic art of product bundling today on Street Pricing. This episode isn't just about quick wins—it's about leveraging bundling to drive customer adoption and set the stage for future growth. Keeping bundles lean and focused is crucial. Overly complex bundles can lead to sales complications and downsells. Learn the power of strategic bundling, and you’ll learn how to craft combinations that meet a broader spectrum of customer needs.

Major companies like McDonald's and HubSpot effectively use ‘soft bundles’ to offer attractive deals that target specific buyers without compromising value. With the less favored, but sometimes advantageous, hard bundles, it's critical to avoid pairing high-performing products with those that underperform. Tune in to transform your approach to product bundling and drive scalable success in the SaaS industry.

In this episode:

(00:00) Bundling, common misconceptions about bundling, strategic bundling, solving more problems for the customer and paving the way for future sales.

(06:00) While bundles can drive growth, a bundle that’s too large or complex can actually backfire, creating friction during both the sales process and customer renewal periods.

(08:29) How to combine products effectively to create bundles that add value for customers. Solving a sequence of problems, reducing context-switching for users, and creating economies of scale during implementation are key, all while being mindful not to overcomplicate things.

(09:00) The most common types of bundles: ad hoc, framework, soft, and hard bundles. Marcos explains why ad hoc bundling is a mistake and outlines the benefits of using soft bundles, where products are sold together to solve complementary problems. He also shares a strategy for bundle pricing and emphasizes the importance of aligning product use cases and simplifying implementation.

(12:00) Understanding customer use cases and ensuring that bundled products naturally complement each other to enhance value and support sustainable customer retention. Practical tips on avoiding common bundling mistakes and ensuring smooth implementation and onboarding processes.

Welcome to Street Pricing, the only show where proven SaaS (Software as a Service) leaders share their mindset and mistakes in pricing so we can all stop guessing and start growing. Street Pricing is hosted by Pricing I/O CEO and Pricing Coach, Marcos Rivera, sought after slayer of bad pricing. With 20 years of pricing expertise, he has helped price over 200 SaaS products and coached over 100 SaaS CEOs and counting! From the streets of the Bronx to CEO, Marcos wants to take the guessing out of pricing.

Resources:

Marcos Rivera LinkedIn
Marcos Rivera X
Pricing IO
Book: Street Pricing
Email Street Pricing for a consultation

Are you facing engineering bottlenecks with your pricing systems? Discover how early decisions can impact your SaaS scalability and what you can do about it.

Join me for a game-changing conversation with Fynn Glover, the visionary co-founder and CEO of Schematic. Fynn opens up about his entrepreneurial journey from lifestyle media to B2B SaaS, where he confronted the daunting challenges of scaling a company due to pricing pitfalls. His candid story reveals the pivotal lessons learned from instinct-driven pricing errors and how these hurdles led to the creation of Schematic, a solution dedicated to demystifying complex SaaS pricing structures.

We uncover the critical importance of understanding customer willingness to pay, especially when your business is in its infancy. Through Fynn's experiences and my own, we emphasize the power of engaging potential customers early on—at least 50 conversations deep—to truly gauge market interest. This strategic approach helps mitigate risks and unlocks a product's perceived value. Discover the essential questions that can reveal customer urgency and the external factors influencing purchasing decisions, equipping SaaS founders with actionable insights to build a robust pricing strategy from the outset.

Pricing systems in high-growth companies often face integration challenges, demanding foresight and strategic engineering decisions. We share firsthand experiences where seemingly simple pricing tweaks became major engineering undertakings, highlighting the need for adaptable systems that support swift, impactful business choices. Looking ahead, we explore the evolving landscape of SaaS pricing and packaging, the empowerment of B2B buyers, and the transformative influence of AI on software solutions.

In this episode:
(00:00) Intro and background of Fynn Glover, journey from founding a lifestyle media company to transitioning into B2B SaaS, emphasizing the critical missteps in instinct-driven pricing models that hindered growth and led to the creation of Schematic.

(0:08:19) The importance of understanding customer willingness to pay in the early stages of a business. Fynn advocates for extensive conversations with potential customers to validate market interest and reduce risk, thereby informing effective early-stage strategy development.

(0:15:00) Most common challenges high-growth companies face in managing pricing changes across various system stacks. Fynn illustrates how early engineering decisions can impede scalability and emphasizes the necessity of foresight to avoid costly setbacks, highlighting the often-neglected prioritization of monetization in product development.

(0:25:13) The evolving landscape of SaaS pricing and packaging standards, reflecting on the separation of concerns between business and engineering decisions. As B2B SaaS buyers demand greater flexibility, the role of AI in integrating cost implications into usage-based billing presents an open question for future software and business strategies.

(0:27:30) Reflections on the transformative role of AI in software, underscoring its dual nature as both a tool and a creator.

(0:33:44) Favorite jams - Mark Knopfler

Welcome to Street Pricing, the only show where proven SaaS (Software as a Service) leaders share their mindset and mistakes in pricing so we can all stop guessing and start growing. Street Pricing is hosted by Pricing I/O CEO and Pricing Coach, Marcos Rivera, sought after slayer of bad pricing. With 20 years of pricing expertise, he has helped price over 200 SaaS products and coached over 100 SaaS CEOs a...

Why are 77% of companies hesitant to change their pricing despite inflationary pressures, and what can be done to overcome this fear?

Today I welcome special guest John Kotowski, co-founder of PricingSaaS for an enlightening conversation that unravels the intricate dance of strategic pricing, showcasing how it can be the linchpin driving your company's success. We dissect the challenges and rewards of implementing sophisticated pricing models without relying on a sales team, and examine how meticulous analysis uncovers churn and expansion opportunities. Even subtle pricing adjustments can yield significant revenue gains. Through stories of overcoming complexity and aligning product features with pricing paths, we lay out a pragmatic roadmap to achieving those sought-after revenue targets.

Turning to the future, we turn to the powerful yet complex realm of AI monetization. From companies like Notion and Algolia experimenting with add-ons to outcome-based pricing models, we explore the evolving landscape where AI features are not just enhancements but value propositions in themselves. With a keen focus on experimentation and infrastructure, we highlight the challenges and triumphs of monetizing AI, ensuring you walk away armed with insights to navigate the rapidly shifting sands of SaaS pricing.

In this episode:
(00:00) Intro and background of Pricing SaaS co-founder John Kotowski
(04:05) Managing Complexity in Pricing Strategy - Managing product-led growth strategy, utilizing data analysis, and aligning features with upgrade paths.
(10:26) Master pricing and monetization as a product leader, secure small wins, and progressively make bolder moves for business growth
(15:50) Invest in tooling and infrastructure for successful monetization, exploring pricing strategies and trends, addressing challenges to capture value
(27:14) Excessive discounts can lead to customer challenges. The importance of product stickiness
(31:29) Monetizing AI Features in Pricing – About half of tech companies are experimenting with different pricing models for AI features, including add-ons and outcome-based pricing, while also creating new AI-driven products
(46:09) Favorite jams - Nirvana as a 90s teen

Welcome to Street Pricing, the only show where proven SaaS (Software as a Service) leaders share their mindset and mistakes in pricing so we can all stop guessing and start growing. Street Pricing is hosted by Pricing I/O CEO and Pricing Coach, Marcos Rivera, sought after slayer of bad pricing. With 20 years of pricing expertise, he has helped price over 200 SaaS products and coached over 100 SaaS CEOs and counting! From the streets of the Bronx to CEO, Marcos wants to take the guessing out of pricing.

Resources:
John Kotowski LinkedIn
PricingSaaS
Pricing SaaS Benchmark Report
Marcos Rivera LinkedIn
Book: Street Pricing
Email Street Pricing for a consultation