We're joined by Patrick Campbell, founder & CEO of the world's leading SaaS profit-optimization service ProfitWell, to dive deep on all things pricing and monetization. Patrick began bootstrapping ProfitWell 8 years ago, and has since grown the business into a massive success with customers like Notion, Lyft, Masterclass, Atlassian, Help Scout, HubSpot, Cisco, Autodesk and many more. Patrick gives us a masterclass in how to think with a profit-maximization lens about pricing, feature development, growth and retention. And, as a special bonus at the end of the episode, he talks about his own entrepreneurial journey, bootstrapping the company without any venture funding, along with challenges overcome along the way. This episode has something for everyone to learn about company building — and is not one to miss!
Links:
- Patrick's 2x2 matrix of product features: https://i.imgur.com/J3AAilr.png
- Max Diff analysis: https://learn.profitwell.com/article/tFfVQbtRnT-quantified-buyer-personas
- Van Westendorp's Price Sensitivity Meter: https://www.priceintelligently.com/blog/bid/190607/unlock-price-sensitivity-s-profitable-surprise
- Transitioning Customers to your Current Pricing: https://www.priceintelligently.com/blog/grandfathering-discounting-prices-terrible-subscription-business
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Show Bookmarks:
[01:43] – Patrick’s Start
[04:09] – Pricing Overview
[12:32] – Pricing Models
[18:31] – Freemium, Trials, and The First 30 Days
[28:53] – Picking the Price and Common Pitfalls
[33:35] – Conducting Research for Pricing
[46:24] – Grand(father/mother)ing Existing Customer Base
[56:50] – Bootstrap vs Investment
[64:10] – Initial Team Structure of ProfitWell
People Worth Knowing:
Brian Balfour
Casey Winters
Nick Francis
Peter Zotto
Companies Mentioned in Episode:
ProfitWell (Price Intelligently)
Gemvarra
US Intelligence Community
Menlo Ventures
Hallmark
Reebok
McKinsey
Google AdWords
AWS
Snapchat
Hubspot
Zoom
Zuora (Billing System)
Berkshire Hathaway
YesWare
Slack
Amazon
HelpScout
Episode Specific Terms:
Acquisition, Monetization, Retention (the pillars)
Underpricing
Analysis / Paralysis
Revenue Per Customer
Lifetime Value
Cost of Production vs Shipping
Billing Systems
Value Metrics
Add-Ons
Inside Sales
Unique Pricing-Per-User
Freeware & Shareware
Growth Hacker (aka Full Stack Marketing)
Viral Coefficient and Network Effect
Multivariant Research and Data Limitation
Pricing Signal
Qualitative and Quantitative Research
Conjoint Analysis
Two-Factor Authentication
Indie-Business
NPS / CSAT Scores
Unit Economics
Tech-Enabled Service
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What is ACQ2: The Acquired Interviews?
ACQ2 is Ben and David's conversations with expert founders and investors. Acquired the stories of great companies — and ACQ2 dives deeper into the lessons we can learn from them, often with the protagonists themselves.