Podcast appearances and mentions of dan balcauski

Join us on "Process Transformers" as Dan Balcauski sheds light on the pillars of SaaS growth and the profound impact of pricing strategies. Explore how focusing beyond mere acquisition to include effective monetization and retention can fundamentally transform your business. Dan argues compellingly that success depends not just on what you charge but, importantly, on who and how you charge. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to deep dive into the mechanics of business growth. Let's dive right in!

It's important to price for customers, not just the product itself, as humans ascribe value.Dan shares his career journey, starting as a software engineer and transitioning into product management and eventually pricing consultancy. He emphasizes the critical role of pricing as a strategic lever in successful B2B SaaS go-to-market strategies, drawing on his extensive experience helping companies overcome common pricing challenges.Dan provides valuable insights for B2B SaaS leaders looking to leverage pricing as a key component of their go-to-market efforts.Connect with Dan Balcauski on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/Connect with Vijay Damojipurapu on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/vijdam/Brought to you by: stratyve.com

Pricing and packaging can either bog down your go-to-market engine or fuel it to peak performance.This week's SaaS Backwards podcast features Dan Balcauski, Founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, a consultancy that helps high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. In this episode, Dan discusses the critical role pricing plays in a SaaS business model and why leadership teams must view it as a dynamic lever, not a "set-it-and-forget-it" element. He dispels the common myth that success hinges solely on what you charge, emphasizing instead that who and how you charge are the real determinants of success.Breaking this down, Dan walks through the four key elements of SaaS packaging: price metric, price model, offer configurations, and price fences.Our conversation also explores how to conduct a pricing study, realigning pricing strategies, AI's role in pricing decisions, and the ever-debated topic: should pricing be displayed on the website?This episode offers actionable insights for SaaS leaders looking to harness pricing as a powerful tool for growth and market alignment.Key takeaways from this episode:The impact of pricing and packaging on revenue, profitability, and valuationWhy pricing is a critical lever for growth in SaaS businesses that shouldn't be overlookedSigns a new CMO or CRO should look for to determine if pricing needs attention at a prospective employerOther resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You're Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today's b2b buyer.And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting---Thanks for listening to the SaaS Backwards Podcast, brought to you by Austin Lawrence Group. We help SaaS firms reduce churn, accelerate sales, and generate demand. Learn more at AustinLawrence.com.---Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free messaging audit.We'll look at your website's messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today's buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos. And the best part? It's absolutely free. Get started today!

In this episode, I was lucky enough to interview Dan Balcauski, founder and CPO of Product Tranquility.Dan shared his backstory, growing up in Chicago with no direct entrepreneurial influences but finding his path through engineering and the software industry. He moved to Austin, Texas, over 20 years ago, drawn by its warmer climate and tech opportunities. Initially influenced by the dot-com bubble, Dan's entrepreneurial dreams took shape later in life, especially after a year-long trip around the world. This travel period helped him realize it was the right time to start his own company, leading to the formation of Product Tranquility—a consultancy that helps B2B SaaS companies optimize pricing and packaging strategies.Dan emphasized the importance of taking the leap into entrepreneurship and not fearing failure, noting that if it doesn't work out, one can always find another job. We also discussed how his business evolved from a broad focus on product strategy to its current specialization in pricing, refined through market feedback and personal expertise. Dan shared that most of his clients come through his network or referrals, though he has increasingly leveraged content creation—such as podcasts, webinars, and thought leadership—to attract new customers. He highlighted the importance of partnerships in growing a consulting business, noting that providing value first to potential partners can open doors to fruitful collaborations down the road.Listen in as Dan Balcauski uncovers the strategies that shaped his approach to pricing and consulting in this episode of The First Customer!Guest Info:Product Tranquilityhttps://www.producttranquility.comDan Balcauski's LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/Connect with Jay on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jayaigner/The First Customer Youtube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/@thefirstcustomerpodcastThe First Customer podcast websitehttps://www.firstcustomerpodcast.comFollow The First Customer on LinkedInhttp://www.linkedin.com/company/the-first-customer-podcast/

Thomas sits down with Dan Balcauski, an expert in pricing strategy for enterprise software and the Founder of Product Tranquilty. Together, they examine the shifting landscape of B2B software pricing, particularly as traditional per-user models face new challenges due to the rise of AI and a growing emphasis on profitability.Dan shares his insights on how long-standing pricing models are being disrupted, and why businesses need to reconsider how they charge for their products. He discusses the evolving role of pricing metrics, offering alternatives that better reflect the value delivered to customers. From adapting pricing structures to understanding how to align costs with real customer outcomes, this conversation provides a deep dive into the strategic shifts necessary for companies to stay competitive in today's AI-driven market.If you are looking to future-proof your pricing strategy and stay ahead in the rapidly changing technology AI-landscape, this episode is full of practical insights and forward-thinking advice. Join us for a thorough discussion on key strategies to consider for optimizing your pricing in the AI B2B software world.

Dan Balcauski is the founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility and expert in pricing and packaging for high-volume B2B SaaS companies. In this episode, we explore a variety of pricing strategies, uncover industry-specific practices, and discuss the growing influence of AI in pricing. Dan also shares valuable tips for sales reps and entrepreneurs looking to sharpen their pricing tactics and strengthen their market positioning. Packed with actionable advice, this episode is a must-listen for anyone aiming to elevate their pricing game. (edited)Are you interested in leveling up your sales skills and staying relevant in today's AI-driven landscape? Visit www.jbarrows.com and let's Make It Happen together!Connect with John on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows/Connect with John on IG: https://www.instagram.com/johnmbarrows/Check out John's Membership: https://go.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-membership?ref=3edab1 Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletterConnect with Dan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/Check out Dan's Website: https://www.producttranquility.com/

In this episode, Jaryd Krause tackles the fascinating world of SaaS pricing with expert Dan Balcauski. Dan, the founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility in Austin, Texas, specializes in helping high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs determine optimal pricing and packaging for their new products. With extensive experience across both B2C and B2B sectors, from startups to publicly traded companies, Dan brings a wealth of knowledge to the discussion. Throughout the episode, Dan shares how he began his journey in pricing SaaS products and reveals the three main levers for scaling a SaaS business. He discusses the often-overlooked importance of pricing in the marketplace and provides insights on how to determine if a business is overcharging or undercharging for its products. Additionally, Dan explains the willingness to pay equation for customers and highlights common pitfalls in pricing strategies. Tune in to gain key insights into how corrective pricing can significantly impact scaling a SaaS company.   Episode Highlights 05:00 - What is LUCK? 13:00 - How does net revenue retention work? 20:20 - Tackling the 3 pricing orientation 31:00 - Sales is an emotional job 39:00 - How value engineering works? Key Takeaways ➥ Pricing is often overlooked, even in large corporations. Effective pricing strategies can significantly impact a company's growth and profitability. ➥ Companies often focus too much on acquisition and neglect monetization and retention. Understanding and addressing these areas can lead to substantial growth opportunities. ➥ Competitor-based pricing can be risky as it assumes competitors have the right strategy and can lead to undifferentiated pricing. Value-based pricing focuses on the perceived value to the customer, aligning price with the benefits and outcomes the product delivers.   About The Guest Dan Balcauski is the founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, based in Austin, TX. He focuses on helping high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. Over his career, he has worked in both B2C and B2B companies, ranging from startups to publicly traded enterprises.   Connect With Balcauski ➥ https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/ ➥ https://www.producttranquility.com/   Resource Links ➥ Sell your business to us here - https://buyingonlinebusinesses.com/sell-your-business/➥ Buying Online Businesses Website - https://buyingonlinebusinesses.com ➥ Download the Due Diligence Framework - https://buyingonlinebusinesses.com/freeresources/ ➥ Hostinger (Website Hosting) - https://bit.ly/3HUqW0s ➥ Market Muse (Content Marketing software) - https://bit.ly/3Me39L0 ➥ Active Campaign (Email Software Provider) - https://bit.ly/3DCwYQH

Dan Balcauski is the founder and principal consultant of Product Tranquility, a SaaS pricing consultancy. Dan shares the core building blocks of SaaS pricing, including customer segments, value, competition, and positioning strategy. Dan also describes the common mistakes in pricing and the importance of having structured pricing conversations with customers. In this expert interview, Dan shares his perspectives on key SaaS pricing challenges: Why CEOs need to be involved in pricing decisions as pricing and packaging affect everyone in the organization. How understanding customer segments, value drivers, competitive alternatives, and differentiation are key building blocks of SaaS pricing. Why choosing the right pricing metric and offer configurations can help target multiple customer segments. Why having pricing conversations with customers can provide valuable insights into their perception of value and willingness to pay. How pricing plays a role in positioning and branding. How AI is impacting pricing strategies in the SaaS industry. Quote from Dan Balcauski, Principal at Product Tranquility “One of the healthiest ways to think about pricing is that price is a thing, but pricing is a process. Like any other process in your company, it probably will have a process owner and some sort of document to describe it. “Your first pricing iteration is probably not going to be your best iteration. You'll keep improving it. You don't prevent your team from answering customer support tickets until you have the perfect customer support process. It's the same with your pricing. “You're going to make mistakes. Those mistakes will be way less fatal than you imagine they will be in your head. But as long as you're committed to improving that process over time, you're going to start moving in the right direction.” Links Dan Balcauski on LinkedIn Product Tranquility website SaaS Scaling Secrets podcast Sponsor This week's podcast is sponsored by Cypress Growth Capital. For 15 years, Cypress has provided non-dilutive growth funding to bootstrapped SaaS founders, including many successful founders I've interviewed here on this podcast. Learn more at cypressgrowthcapital.com, then connect with Cliff Sentell at Cypress to have a conversation about your growth plans.  The Practical Founders Podcast Tune into the Practical Founders Podcast for weekly in-depth interviews with founders who have built valuable software companies without big funding. Subscribe to the Practical Founders Podcast using your favorite podcast app. Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com. 

In this episode, Dan Balcauski, founder and chief pricing officer at Product Tranquility, discusses the intricacies of pricing strategy with host Brian Moran. They explore the importance of focusing on value and differentiation, the pitfalls of cost-based and competition-based pricing, and the need to treat pricing

This week on the Expert Voices podcast, Randy Wootton, CEO of Maxio, speaks with Dan Balcauski, Founder and Chief Pricing Officer of Product Tranquility. Randy and Dan explore the nuances of pricing from multiple angles and unravel the intricacies of how to structure effective pricing strategies that align with company objectives to drive both revenue and profitability. Dan emphasizes that successful pricing involves far more than just setting the right price—it's about understanding who you charge and how you charge. They also discuss the emerging impact of AI on pricing models and the importance of sophisticated tools and structures for effective pricing governance. Quotes“Who and how you charge determines your success more than what you charge.” -Dan Balcauski [06:50]“One of the major tools in the private equity playbook is pricing. It's one of the first things that they do. And why is that? It's because it's an untapped lever for growth and everyone's afraid to touch it.” -Dan Balcauski [29:28]Expert Takeaways Importance of Objectives: Align pricing strategies with clear, agreed-upon business goals, whether it's maximizing revenue, profit, or growth.Value Conversations Over Pricing Conversations: Engage customers in discussions about the value your product delivers rather than merely focusing on price points.Pricing Governance: Establish a pricing council to ensure cross-functional buy-in and ongoing adjustment to pricing strategies.AI in Pricing: Use AI to enhance existing capabilities and consider outcome-based pricing models rather than just passing token costs to customers.Iterative Learning: Don't fear experimenting with pricing models; learn and adapt rather than aiming for perfection out of the gate.Timestamps(05:44) Dispelling B2B Pricing Myths and Effective Customer Conversations(14:31) Balancing Revenue and Profit in Pricing Strategies(21:44) The Importance of Strategic Pricing and Cross-Functional Alignment(29:43) Overcoming Fear to Unlock SaaS Growth Potential(32:19) Navigating AI Pricing Strategies and Best Practices(41:13) Insights on Metrics, Books, and Influencers LinksMaxioUpcoming EventsMaxio Institute ReportRandy Wootton LinkedIn Dan Balcauski LinkedIn

Dan Balcauski founded Product Tranquility, a firm that helps businesses grow and increase their bottom line through intelligent pricing and packaging strategies. Dan defines pricing not as an end goal, but as a means to a more efficient business plan that will sustain customer interest for the long term. In the last episode, Dan talked about the company's genesis, the services they offer, and what most businesses get wrong about pricing.   In part two of this series, Dan discusses why start-ups should be cautious about copying what Fortune 500 companies do. He shares how customer segmentation affects your pricing strategy. He explains the elements of business packaging and how to ensure you don't overwhelm your sales team. Dan also describes why you should think of pricing as a process.   “Modern marketing falls into understanding segmentation, targeting, and positioning.” - Dan Balcauski   This week on Innovation Talks:   ●     Why start-ups shouldn't copy what Fortune 500 companies are doing ●     How customer segmentation impacts pricing ●     Why pricing and packaging are functions of your positioning ●     The elements of business packaging ●     Dan's advice for those who don't understand pricing   Connect with Dan Balcauski:   ●     Product Tranquility (https://www.producttranquility.com/) ●     Dan Balcauski on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/)   This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon   Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Innovation Talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.   Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/innovation-talks/id1555857396) | TuneIn (https://tunein.com/podcasts/Technology-Podcasts/Innovation-Talks-p1412337/) | GooglePlay (https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9pbm5vdmF0aW9udGFsa3MubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M%3D) | Stitcher (https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=614195) | Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/1dX5b8tWI29YbgeMwZF5Uh) | iHeart (https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-innovation-talks-82985745/)   Be sure to connect with us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/SopheonCorp/) , Twitter (https://twitter.com/sopheon) , and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/sopheon/) , and share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more listeners, like you.   For additional information around new product development or corporate innovation, sign up for Sopheon's newsletter where we share news and industry best practices monthly! The fastest way to do this is to go to sopheon.com (https://www.sopheon.com/) and click here (https://info.sopheon.com/subscribe) .  

Dan Balcauski is the founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, a firm specializing in value creation and helping clients boost productivity and growth and improve customer loyalty. He provides strategic pricing and packaging consultations to high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs. Dan is also a Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management program leader and is part of Toptal's Top 3% Worldwide Product Management Professionals.   Dan joins me today to describe Product Tranquility, its services, and how they help businesses develop pricing strategies that lead to growth. He explains what most companies get wrong about pricing and his definition of pricing from the viewpoint of value. He discusses value cascade and the best ways to understand your customers. Dan also shares why pricing isn't necessarily a primary driver of business growth.   “Intelligent price management starts with intelligent value management.” - Dan Balcauski   This week on Innovation Talks:   ●     Product Tranquility and how they got started ●     What people get wrong about pricing ●     Dan's definition of value in pricing ●     Value cascade and the best way to understand your customers   Resources Mentioned:   ●     Book: The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: A Guide to Growing More Profitably (https://www.amazon.com/Strategy-Tactics-Pricing-Growing-Profitably/dp/113873750X) by Thomas Nagle and Georg Müller   Connect with Dan Balcauski:   ●     Product Tranquility (https://www.producttranquility.com/) ●     Dan Balcauski on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/)   This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon   Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Innovation Talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.   Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/innovation-talks/id1555857396) | TuneIn (https://tunein.com/podcasts/Technology-Podcasts/Innovation-Talks-p1412337/) | GooglePlay (https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9pbm5vdmF0aW9udGFsa3MubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M%3D) | Stitcher (https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=614195) | Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/1dX5b8tWI29YbgeMwZF5Uh) | iHeart (https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-innovation-talks-82985745/)   Be sure to connect with us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/SopheonCorp/) , Twitter (https://twitter.com/sopheon) , and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/sopheon/) , and share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more listeners like you.   For additional information about new product development or corporate innovation, sign up for Sopheon's newsletter, where we share news and industry best practices monthly! The fastest way to do this is to go to sopheon.com (https://www.sopheon.com/) and click here (https://info.sopheon.com/subscribe) .  

Dan Balcauski founded Product Tranquility, a firm that helps businesses grow and increase their bottom line through intelligent pricing and packaging strategies. Dan defines pricing not as an end goal, but as a means to a more efficient business plan that will sustain customer interest for the long term. In the last episode, Dan talked about the company's genesis, the services they offer, and what most businesses get wrong about pricing.   In part two of this series, Dan discusses why start-ups should be cautious about copying what Fortune 500 companies do. He shares how customer segmentation affects your pricing strategy. He explains the elements of business packaging and how to ensure you don't overwhelm your sales team. Dan also describes why you should think of pricing as a process.   “Modern marketing falls into understanding segmentation, targeting, and positioning.” - Dan Balcauski   This week on Innovation Talks:   ●     Why start-ups shouldn't copy what Fortune 500 companies are doing ●     How customer segmentation impacts pricing ●     Why pricing and packaging are functions of your positioning ●     The elements of business packaging ●     Dan's advice for those who don't understand pricing   Connect with Dan Balcauski:   ●     Product Tranquility (https://www.producttranquility.com/) ●     Dan Balcauski on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/)   This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon   Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Innovation Talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.   Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/innovation-talks/id1555857396) | TuneIn (https://tunein.com/podcasts/Technology-Podcasts/Innovation-Talks-p1412337/) | GooglePlay (https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9pbm5vdmF0aW9udGFsa3MubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M%3D) | Stitcher (https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=614195) | Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/1dX5b8tWI29YbgeMwZF5Uh) | iHeart (https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-innovation-talks-82985745/)   Be sure to connect with us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/SopheonCorp/) , Twitter (https://twitter.com/sopheon) , and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/sopheon/) , and share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more listeners, like you.   For additional information around new product development or corporate innovation, sign up for Sopheon's newsletter where we share news and industry best practices monthly! The fastest way to do this is to go to sopheon.com (https://www.sopheon.com/) and click here (https://info.sopheon.com/subscribe) .  

Dan Balcauski is the founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, a firm specializing in value creation and helping clients boost productivity and growth and improve customer loyalty. He provides strategic pricing and packaging consultations to high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs. Dan is also a Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management program leader and is part of Toptal's Top 3% Worldwide Product Management Professionals.   Dan joins me today to describe Product Tranquility, its services, and how they help businesses develop pricing strategies that lead to growth. He explains what most companies get wrong about pricing and his definition of pricing from the viewpoint of value. He discusses value cascade and the best ways to understand your customers. Dan also shares why pricing isn't necessarily a primary driver of business growth.   “Intelligent price management starts with intelligent value management.” - Dan Balcauski   This week on Innovation Talks:   ●     Product Tranquility and how they got started ●     What people get wrong about pricing ●     Dan's definition of value in pricing ●     Value cascade and the best way to understand your customers   Resources Mentioned:   ●     Book: The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: A Guide to Growing More Profitably (https://www.amazon.com/Strategy-Tactics-Pricing-Growing-Profitably/dp/113873750X) by Thomas Nagle and Georg Müller   Connect with Dan Balcauski:   ●     Product Tranquility (https://www.producttranquility.com/) ●     Dan Balcauski on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/)   This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon   Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Innovation Talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.   Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/innovation-talks/id1555857396) | TuneIn (https://tunein.com/podcasts/Technology-Podcasts/Innovation-Talks-p1412337/) | GooglePlay (https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9pbm5vdmF0aW9udGFsa3MubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M%3D) | Stitcher (https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=614195) | Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/1dX5b8tWI29YbgeMwZF5Uh) | iHeart (https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-innovation-talks-82985745/)   Be sure to connect with us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/SopheonCorp/) , Twitter (https://twitter.com/sopheon) , and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/sopheon/) , and share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more listeners like you.   For additional information about new product development or corporate innovation, sign up for Sopheon's newsletter, where we share news and industry best practices monthly! The fastest way to do this is to go to sopheon.com (https://www.sopheon.com/) and click here (https://info.sopheon.com/subscribe) .  

EPISODE SUMMARYIn the bustling world of SaaS startups, where innovation is critical, and competition fierce, pricing strategies often hold the key to success or failure. It's a topic that can make or break a company, yet it's usually approached with more art than science. This week Dan Balcauski, founder of Product Tranquility, dove deep into the nuances of SaaS pricing. We unearthed valuable insights that every software leader should heed.PODCAST-AT-A-GLANCEPodcast: Scale Your SaaS with Matt WolachEpisode: Episode No. 313, “Is Your Pricing Wrong? - with Dan Balcauski”Guest: Dan Balcauski, Founder & Chief Pricing Officer at Product TranquilityHost: Matt Wolach, a B2B SaaS Sales Coach, Entrepreneur, and InvestorSponsored by: LeadfeederTOP TIPS FROM THIS EPISODEUnderstanding the Who and How of PricingAssessing Pricing EffectivenessUncovering Customer ValueEmbracing Value-Based PricingEPISODE HIGHLIGHTSThe SVCs Framework: A Comprehensive ApproachConclusion: The Choice is YoursTOP QUOTESDan Balcauski[07:11] "Value-based pricing requires a significant organizational commitment and rigorous analysis but offers unparalleled benefits in terms of aligning pricing with customer value."[10:52] "Pricing can either be a lubricant in your go-to-market engine or sand in that engine."[21:52] "Successful pricing is not just about what you charge but who you charge and how you charge them."Matt Wolach[20:02] "Pricing can make or break a company; it's essential to approach it with a strategic mindset and a deep understanding of customer needs."LEARN MORETo learn more about Product Tranquility, visit: https://www.linkedin.com/company/product-tranquility/ You can also find Dan Balcauski on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/ For more about how Matt Wolach helps software companies achieve maximum growth, visit https://mattwolach.com.Head over to leadfeeder.com and sign up for a 14-day (no strings attached) free trial: https://www.leadfeeder.com/ Get even more tips by following Matt elsewhere: Sales Tips LinkedIn Twitter Instagram

Today we have another episode of Better Done Than Perfect. Listen in as we talk to Dan Balcauski, founder and chief pricing officer at Product Tranquility. You'll learn what department should own the pricing function, how often you should revisit pricing, why you shouldn't A/B test your pricing, and more.Please head over to the episode page for the detailed recap and key takeaways.Show notesProduct TranquilityFollow Dan on LinkedInSaaS Scaling Secrets — Dan's podcastThanks for listening! If you found the episode useful, please spread the word about this new show on Twitter mentioning @userlist, or leave us a review on iTunes.SponsorThis show is brought to you by Userlist — an email automation platform for SaaS companies. It matches the complexity of your customer data, including many-to-many relationships between users and companies. Book your demo call today at userlist.com.Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more here.Leave a ReviewReviews are hugely important because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes. Here's how.

How can we get better at SaaS pricing and packaging? In this episode, we talk to Dan Balcauski, founder and chief pricing officer at Product Tranquility. You'll learn what department should own the pricing function, how often you should revisit pricing, why you shouldn't A/B test your pricing, and more.Visit our website for the detailed episode recap with key learnings.Product TranquilityFollow Dan on LinkedInSaaS Scaling Secrets — Dan's podcastThanks for listening! If you found the episode useful, please spread the word about the show on Twitter mentioning @userlist, or leave us a review on iTunes.SponsorThis show is brought to you by Userlist — an email automation platform for SaaS companies. It matches the complexity of your customer data, including many-to-many relationships between users and companies. Book your demo call today at userlist.com.

In the ever-evolving world of SaaS, pricing is not just a number– it's a critical component of a product's success. In the latest episode of the SaaS Fuel podcast, Jeff Mains goes deep into the art and science of SaaS product pricing with Dan Balcauski - Founder and Chief Pricing Officer of Product Tranquility, where he helps high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging, market segmentation, competitive analysis, user research, and linking product engagement data to profitability and customer retention.Explore the nuances of various pricing strategies, from value-based pricing to tiered models, and the psychological underpinnings of consumer decision-making that can make or break your pricing approach. Stay tuned to gain knowledge, absorb wisdom, and advance your product's pricing strategy to new heights.Key Takeaways[00:00:52] - Crafting a Winning SaaS Pricing Strategy[00:05:18] - SaaS Open Conference March 2024[00:12:09] - Pricing and Packaging Strategy Insights[00:15:42] - Challenges With Pricing Strategy[00:23:03] - Balancing Competitiveness and Profitability[00:26:05] - Strategic Competition and Profitability[00:33:43] - Importance of Pricing Leadership in Organizations[00:42:45] - Developer Tools and Freemium Model[00:48:16] - Lessons Learned From Unity's Pricing Fiasco[00:54:29] - Wisdom Sharing for Price Paradise PassportTweetable Quotes"Mastering SaaS pricing is like being a poker player – it's all about the strategic finesse and savvy to price your product to perfection.” - 00:00:30 Jeff Mains"Differentiating products in crowded markets is crucial. Treating pricing as a dynamic process, not a static event, is key to long-term profitability.” - 00:26:50 Jeff Mains"Free trials are extremely valuable because software is an experience good where your perceived value of the product changes as you use it." - 00:47:02 Dan Balcauski "Freemium sounds great until you realize best-in-class companies only convert 1-3% of free users into paying customers. That's a 97% who give you nothing." - 00:47:02 Dan Balcauski "Software is what economists would call an experience good. Your perceived value of the product changes as you use it." - 00:47:02 Dan Balcauski SaaS Leadership LessonsPrioritize Value Over Price Tag: Understand the perceived value of your product to your customers rather than fixating on the competition's pricing. Value-based pricing ensures that customers feel they are getting more than their money's worth, which can significantly enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.Embrace Strategic Flexibility: A one-size-fits-all pricing model is often not the best approach. By employing tiered pricing strategies, businesses can cater to different market segments and allow for scalability. Understand the Impact of Pricing on Growth: Strategic pricing is crucial for the three pillars of growing a SaaS business: acquisition, retention, and monetization. Particularly in competitive markets, differentiating your product and adapting pricing strategies to the dynamic nature of customer value perception is essential for...

SummaryThe conversation explores various aspects of pricing strategies, including benefits framing, pricing orientations, value-based pricing, and the challenges associated with it. The importance of regularly reviewing pricing and making incremental changes is emphasized. The fear of pricing conversations and risk mitigation strategies are discussed. The emotional relationship with money and its impact on pricing decisions is explored. The chapter concludes with a discussion on bundling price increases with value increases. The conversation explores the topics of costs, value, different business models, adjusting pricing based on value, defining value, and getting started with pricing strategy. It also touches on the concept of overpriced products.TakeawaysRegularly review and update pricing strategies to align with market changes and customer value.Consider benefits framing and value-based pricing to effectively communicate the value of products or services.Understand the emotional relationship customers have with money and the impact it has on pricing decisions.Mitigate risks associated with pricing changes by conducting market research, testing, and communicating effectively with customers. Consider the costs and value of your product or service when determining pricing.Different business models, such as razor and razor blades, can impact pricing strategies.Adjust pricing based on the value customers receive from your product or service.Define value by understanding the functional, emotional, and social jobs your product or service fulfills.Start thinking about your pricing strategy early in your company's development and treat it as an ongoing process.Perceived value plays a significant role in customers' willingness to pay.Be mindful of unexpected fees and their impact on customers' perception of value.The most overpriced products can vary based on individual perspectives and preferences.

What a year! We are wrapping up 2023, an exciting, filled with learning, both professionally and personally for both of us!So we decided, in the spirit of so many others these days, to have a wrap-up episode and talk about so many things we covered on the podcast!We had 30 episodes, 25 guests from 4 continents. We covered 15 products in 3 themed serieses - async communication tools, user testing tools, and new tools built by young startups. We also started this year covering books for Product people, talking with 4 authors on anything from a 10 year best seller to a newly released book. We covered hot topics like the sunsetting of Google Optimize, the rise of Product Ops and design systems, and of course, we couldn't stay away from AI and GenAI. We also learned some important concepts to help us build our career, from building a Product Culture, pricing SaaS products, assessing our competency as individual product people, and building a product team scorecard to assess the team's success. We would like to thank each and every guest that came on the show! We couldn't have done it without you: Henry Latham, Gustavo Razzetti, Gerisha Nadaraju & Anabela Cesário, Magali Pelissier, Justin Meats, Mandar Karlekar, Alex Gueriguian, Ben Yoskovitz, Dan Balcauski, Ravi Mehta, Shiva Manjunath, Kevin Hawkins, Premika PoSaw, Mike Green, Tracy Laranjo, Igor Voloshin, Alex Wilson, Ross Webb, Dan Olsen, George Whitfield, Sumeet Rana, Moodi Mahmoudi, Ohad Biron, and Itamar Gilad.We can't wait to continue this journey in the next year! We have some great episodes planned, and looking forward to learn and share more in the Product for Product Podcast!Happy New Year everyone!Matt & MosheYou can find the podcast's page, and connect with Matt and Moshe on Linkedin:Product for Product Podcast - https://www.linkedin.com/company/product-for-product-podcastMatt Green - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattgreenanalytics/Moshe Mikanovsky - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikanovsky/Note: any views mentioned in the podcast are the sole views of our hosts and guests, and do not represent the products mentioned in any way.Please leave us a review and feedback ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

In this interview, you'll learn about how meditation helps you clear your inner noise so that you can make better decisions. Dal Balcauski is the founder of Product Tranquility. You'll enjoy his story about asking specific questions to get to the heart of a product and how to price it. Highlights from the interview: How Dan got into software at a young age.How he dealt with undiagnosed ADHD in his career.The balance of perfection and good enough.How he looks at ADHD differently than most people.Adjusting his career to better utilize his strengths.How he got into meditation.How meditation and exercise helps him reduce stress and improve his mental state.Creating space to process your thoughts and emotions.Not getting caught up in our emotions so we make better decisions.Doing a better job of choosing our actions.Building awareness when making decisions.How meta meditation and prayer have a lot in common.Getting out of his own way and clearing out the inner noise.How our distractions can hold us back and what to do it.What we say “yes” to and “no” to on a daily, weekly, monthly basis and how we can learn from these decisions to make better future decisions.Framework to help with pricing a product.Understanding our relationship with money and how it helps us understand the value of products.Using frameworks that actually work in business.Clear views of product fit.Aligning the value we are creating with the customer.The value of different customer segments.Any process should be in service of a goal.Most recommended books for life, AI, and pricing. You can learn more about Dan over at Product Tranquility. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn. As always, if you have any questions or want to submit a guest for the podcast that you think would be amazing, just reach out to me on the Dig to Fly website, and I'll do my best to get them on. If you enjoy the interview, please take 30 seconds to rate the Dig to Fly podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks!

Dan Balcauski is the founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, a business consulting firm that provides SaaS pricing assessor, optimizer, and product management services. He focuses on helping high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products.  In this episode Dan and KJ discuss the importance of adapting to customer needs and market dynamics. Dan also emphasizes the need for businesses to sell and build products according to customer preferences.    Key Takeaways: The importance of listening to feedback and research in a dynamic market The challenges faced by B2B SaaS companies in daily operations Real-world strategies for growing SaaS companies in today's market How to retain and monetize SaaS businesses in 2024 Quote of the Show (15:00): "I think the fundamental problem that companies are faced with now is that you can't cut your way to growth.” – Dan Balcauski   Join our Anti-PR newsletter where we're keeping a watchful and clever eye on PR trends, PR fails, and interesting news in tech so you don't have to. You're welcome.   Want PR that actually matters? Get 30 minutes of expert advice in a fast-paced, zero-nonsense session from Karla Jo Helms, a veteran Crisis PR and Anti-PR Strategist who knows how to tell your story in the best possible light and get the exposure you need to disrupt your industry. Click here to book your call: https://info.jotopr.com/free-anti-pr-eval   Ways to connect with Dan Balcauski: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/      Company Website: https://www.producttranquility.com Podcast: SaaS Scaling Secrets https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/saas-scaling-secrets/id1682338188   How to get more Disruption/Interruption:  Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755 Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cub21ueWNvbnRlbnQuY29tL2QvcGxheWxpc3QvODE5NjRmY2EtYTQ5OC00NTAyLThjZjktYWI3YzAwMmRiZTM2LzNiZTZiNzJhLWEzODItNDhhNS04MDc5LWFmYTAwMTI2M2FiNi9kZDYzMGE4Mi04ZGI4LTQyMGUtOGNmYi1hZmEwMDEyNjNhZDkvcG9kY2FzdC5yc3M= Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlDSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 In this week's podcast,  Dan Balcauski shares his thoughts on the challenge of measuring uncertainty in pricing strategy and how tools like Fermi decomposition can be game-changers. Additionally, if you've ever wondered how to manage existing customers when you decide to tweak pricing and packaging, we've got you covered. Tune in for some pragmatic advice on pricing strategy, indicative pricing, and the reasoning behind 'contact us for a quote' approach. Featured Links: Follow Dan on LinkedIn | Product Tranquility | Buy 'How to Measure Anything Workbook: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business' book by Douglas Hubbard | Fermi Estimate examples | 'Decoding the mysteries of pricing strategies' - Part 1 of Dan Balcauski on The Product Experience

In this week's podcast, we were joined by Dan Balcauski, Founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility. Dan sheds light on the common misconceptions around pricing and gives valuable advice on aligning your pricing strategy with your business objectives. Featured Links: Follow Dan on LinkedIn | Product Tranquility | 'How To Price Your Product: A Guide To The Van Westendorp Pricing Model' feature at Forbes | 'Identifying and multiplying your best customers' - Tamara Grominsky on The Product Experience | Buy 'What Customers Want: Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services'  book by Anthony Ulwick

Ep#155 B2B SaaS Pricing with Dan Balcauski

Ep#155 B2B SaaS Pricing with Dan Balcauski

What's up folks, today we'll be joined by various martech pros sharing their opinions on the topic of warehouse-native martech.The landscape of marketing technology architecture has been undergoing – what you might call – a seismic shift and many don't even realize it. In this transformation, there's a remarkable development - warehouse-native marketing technology, an innovative breakthrough that promises to reshape the entire industry for the better, but comes with plenty of questions and skepticism. Here's today's main takeaway: As we navigate the potential transformation to warehouse-native martech, the single most critical action is to prioritize achieving high-quality, well-structured data; it's the golden key to unlocking the full potential of these emerging tools and strategies.This episode explores the various facets of warehouse-native martech and its viability, pulling in insights from industry experts, piecing together a comprehensive view of this groundbreaking shift.What are warehouse native martech or connected apps?In Dec 2021, Snowflake introduced a new term, 'connected applications'.  Unlike traditional managed SaaS applications, connected applications process data on the customers' data warehouse, giving customers control over their data  Benefits include  preventing data silos,  removing API integration backlog,  enabling custom analytics,  upholding data governance policies,  improving SaaS performance,  and facilitating actionable reporting In other words, instead of making a copy of your DWH like most CDPs ad MAPs do today, everything lives on top of the DWH and you don't have to pay for copying your db.Some companies solving this for product analytics are Rakam, Indicative, and Kubit. Census and Hightouch are also doing this, being warehouse-native activation tools sitting on top of a DWH and don't store any of your data. Some Messaging companies solving this use case natively on the cloud warehouse are Vero, Messagears, and Castled.Revolutionized Data Handling in Customer Engagement PlatformsIndia Waters currently leads growth and technology partnerships at MessageGears. She explains how her company's differentiation comes from its unique handling of customer data.Unlike competitors such as Salesforce Marketing Cloud or Oracle, which require a copy of customer data to live within their tool, MessageGears directly taps into modern data warehouses like Snowflake or Google BigQuery. This unique approach is born out of the inefficiency and high costs of older platforms that necessitate copying and moving data into multiple marketing tools.India vividly portrayed the challenge this old approach creates, imagining the confusion and resource consumption of working with out-of-date data across numerous tools. By not having to have a copy of customer data, MessageGears solves this problem for big companies, eliminating waste and creating a more coherent understanding of the customer's journey. Clients like OpenTable, T-Mobile, and Party City can now work with the most up-to-date data, using it as a source of truth for better analytics and customer experiences.Reflecting on how MessageGears had to become thought leaders in this approach, India acknowledged that it took time for the industry to understand and accept this innovative method. But as awareness has grown, the approach is now seen as a logical and necessary step in the evolution of customer data handling.Takeaway: MessageGears' refusal to follow the traditional path of copying customer data into its tools is a game-changer in the world of customer engagement platforms. By plugging directly into modern data warehouses, they've solved a problem that has plagued big companies, enabling them to use the most up-to-date data for insights and experiences. The industry has evolved, and MessageGears is leading the way with an approach that makes sense for today's data-driven world.Rethinking User Database Size Pricing in MartechWhile MG has been around since 2011, more and more startups are waking up to the idea of directly accessing brands' first-party data instead of relying on cloud data syncs. We also chatted with Arun Thulasidarhan, CEO & Co-founder at Castled.io. They're a warehouse-native customer engagement platform that sits directly on top of cloud data warehouses. Arun and his team set out to disrupt traditional martech to fix some of the fundamental problems as it relates to the significant disconnect between the number of users a company pays to store in their database and the actual value derived from them.He emphasized that having millions of users doesn't necessarily translate to substantial revenue or value, especially for smaller B2C companies. He critically questioned whether traditional pricing models based on user database size were really delivering value for businesses. Arun then went on to explain how Castled.io approaches this differently, choosing a more logical and direct connection between cost and benefit. Unlike other martech firms that charge based on customer numbers, Castled.io bases its pricing on the number of team members using the tool. Arun argues that this is a more accurate reflection of the value a company gets from the service, as more marketers using the tool likely means a more substantial investment in the platform. He also touched on how they handle data look-back periods and the importance of data retention for retargeting and reengagement. With traditional systems, data engineers might have to wait for months, while with Castled.io, the data is readily available in the data warehouse. The integration of data warehousing and marketing tools, according to Arun, is the future of martech pricing – something he sees as a "no-brainer." Takeaway: Traditional martech pricing models have significant inconsistencies, often failing to align the number of customers with the real value obtained. Castled.io challenges this paradigm by pricing their services based on the number of team members using the tool and ensuring that data retention aligns with business needs. This more logical and direct approach may be an essential step forward for the martech industry, promoting fairness and value over mere numbers.Aligning Pricing Metrics with Customer NeedsMessageGears and Castled.io's groundbreaking approach in martech isn't merely an isolated occurrence. It's part of a broader trend that calls for a deliberate rethinking of pricing metrics within the industry. This movement emphasizes the alignment of price with real value and accessibility. It's worth highlighting the intricacies of selecting the right pricing metric. We spoke with Dan Balcauski, a SaaS pricing expert who highlights that it's not just about being innovative; it's about making choices that truly resonate with customer needs and market demands. Dan delved into the complexities of pricing metrics and how they can be used to either aid or hinder competitive differentiation. Though he admitted that his knowledge of the specific market wasn't extensive, he was able to break down the various facets of pricing strategy, sharing an intriguing case study to illustrate his point.Dan emphasized the importance of choosing a pricing metric that aligns with customers' business requirements and the perceived value of the product. This metric, according to him, must balance fairness, predictability, and operational ease for both the buyer and the seller.He highlighted the example of Rolls Royce's innovative approach to jet engine pricing, where they chose to charge "power by the hour" instead of selling the engines outright. This usage-based model aligned the interests of the buyer and seller, streamlining many ancillary aspects such as maintenance and replacement.However, Dan also warned against unnecessarily complex or "cute" pricing metrics. He stated that success in implementing innovative pricing strategies likely comes easier to industry leaders or highly innovative products. Trying to be different just for the sake of it can lead to confusion and additional costs in educating the market.Takeaway: In the world of martech, warehouse-native pricing changes are a nuanced subject. As Dan's analysis reveals, the successful implementation of a pricing strategy requires a careful balance of alignment with customer needs, perceived value, predictability, and operational efficiency. Innovative approaches can bring success, but they must be implemented thoughtfully and with a true understanding of the market. Being different for its own sake may lead to complexity without adding real value.The Undeniable Movement Towards a Universal Data LayerBefore getting into the weeds of the viability of this shift, let's get the lowdown from one of the most respected voices in martech. You guessed, we're talking about Scott Brinker. The Martech Landscape creator, the VP of Platform ecosystem at Hubspot and the acclaimed force behind chiefmartec.com, hailed universally as the martech world's ultimate wellspring of knowledge and insight.Scott sees a clear trend in martech towards consolidating data across the company into the warehouse, and making that data accessible across various applications. He doesn't hesitate to point out that this is a bit different from being truly warehouse-native, which raises questions about the architecture layers and the way data interacts operationally with the warehouse.On the exciting side, Scott highlights the robust experimentation in the field. However, he's keen to identify the challenges too, such as the need to rationalize data that is inherently messy when consolidated into data lakes and warehouses. The sheer volume and complexity of data require layers of interpretation and structuring, something that individual martech products often provide.Scott also highlights the performance dimension, noting that while technological advances have improved the read/write performance of data in a warehouse, there are still cases where millisecond differences in performance can have critical impacts on user experience or search engine rankings. He sees the need for operational databases fine-tuned to specific engagements as a continued necessity in the martech architecture.In the end, Scott recognizes the undeniable movement towards a universal data layer where martech companies are being driven to contribute and leverage data from the warehouse. However, he doesn't see it as something that will entirely replace all localized and context-specific databases in the immediate future.Takeaway: Scott provides a balanced and insightful perspective on the warehouse-native approach in martech, seeing it as an interesting and evolving aspect but not a complete solution. He emphasizes that while consolidation and accessibility of data are crucial, the complex nature of data, performance considerations, and the need for specific databases mean that the warehouse-native concept is still more of a developing direction rather than an established end point in the martech landscape.The Necessity of Cloning Data in Warehouse Native MartechAs we talk about shifts in the data management landscape, Pini Yakuel, the CEO of Optimove (Marketing Automation Platform) provides a practical example of these changes, discussing how they're CDP component is built on top of Snowflake.Pini dived into the subject of warehouse native martech with a keen eye for architectural details. He spoke candidly about the convenience of copying data from one place to another and the efficiency of Snowflake, allowing for a seamless client experience. A clear advocate for this technology, Pini mentioned how companies can leverage Snowflake to have data easily accessible without having to move it around. The snowflake-to-snowflake data mirroring, for instance, eliminates the need for ETL, providing a significant advantage.However, Pini didn't shy away from the challenges either. The same technology that enables quick data processing doesn't necessarily translate into fast response times for user experience. For instance, Snowflake, being an analytical data warehouse in the cloud, may not respond quickly enough for UX requirements.Pini concluded with an optimistic note about the future, mentioning that Snowflake and BigQuery are emerging as significant players. But, he also acknowledged that the need to have copies of data close for certain operations still exists, leaving room for technology to evolve further.Takeaway: While warehouse native martech, especially through platforms like Snowflake, offers incredible convenience and has been a game-changer, it's essential to recognize the need for closer data positioning in some cases. The current landscape is promising, but the future might hold even better ways to copy and utilize data without hindrance.The Misguided Myth of Zero Data CopyWhether it's technically possible or not, not everyone is on board with the notion of zero copy data, using martech without ever needing to copy data in any of your tools. Enter Michael Katz, CEO and co-founder at mParticle, the leading independent and packaged customer data platform.When asked about the concept of zero data copy and why he considers it misguided, Michael passionately dove into the core of the argument. He began by highlighting that copying data's implication of creating inefficiency, particularly in terms of access cost, is fundamentally flawed. In his view, the cost of storage is negligible compared to the cost of computation, a fact well understood in the industry. Hence, creating duplicate copies of data doesn't significantly change the overall cost structure.Michael then went on to emphasize that it's been demonstrated time and time again that replicating data brings tremendous efficiency for various uses and applications. He further expanded on his argument by noting that the belief in zero data copy not only misleads but also directs individuals and companies down a path of solving non-existent problems. He remarked that the focus should be on minimizing costs to maximize resources for growth, not chasing an illusion of efficiency.Adding another layer to his argument, Michael revealed the dirty secret behind many reverse ETL companies, citing a persistent churn problem. These companies, he pointed out, offer what appears to be an "easy button" solution, but when the button is pressed, things turn out to be far from easy.Takeaway: Michael's debunking of the zero data copy concept is a compelling reminder that chasing illusions can lead to more harm than good. The true focus should be on understanding the problem at hand and allocating resources wisely, rather than getting lost in the allure of simplified solutions that often prove ineffective. This insight urges us to be more discerning in evaluating the effectiveness and underlying motives of the tools and strategies we adopt in the world of martech.Solving the Puzzle of Compute Charges in the Cloud Data WarehouseMany industry experts agree with Michael that one of the biggest hurdles for warehouse native martech is computing charges and creating a load on your DWH/Snowflake that can add up quickly. Here's what Arun from Castled.io had to say about his solution for this compute challenge.When asked about how to tackle the prevalent problem of compute charges in existing cloud data warehouses, Arun clearly outlined the importance of addressing this issue. In his view, it's more than just a concern about expenses; it's an integral part of deciding to have a data warehouse, which still holds great value to many.Arun dove into the core of the problem, explaining that once a data warehouse has been implemented, businesses often aim to not only enable data analytics but also marketing, where significant investments are made. This decision leads to one of the major reasons behind the compute charges: hiring bulk analytic engineers, many lacking the necessary experience to write optimal SQL queries.Arun's perspective on the solution is straightforward and rooted in his experience. For him, once the data is collected in the data warehouse, the most scalable model involves using warehouse-native applications like Castled.io. These applications reduce the charges by running all kinds of load tests to ensure minimal and optimal expenditure. Arun emphasized the care taken to ensure that even a minor filter change doesn't lead to unnecessary extra charges.Takeaway: Arun's insights highlight a common yet overlooked aspect of cloud data warehouse management: compute charges. By understanding the root causes and adopting warehouse-native applications, companies can not only minimize these charges but also maximize the value and efficiency of their data warehouses. His approach illustrates a thoughtful and scalable way to ensure that technology investments align with financial considerations.Is Warehouse Martech More Beneficial for Cloud Providers Than Customers?Despite hearing this solution on compute charges and the benefits of zero copy data, Michael Katz, CEO of mParticle held firm on his stance going back to the value to customers.Michael began by laying out a common structure of the marketing tech stack, mentioning different components such as analytics, customer engagement platforms, experimentation tools, and customer support services like Zendesk. In this context, he highlighted that between five and ten different categories could be observed across most martech stacks.Michael then questioned the real beneficiaries of building everything natively on a Cloud Data Warehouse. He argued that such an approach seems to favor the data warehouse provider rather than delivering genuine value to the customer. Moreover, he expressed skepticism about the notion that having all vendors run their own compute cycles on the data warehouse would necessarily lead to cost savings. He pointed out that while theoretically possible, no one has conducted a side-by-side comparison to prove that assumption.Further, Michael emphasized that whether dealing with providers like Snowflake or mParticle, everyone is in essence reselling cloud compute, either with a markup or bundled into services. The assumption of inherent cost savings, he asserted, doesn't stand up to scrutiny, and the claim that avoiding the creation of multiple copies of data will automatically save money is not necessarily true.Takeaway: Michael's examination of the warehouse native approach reveals that what might seem like a cost-saving strategy on the surface might not deliver real benefits to the customers. This insight warns against blindly accepting theoretical advantages without concrete evidence, encouraging a more nuanced understanding of how value is truly generated in the martech world.Why Zero Data Copy in Martech is Not a Black-and-White IssueMichael's scrutiny of the warehouse native approach invites a broader conversation about adaptability and tailored solutions in martech. It challenges the standard view, paving the way for alternative methods that don't cling to conventional wisdom. Recognizing that one approach doesn't fit every scenario, some companies are proposing a hybrid approach and shaping the conversation around customization and efficiency.In this camp is Tamara Gruzbarg, VP Customer Strategy at ActionIQ – an enterprise Customer Data Platform. When asked about the widespread arguments dismissing zero data copy as a flawed concept, Tamara offered a thoughtful perspective. She didn't outright reject the notion, but rather emphasized the importance of not viewing it in black and white terms. In her view, the concept of zero data copy isn't necessarily something that will work for everyone in the immediate future, but that doesn't mean the industry shouldn't be moving in this direction.Tamara continued to explain that once sufficient work has been done to create a robust data environment within a client's internal structure, there's a real opportunity to leverage that investment. It's about using the data from its original location to minimize costs, rather than insisting on either 0% or 100% adherence to a zero copy or fully composable CDP model.Speaking from her experience at ActionIQ, she emphasized the value of creating a "future-proof" environment where different components from the best vendors or internal solutions can be utilized. This approach allows for adaptability, not locking into a rigid framework, and instead opting for a path that works for the individual needs of a company, with the capacity to optimize over time.Takeaway: Tamara's insight sheds light on the nuanced reality of the zero data copy debate. Rather than clinging to absolutes, she encourages a more flexible approach that aligns with the individual needs and future directions of a company. Her focus on creating a future-proof environment underscores the importance of adaptability and optimization in the ever-changing martech landscape, without falling prey to rigid ideologies.Warehouse Native Martech Impacting Enterprise More Than SMBsThe push for flexibility and optimization in data handling hints at a wider trend affecting large enterprises. This focus on warehouse native solutions aligns more closely with the complex needs of large organizations than with SMBs, setting the stage for a broader industry shift that some experts continue to explore.One of these experts is  Wyatt Bales a senior exec at BlueprintX, an enterprise focused-martech and growth agency. When asked about the potential future of martech being warehouse native, Wyatt presented a comprehensive view on the subject. He emphasized that this path is indeed the way forward for enterprises, defining these as organizations with 10,000 employees or more. Wyatt agreed that traditional tools, such as duplicated databases and interfaces for marketing automation, are being replaced by more sophisticated and flexible solutions.He shared insights from current projects, where customers are rethinking their approach and moving towards more direct communication through APIs and delivery services. This transition, according to Wyatt, is not only efficient but also resonates with the changing needs of enterprise clients.However, he didn't see this trend affecting the Small and Medium Business (SMB) sector in the same way. The traditional path of migrating from simpler tools like MailChimp to more advanced platforms like Marketo still holds relevance for SMBs. Wyatt predicts an emerging trend where SMB markets might see the integration of work management tools, such as Asana, with marketing automation platforms. This would provide an end-to-end solution that meets the specific needs of smaller businesses.Wyatt also highlighted the importance of adaptability in skillsets, particularly within the context of warehouse-native solutions. Emphasizing the value of SQL knowledge, he discussed how organizational decisions and structures are changing, affecting even hiring and staff positioning. The future, according to Wyatt, is not only about mastering specific tools but also having the ability to talk about cloud storage, integrations, and other technological advancements. He stressed the importance of versatility in skillsets, particularly in a landscape that is rapidly shifting towards warehouse native solutions.Takeaway: The future of martech is clearly leaning towards warehouse native solutions for enterprises, reflecting a desire for flexibility, efficiency, and direct control. However, this shift is not universal, and Wyatt points out that SMBs will continue to have different needs and paths. The landscape is evolving, and success will depend on adaptability, both in technology and in the skillsets of those navigating this complex ecosystem.API Connections Versus Warehouse Native ApproachThis being more impactful for enterprise is an argument that's echoed by MessageGears when talking about the difference between APIs integrations and the warehouse native approach. Here's India Waters from MessageGears (again).India described the contrasting experiences of these two models by focusing on the real-world implications. She broke down the seemingly straightforward task of setting up individual APIs for real-time data access, especially in small to medium-sized businesses.The problem, India explained, lies in the constantly changing environment. Whether it's adding new fields or updating existing ones, the complexity of these tasks grows exponentially. When businesses try to synchronize tools like SalesLoft, Salesforce Pardot, or even something as specific as demand-based sales tools, the complexity doesn't just double; it becomes an almost unmanageable challenge. Imagine a company like Best Buy or Home Depot, with countless customers and enormous volumes of first-party data. The complexity becomes a daunting puzzle.India's solution through MessageGears provides a refreshing perspective. By allowing businesses to view their modern data warehouse without the burden of storing data, the approach untangles the web of syncing, matching, and complying with new data privacy laws. India expressed a frustration with those who still don't get this new approach, highlighting how the warehouse native model renders concerns like HIPAA compliance almost irrelevant.Takeaway: India's insights shed light on the intricacies of API connections versus the warehouse native approach. Her detailed explanation helps us understand how even simple tasks can become a tangled web as business grows. By adopting innovative solutions like MessageGears, businesses can bypass these complexities, align with modern data privacy laws, and efficiently manage their data, demonstrating a forward-thinking approach to the technological future.Does Warehouse Native Martech Replace Reverse ETL Tools?Some of the emerging tools to replace API integrations are called reverse ETL, basically pushing data from your warehouse to your business tools. Some of the startups solving this are Hightouch and Census. The question though is, does warehouse native martech (sitting on top of the warehouse) also replace the need for reverse ETL solutions. Just like you might prefer using a bridge to cross a river rather than paying a ferry. Here's Arun again from Castled:When asked about whether warehouse native can replace reverse ETL tools, Arun provided a perspective that goes beyond a simple yes or no. His insights highlight the intricate balance between technology and purpose.Arun explained that while warehouse native solutions can indeed eliminate the need for reverse ETL pipelines, it's essential to understand why a business would want to do so. The motivation to adopt warehouse native shouldn't be solely to eliminate reverse ETL; otherwise, the solution may fall short. With companies like Customer.io actively incorporating reverse ETL into their systems, a mere desire to remove reverse ETL isn't enough.Arun's approach emphasizes the problem-solving capabilities of the warehouse native approach. If there are tangible limitations in existing tools, and if a warehouse native solution can solve those problems, then the path becomes clear. But starting on this path just to eliminate reverse ETL, without considering the broader issues, would be a mistake.Takeaway: Arun's insights underscore the importance of aligning technology with genuine needs. Warehouse native solutions offer the ability to bypass reverse ETL, but this shouldn't be the sole driver. Businesses need to identify real challenges that can be addressed by warehouse native solutions, creating a synergy between technological innovation and problem-solving. Anything less is a fleeting pursuit that's likely to fall short.Established Platforms vs Warehouse Native Marketing Automation Obviously reverse ETL platforms are going to have some hot takes about this question. One of them is Tejas Monahar, the co-founder and co-CEO of Hightouch, a reverse ETL tool that's taken a controversial stance against the packaged CDP, claiming that it's dead and that they can replace it.Tejas noted that while ease of warehouse native tools are on the rise, he doesn't envision them taking over established platforms like Salesforce Marketing Cloud or Iterable. To Tejas, these tools can't replicate the variety of channels and functions available in existing martech solutions.Tejas explained that marketers need to utilize their data across all channels, and solutions like Hightouch make this process simple. He was unafraid to share that he's not bullish on the trend of warehouse native marketing tools dominating the space, as they do not address the unique needs of marketers. This includes all sorts of concerns that a Customer Engagement or ESP platform handles, not related to the data warehouse, such as data quality, governance, privacy, and identity risk.However, Tejas clarified that his stance does not mean there's no room for new businesses in martech like warehouse native. On the contrary, he sees a wealth of opportunities to build in this field, especially with localization and integration. What he doesn't foresee is a platform shift that replaces giants like Salesforce and Adobe. The focus should be on integrating the data and marketing sides of the business, and Hightouch is positioned as an ideal solution for this.Key Takeaway: Warehouse native tools and CDPs are growing, but Tejas argues that they will not replace the multifaceted capabilities of existing martech providers. While they may add some new functionality, their integration with traditional platforms seems more likely. The focus, he believes, should be on how marketers can use data effectively across all channels, and he sees Hightouch as the perfect solution to bridge the gap between data and marketing needs.Effortless Data Movement and Apps as Lightweight Caches on Core WarehousesNot all reverse ETL vendors have a negative view on warehouse native approach though. Boris Jabes, the co-founder and CEO at Census, another Reverse ETL tool, has a different perspective.When Boris was asked about the future of warehouse native martech and its potential to replace reverse ETL, his response not only highlighted a promising vision but also revealed Census's pioneering role in the field.Boris acknowledged the attraction of a world where warehouse native martech diminishes fragmentation and promotes consistency in written data. He was quick to point out that Census has been a trailblazer in this domain, adopting a warehouse native solution even before the term was coined. This, he said, is a testament to the company's innovation and leadership in the space.He detailed Census's offerings, such as the Audience Hub, a segmentation experience native to the warehouse. These solutions not only reflect Census's deep understanding of warehouse native systems but also underscore the company's commitment to letting marketers activate data without hassle.However, Boris also emphasized the challenges and necessities of this path. Perfect data in the warehouse is key. Understanding the relationships between different sets of data, customizing relationships, and validating data before use are all integral to making warehouse native martech work seamlessly.Boris's vision culminated in the anticipation of a world where data movement systems are no longer a concern, and every application becomes a lightweight cache on the core data warehouse. Though he believes in this future, he cautioned that it may take time to come to fruition and urged companies to focus on transforming and modeling user data.Key Takeaway: Boris's insights cast a spotlight on the potential of warehouse native martech, with Census leading the way before it was even a recognized term. His vision of applications as lightweight caches on core data warehouses paints a compelling future. Yet, it's grounded in the reality that clean, well-structured data and a deep understanding of relationships between data sets are crucial to making this dream a reality. The path is laid out; the journey, according to Boris, requires focus, innovation, and a commitment to quality.Closing Thought on Warehouse Native MartechThe shifting tides of warehouse-native technology are promising but they come with a fair share of skepticism. This shift is not just a simple tool swap, but a nuanced evolution requiring careful understanding and strategic decision-making, shaped by a company's unique needs and data maturity. Is zero data copy really achievable?Does it save costs for the customer? Or does it benefit the cloud warehouse companies?How long will local database copies be a requirement?Can compute charges be solved with higher quality queries?Will warehouse native martech affect more enterprise or startup companies?Does warehouse native martech replace the need for reverse ETL pipelines?Yet, amid the complexity, and all the questions, a promise shines through - a future of reduced data pipelines, seamless integration, and more efficient, direct data access. The challenge, as well as the opportunity, lies in the journey towards that future, a journey fueled by the symbiosis of pioneering tools and clean data.You heard it here first folks: As we navigate the transformation to warehouse-native martech, the single most critical action is to prioritize achieving high-quality, well-structured data; it's the golden key to unlocking the full potential of these emerging tools and strategies.✌️--Intro music by Wowa via UnminusCover art created with MidjourneyMusic generated by Mubert https://mubert.com/render 

Product Tranquility helps high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. Grow your revenue, increase your ACV, and accelerate your customer acquisition, all with minimal distraction, so you can get back to scaling your business Connect with Dan

In this episode, my co-host Gayatri continues her conversation with Dan Balcauski, founder and chief pricing officer at product tranquility, a company that helps high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new productsGayatri asked him what challenges he faced when he became a consultantDan sharesHow he did a solo backpacking around the world and the transformational experiences he gotHow he had to talk himself away from self-talk that would shoot any ideas for entrepreneurshipWanting to explore a ‘brain for hire' model, to see if he could sell his expertiseValidating the niche to be in - of SaaS pricing advisoryWhy he did not consider a model of being a fractional product manager role, as a consultantWhat some of the inflexion points in his career have beenHow he has been able to support global clients, remotelyHis advice for young professionals who want to take up product management as a careerDan Balcauski, the founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, dispels B2B SaaS Pricing Illusions.Dan is an expert in helping high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. He has 15 years of experience managing multiple products throughout their life cycles, from start-ups to publicly traded multinationals. A fun fact about him: before founding the company, he took a sabbatical and completed a solo, round-the-world expedition to 21 countries.Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/

In this episode, my co-host Gayatri is in conversation with Dan Balcauski, founder and chief pricing officer at product tranquility, a company that helps high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new productsIn this conversation he talks aboutHis student days in 1999, the peak dotcom eraGot a job in Austin, TexasGetting into engineering manager role, which included envisioning product roadmapsDeveloping an interest in articulating value of solutions Signing up for an MBA and doing work on pricingSeeing some of the mistakes made by others during mergers and acquisitionsSetting up his company about 4 years agoHow he learns from other experts and booksHis views and recommendations on pricing and inflationThe impact of Covid on pricing patterns in hardware and softwareListen on!Gayatri asked him what challenges he faced when he became a consultantThe answer to that question and a lot more interesting stuff in the next episode.Dan Balcauski, the founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, dispels B2B SaaS Pricing Illusions.Dan is an expert in helping high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. He has 15 years of experience managing multiple products throughout their life cycles, from start-ups to publicly traded multinationals. A fun fact about him: before founding the company, he took a sabbatical and completed a solo, round-the-world expedition to 21 countries.Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/

“I ultimately believe that product marketing should own pricing…pricing is a function of your company's positioning.” Dan Balcauski is the founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, based in Austin, TX. He focuses on helping high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. Over his career, he has worked in both B2C and B2B companies ranging from startups to publicly traded enterprises. Questions and topics we covered include: What do people get wrong about pricing? Defining product management Who should be responsible for pricing decisions in a business? The business objectives that pricing affects The pros and cons of freemium pricing models How businesses can define their product's value using the “value cascade” and “Jobs To Be Done” How market reference prices work How to measure time to value and see its impact on the end-user How do you identify the most effective price metric? Should a company show pricing on its website? How to leverage bundling as an acquisition tactic Why custom packaging only works in one scenario And more! You can connect with Dan via LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/  And check out his website -  https://www.producttranquility.com/ You can connect with me on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennysoto/ Our Podcast Partner - MarketerHire If you're looking to hire expert freelance talent this year to scale your business (and impress your boss), check out MarketerHire. MarketerHire vets freelance talent so when you hire an SEO expert, Email Marketer, or even a Fractional CMO—you're not wasting your money or your time. You can hire your first freelancer and get a $500 credit by visiting: www.kennysoto.com/hire  Music for this podcast comes from www.davidcuttermusic.com

How can B2B SaaS businesses create profitable pricing strategies? View the full video interview here. Dan Balcauski is the founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, based in Austin, TX. He focuses on helping high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. Over his career, he has worked in both B2C and B2B companies ranging from startups to publicly traded enterprises.

On today's episode, we're joined by Dan Balcauski, Founder and Chief Pricing Officer of Product Tranquility, a consulting firm in Austin, Texas focused on helping high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products.We talk about:What people often get wrong about pricingPricing questions you should never askWhat to ask instead The right way for companies to raise pricesHow to determine if you should publish pricing online

Dan Balcauski, Founder & Principal Consultant at Product Tranquility, talks about how B2B SaaS founders should think about pricing & packaging their products. We talk about how to think about pricing, when it starts really mattering & finally how to increase prices without affecting your existing SaaS customers.The interview covers the following topics:How Product Tranquility helps high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new productsThe importance of pricing strategy for SaaS companies and the common mistakes that companies make.Why understanding customer segments, value drivers, and competition is crucial for creating a pricing strategy that maximizes profitability.Why companies looking to increase prices should align on goals, evaluate expected revenue and costs, and test changes at a smaller scale.Why pricing and packaging should be approached as a multidimensional strategy rather than just focusing on price level.

“Differentiation only matters to a customer in as much as they perceive that it matters,” Dan Balcauski. In this episode of Pragmatic Live, Rebecca Kalogeris, and Dan Balcauski, Founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, explore how product professionals can influence pricing. They also discuss: Why product managers should deeply understand pricing Where people go wrong when they are working on pricing strategy How to establish a clear understanding of how your customer's value that's not based on opinion The role of competitive analysis in building a pricing strategy Why Dan doesn't recommend freemiums (but does recommend free trials) Ready to master the art of pricing? Learn how to set the right price for your products and services, understand your customers' willingness to pay, and maximize your profits. Learn More

This week's show is entitled, "Modern B2B Pricing Best Practices".  My guest is Dan Balcauski, Founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility. Tune in to: Explore why pricing is often overlooked and underestimated in B2B marketing, and how it can be a crucial factor in business success. Rethinking Freemium: Understand the limitations of freemium pricing in B2B SaaS and why a free trial approach is often more effective. Discover why freemium can attract the wrong customer segments and distract from building a product that real target customers are willing to pay for. Unveiling the Concept of Pricing Fairness: Delve into the notion of fairness in pricing and its influence on customer perception. Explore the importance of considering personal and social fairness, along with the role of voice and choice in ensuring customer acceptance of pricing changes. Watch the video, listen in below and/or read the transcript on the Heinz Marketing Blog.  Matt interviews the best and brightest minds in sales and Marketing.  If you would like to be a guest on Sales Pipeline Radio send an email to Sheena@heinzmarketing.com.

On today's episode of the Entrepreneur Evolution Podcast, we are joined by Dan Balcauski. Dan Balcauski is the founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, based in Austin, TX. He focuses on helping high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. Over his career, he has worked in both B2C and B2B companies ranging from startups to publicly traded enterprises. To learn more about Product Tranquility, visit https://www.producttranquility.com/     We would love to hear from you, and it would be awesome if you left us a 5-star review. Your feedback means the world to us, and we will be sure to send you a special thank you for your kind words. Don't forget to hit “subscribe” to automatically be notified when guest interviews and Express Tips drop every Tuesday and Friday. Interested in joining our monthly entrepreneur membership? Email Annette directly at yourock@ievolveconsulting.com to learn more.  Ready to invest in yourself? Book your free session with Annette HERE.  Keep evolving, entrepreneur. We are SO proud of you! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/annette-walter/support

Are you struggling with setting the right prices for your IT or SaaS products? Then this episode of the Marketing Technology Podcast is perfect for you! Elias Crum interviews Dan Balcauski, the Founder of Product Tranquility, who shares his insights on pricing as a powerful marketing instrument.   Dan explains the services model (SVCS), a comprehensive pricing framework that helps marketers set the right prices for their products. He also delves into the factors that influence pricing, including inflation and price elasticity.   The episode also touches on the Porter 5 forces model, which Dan believes can be applied to pricing strategies as well. Whether you're a marketer or an entrepreneur, you won't want to miss this enlightening conversation on pricing and its impact on marketing success. Tune in to the Marketing Technology Podcast now!   The Marketing Technology Podcast is brought to you by Marketing Guys, the #1 Martech agency in Europe.   If you want to be on this podcast or would like to know more about Marketing Technology, visit our website at marketingguys.com or contact Elias Crum at e.crum@marketingguys.nl

Product Tranquility is a consulting firm founded in Austin, TX, led by Dan Balcauski. As the principal consultant for Product Tranquility, Dan helps high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. He is a TopTal certified Top 3% Product Management Professional and helps teach the Kellogg Executive Education course on Product Strategy.   Experience Over the last 15 years, Dan has managed multiple products throughout the product life-cycle from new concept incubation, product launch, product maintenance, platform transitions, and end of life. Dan has worked in both consumer and B2B companies, across consumer internet, mobile, IT software, and test and measurement hardware and software in addition to company sizes ranging from startups to publicly traded multi-national enterprises.   Prior to founding Product Tranquility, Dan completed a solo round-the-world expedition to 21 countries, a lifelong dream that involved several life-changing volunteering experiences and a new collection of friends and good stories. Prior to that, he was Head of Product at LawnStarter, a two-sided marketplace bringing the best lawn care professionals to customers across the US. He joined LawnStarter after SolarWinds' $4B acquisition by Silver Lake and Thoma Bravo. At SolarWinds, he was a Principal Product Strategist where he helped form and execute product growth strategies across new and existing products, both on-premises and SaaS-based.   Dan has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from Iowa State University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

In the subscription economy, a company's product takes a backseat to its subscriber. What does this mean for a company's go-to-market strategy? For starters, value-added services and customer support become paramount.  In your everyday life, you most likely subscribe to various streaming services or office software tools. But subscription and usage-based models are expanding far beyond the consumer realm, becoming more and more popular in traditional B2B spaces.  Dan Balcauski, founder and chief pricing officer of Product Tranquility, joins the show to explain why this shift is happening, the ramifications for the B2B world, benefits versus risks, best practices, and much more. Visit: https://www.producttranquility.com/  www.zilliant.com

In our latest episode, we're thrilled to feature Dan Balcauski, Founder of Product Tranquility, as we navigate the world of SaaS pricing models.About Dan Balcauski Started his career in product management at National Instruments, based in Austin, Texas. Ascended to the role of Product Strategy Principal at SolarWinds, a SaaS company serving DevOps and IT professionals. Made a significant shift to B2C, leading product at LawnStarter Lawn Care. Boasted a successful freelance career as a product manager, earning a place in the top 3% of PM professionals worldwide on Toptal. Imparts his industry knowledge as a program leader at Northwestern University, where he teaches product strategy. In 2019, Balcauski launched Product Tranquility, a venture dedicated to assisting B2B SaaS CEOs in defining pricing and packaging for their products.A Personal AdventureWhat sets Balcauski apart is his remarkable spirit of adventure. Before starting Product Tranquility, he embarked on a personal voyage as an independent travel consultant, planning and undertaking a global expedition through 21 countries. This extraordinary journey demonstrated his fervor for continuous learning, during which he acquired new skills ranging from digital marketing and Spanish proficiency to kiteboarding and Argentine Tango.Join us as we dive deep into the insights and stories Balcauski brings to the table.Value-Based PricingIn our engaging chat, Dan Balcauski brought up some crucial insights regarding the struggles businesses often face while setting up pricing in the SaaS industry. There's often a lack of structure, leading to heated debates rather than an organized approach. To combat this, Balcauski introduces the 'Services' model.Key Challenges in Pricing: An unclear target customer profile: Companies often struggle to understand exactly who they are serving. Poor understanding of how they create customer value: Businesses might be unclear on the unique value they deliver to their customers. Unclear product differentiation: Companies often grapple with distinguishing their products from others in the market. Underappreciation for the depth of decisions in pricing and packaging: Many overlook the vast array of factors impacting pricing, focusing only on surface-level elements. The 'Services' Model:The 'Services' model stands for Segments, Value, Competition, and Strategy, and was designed to address these challenges. Segments: Understand the specific context and constraints of your customer segments, as they dictate what they value most. Value: Recognize how each segment perceives value and rank orders value drivers, influencing how they value your product. Competition: Be aware of the competitive alternatives each segment has available. What would they use if your product didn't exist? Strategy: This comes in the Michael Porter sense of the word. Strategy involves trade-offs; you can't be everything to everyone. Decide who you're going to target, how you position yourselves in their minds, and how you'll balance the different elements of SaaS packaging. This includes price metrics, price models, offer configurations, etc. The combination of these four components informs the price level you set, helping your business achieve its objectives. The 'Services' model ensures a more thoughtful, strategic approach to pricing, moving away from arbitrary decisions.What is value based pricing? Dan Balcauski clarified the concept of value-based pricing and distinguished it from other terms like value metrics and price metrics.Value-Based PricingValue-based pricing, at its core, concerns how value is divided between buyer and seller in a transaction. This notion dates back to Adam Smith and the concept of trade, where specialization and trading lead to overall improvements for everyone involved.“...goes all the way back to Adam Smith with trade, right, you've got the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker, they don't all try to, you know, bake their own bread and cut their own meat, etc. Because it's better if we all specialize, we're all better off if we specialize in trade, right.” - Dan Balcauski Value Metric vs. Price Metric Value Metric: Using a 'Jobs to be Done' framework, the value metric is how customers measure the effectiveness of your product in achieving their specific outcomes. These outcomes could be economic (saving time, decreasing costs, increasing revenue), emotional (reducing anxiety, boosting status), or social (contributing to causes like climate change, equal rights, education, health care). Price Metric: While value metrics focus on the customer, price metrics focus on the product. The price metric is the unit of value for which the customer is charged concerning the product (e.g., number of users, API transactions, gigabytes of data transferred, etc.). Ideally, the value metric and price metric should be correlated, meaning that the way customers derive value from your product should inform the units by which you charge. Outcome-Based PricingThe question of charging based on actual value delivered, like a CRM charging based on deals closed every month instead of the number of users, led to the discussion of outcome-based pricing. This model aligns the vendor with the customer's success, creating a 'pure' form of value-based pricing.While this approach is theoretically appealing, Balcauski explains it doesn't always work in practice. Exceptions include companies like Stripe, which directly participates in the payment flow and therefore aligns its success with its clients' success.Outcome-based pricing may not work well for companies outside the flow of the success metric. It can lead to complications in reporting and potential conflicts, given that what is considered 'success' may not be clearly defined or could be interpreted differently by different parties. Therefore, while enticing, outcome-based pricing requires careful implementation to avoid straining customer relationships.Bundling and Unbundling in Pricing Models**Bundling, Unbundling, and Usage-Based Pricing**Bundling and unbundling, while seemingly contrary, are not in tension with usage-based pricing. These concepts represent different dimensions of product packaging that can evolve independently. According to the Silicon Valley CEO Jim Clark, the only two ways to make money in business are bundling and unbundling.The history of the PC industry illustrates this with the evolution from monolithic providers like IBM to the unbundling of the operating system from the CPU architecture (as seen with the Wintel monopoly), and then back to bundling via Apple's integration of software and hardware. Dan highlights that such industry transformations often occur cyclically and are influenced by broader market trends rather than by single companies.The Nuances of Pricing MetricsPricing metrics, while essential for defining a product's price, can either aid or hinder a company's competitive positioning. The choice of pricing metric depends significantly on the market context and should ideally align with the customer's business needs and the perceived value of the product. Innovative pricing strategies, like Rolls Royce's "power by the hour" for jet engines, demonstrate how such metrics can mirror customer value, thereby streamlining the buying process.However, such innovative strategies may require substantial resources to educate the market about the change and may be more successful if driven by industry leaders or highly innovative products. Finally, Dan advises caution when attempting to be distinctive with pricing metrics, as this can result in increased effort to justify the difference to potential customers.AI and Pricing for Solo TravelersThe final part of the interview revolved around a hypothetical AI application designed to assist solo travelers, with features like tracking reservations, making dynamic dinner reservations, and offering real-time travel updates. The proposed monetization strategy is a freemium model, with added features for premium users.In response to this idea, Dan expresses concern about the target audience of solo personal travelers due to their potential limited spending power. He urges the developers to consider different customer segments thoroughly, understanding their specific needs and the context in which they'll be using the app.The importance of understanding customers' contexts is emphasized, using the example of airlines, who vary ticket prices based on the nature and timing of travel. Understanding these distinct customer segments and their unique value drivers can guide pricing decisions effectively.In addition, Dan encourages the consideration of competitive alternatives from a 'Jobs to be Done' perspective. Instead of focusing on similar apps or startups, the developers should consider what the target user is currently using to solve their problem if the proposed app didn't exist. By understanding these competitive alternatives and their inherent limitations, developers can better define their product's differentiated value and devise a pricing strategy that accurately captures this value.Episode Recap In this intriguing episode, Dan Balcauski offers his deep expertise and unique perspectives on the world of SaaS pricing models. We delve into various aspects, ranging from the 'Services' model to value-based pricing, outcome-based pricing, bundling and unbundling, as well as the exciting realm of AI in pricing strategies. Each topic comes with a host of insights and stories from Dan's vast experience, illustrating the depth of his knowledge and his ability to communicate complex ideas with clarity and impact.Balcauski's unique background, blending his passion for product strategy and global travel, sets the stage for an engaging, insightful conversation that leaves listeners with a wealth of valuable takeaways. Whether you're an established SaaS CEO or a budding entrepreneur, the wisdom shared by Dan Balcauski is sure to elevate your understanding of pricing and packaging in the SaaS industry. Listen to the full episode now. And don't forget to follow Dan: Product Tranquility Dan's LinkedIn 

Product pricing is one of the challenges we have in Product Management, but we either shy away from it, or alternatively, only use our gut feeling to set up a price, or even worth, price our products compared to our competition.That's why we invited SaaS pricing expert, Dan Balcauski, Founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility. Dan helps high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. In this episode, Matt and Moshe learned from Dan about the right price for beer, but more importantly, what it takes to come up with software product pricing, as well as some of the tools used in the process.In this episode you will learn:The differences in pricing between different types of productsDifferent type of pricing modelsIs pricing a one time process or ongoing?Who owns pricing in the team?How do we come up with the “right” price?What type of research can one do to determine pricing?Framing your product and changing people perception to how much they are willing to pay for itTools used for the pricing decision supportDifferent way to package our products and how it drives pricingAnd much more!You can connect with Dan at:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/Product Tranquility: https://www.producttranquility.com/You can find the podcast's page, and connect with Matt and Moshe on Linkedin:Product for Product Podcast - linkedin.com/company/product-for-product-podcastMatt Green - linkedin.com/in/mattgreenanalytics/Moshe Mikanovsky - linkedin.com/in/mikanovsky/Note: any views mentioned in the podcast are the sole views of our hosts and guests, and do not represent the products mentioned in any way.Please leave us a review and feedback ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dan Balcauski is the founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, based in Austin, TX. He focuses on helping high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. Over his career, he has worked in both B2C and B2B companies ranging from startups to publicly traded enterprises.   Outline Why Dan does what he does. How to dispel pricing illusions in business. When does it work? When does it not? What is the difference between lowering price and offering a flanking product? The jobs to be done framework and the value cascade. Why is the Buddha Dan's hero?

Dan Balcauski is the founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, based in Austin, TX. He focuses on helping high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. Over his career, he has worked in both B2C and B2B companies ranging from startups to publicly traded enterprises.   Outline Why Dan does what he does. How to dispel pricing illusions in business. When does it work? When does it not? What is the difference between lowering price and offering a flanking product? The jobs to be done framework and the value cascade. Why is the Buddha Dan's hero?

Today we're joined by Dan Balcauski, founder of Product Tranquility, and an expert on B2B SaaS pricing and packaging. Prior to founding Product Tranquility, he did a lot of things, but the coolest we think was his solo round-the-world expedition to 21 countries. Today's topic: Willingness to Pay.

Who is in charge of pricing decisions at your SaaS org? For nearly 60% of companies, it's the CEO or an opinion-filled decision amongst the entire C-suite. But who should own it? Dan Balcauski, the founder of Product Tranquility, answers the question in this episode, breaking down the art and science of SaaS product pricing and packaging (two very different elements) and advocating for marketers to focus more on the “who” and “how” they charge instead of the price itself (the “what”). Connect with Guest: LinkedinLink Connect with Lindsey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseygroepper/ Learn more about BLASTmedia: https://www.blastmedia.com/

Dan Balcauski is a pricing expert and dropped by the pod to share key insights, hot takes, and practical advice for product teams and leaders to help unpack the pricing process, key variables, and mistakes to avoid. Show notes: 0:00-0:30 - Episode Intro 0:30-1:55 - Dan's Intro/Background 1:55-4:55 - From Engineer to Pricing Guru 4:55-6:42 - Biggest Pricing Pitfall 6:42-19:00 - Segmentation Myths and Realities 19:00-21:00 - defining value (3 Types) 21:00-26:35 - The Value Cascade 26:35-36:45 - How customers shape pricing 36:45-43:00 - Willingness to pay (WTP) (40:12) 43:00-47:30 - Pricing in B2B 47:30-56:50 -  Freemium Good or Bad? 56:50-57:48 - Contact Dan 57:48-58:02 - Outro --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/productmanagementlessons/message

Dan Balcauski, the product pricing guru (part 2) Dan's interview is excellent – and long. It's going to expand your mind on how to think about pricing – so much so, in fact, that I have to air the interview in two parts! And this is part 2. (Find part one at 134: Dan Balcauski Read More

Dan Balcauski, the product pricing guru Dan's interview is excellent – and long. It's going to expand your mind on how to think about pricing – so much so, in fact, that I have to air the interview in two parts! JJ Rorie introduced me to Dan a few months ago. She's a product management Read More

Dan Balcauski, founder and principal consultant at Product Tranquility, joins to discuss The Secret to Unlocking Value: How to Maximize Your Product's Price.We discuss: Three types of value driversHow to know what our customers valueHow to measure pricing effectivenessHow companies find their value metricThe connection between customer segmentation and pricingAnd more!Learn more at ProductVoices.com.

Dan Balcauski was a program leader for Northwestern University, where he also went to school seven years prior. He is the founder and Chief Pricing Officer of Product Tranquility, a company that helps high volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new and existing products. In this episode, Dan talks about pricing and packaging and how he applies its principles in helping B2B SaaS companies.   Why you have to check out today's podcast: Learn about the similarities and differences of pricing model and pricing metrics Discover the fundamental principles of how to decide which features to put on which packages Understand why there is no such thing as absolute and optimal pricing  “You don't really have a choice of whether you will have a pricing conversation with your customer. The only decision you get to make is when you're going to have that conversation. So I recommend having it as soon as possible.”  – Dan Balcauski   Topics Covered: 01:13 – How Dan got the title “Chief Pricing Officer” 02:04 – The work that Product Tranquility does 02:16 – Dan's thoughts on packaging 04:31 – How Dan defines pricing metrics and pricing model 10:24 – How Dan decides which features go to which packages 16:50 – Dan's thoughts on good, better, best packaging 18:51 – How to decide if a specific feature shall go to good, better, or best packages 21:21 – How you should name your packages if you want to call them other than “good, better, and best” packages 23:24 – Dan's favorite thing to share people about pricing and packaging 26:08 – Do product managers use the word “value” the same way that pricing people do? 28:27 – Dan's pricing advice 29:58 – Connect with Dan Balcauski   Key Takeaways: “When it comes to, especially SaaS pricing, most executives think that what you charge determines your success. In fact, who and how you charge determines your success. And the packaging is a huge element of how you charge. It really helps tell and align your value story so your sales and go-to market teams can really get your message across of the differentiated value that you bring.” – Dan Balcauski “In general, the principle by which I look at this through, is that your bundles, offer configurations, and packages, in Mark's terms, should align to a particular customer segment.” – Dan Balcauski “If we understand at a deep level what our customer segments need, what their constraints are, what they value, then we can make that decision much easier for them, which increases our sales velocity, reduces our customer acquisition costs, et cetera.” – Dan Balcauski “If we don't understand the customer we're going after, the problems they have, the outcomes they want, the constraints that they face upfront, the rest of the conversation gets very muddled.” – Dan Balcauski “There's the right price for the right moment in time for your stage of company, for the life cycle of your industry, for your competitive environment. But you're going to learn, you're going to get better.” – Dan Balcauski   Connect with Dan Balcauski: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/ Website: https://www.producttranquility.com/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mailto:mark@impactpricing.com  

Dan Balcauski is the founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, based in Austin, TX. He focuses on helping high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. Over his career, he has worked in both B2C and B2B companies ranging from startups to publicly traded enterprises. In this episode of the Product Science Podcast, we cover Dan's SVCS model for working through pricing and packaging, how to figure out what different customers value, and how to use the 3 common pricing orientations. Read the show notes to learn more: www.h2rproductscience.com/post/the-dan-balcauski-hypothesis-the-most-important-part-of-product-pricing-is-who-and-how-you-charge

Dan Balcauski founded Product Tranquility, a firm that helps businesses grow and increase their bottom line through intelligent pricing and packaging strategies. Dan defines pricing not as an end goal, but as a means to a more efficient business plan that will sustain customer interest for the long term. In the last episode, Dan talked about the company's genesis, the services they offer, and what most businesses get wrong about pricing. In part two of this series, Dan discusses why start-ups should be cautious about copying what Fortune 500 companies do. He shares how customer segmentation affects your pricing strategy. He explains the elements of business packaging and how to ensure you don't overwhelm your sales team. Dan also describes why you should think of pricing as a process. “Modern marketing falls into understanding segmentation, targeting, and positioning.” - Dan Balcauski This week on Innovation Talks: ●     Why start-ups shouldn't copy what Fortune 500 companies are doing●     How customer segmentation impacts pricing●     Why pricing and packaging are functions of your positioning●     The elements of business packaging●     Dan's advice for those who don't understand pricing Connect with Dan Balcauski: ●     Product Tranquility●     Dan Balcauski on LinkedIn This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Innovation Talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts. Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | iHeart Be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more listeners, like you. For additional information around new product development or corporate innovation, sign up for Sopheon's newsletter where we share news and industry best practices monthly! The fastest way to do this is to go to sopheon.com and click here. 

Dan Balcauski is the founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, a firm specializing in value creation and helping clients boost productivity and growth and improve customer loyalty. He provides strategic pricing and packaging consultations to high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs. Dan is also a Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management program leader and is part of Toptal's Top 3% Worldwide Product Management Professionals. Dan joins me today to describe Product Tranquility, its services, and how they help businesses develop pricing strategies that lead to growth. He explains what most companies get wrong about pricing and his definition of pricing from the viewpoint of value. He discusses value cascade and the best ways to understand your customers. Dan also shares why pricing isn't necessarily a primary driver of business growth. “Intelligent price management starts with intelligent value management.” - Dan Balcauski This week on Innovation Talks: ●     Product Tranquility and how they got started●     What people get wrong about pricing●     Dan's definition of value in pricing●     Value cascade and the best way to understand your customers Resources Mentioned: ●     Book: The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: A Guide to Growing More Profitably by Thomas Nagle and Georg Müller Connect with Dan Balcauski: ●     Product Tranquility●     Dan Balcauski on LinkedIn This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Innovation Talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts. Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | iHeart Be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more listeners like you. For additional information about new product development or corporate innovation, sign up for Sopheon's newsletter, where we share news and industry best practices monthly! The fastest way to do this is to go to sopheon.com and click here. 

Dan Balcauski is the founder and Principal Consultant at Product Tranquility, a consulting firm that helps SaaS business leaders accelerate their product growth and increase customer loyalty.  He's an expert in digital marketing and e-commerce with a specialization in pricing and product strategy. Dan is also the Program Leader for Kellogg's Executive Education Product Strategy course.  In addition to his role at Product Tranquility, Dan works as a freelance product manager and is a member of Veritux. Some of the companies he's worked for include SolarWinds, LawnStarter, and NI (formerly National Instruments). Dan's good news on the podcast today is that there's a golden opportunity that every SaaS company has right now to build a pricing model that their customers (and their investors) will love that won't distract you with a mirage of “free growth.” Tune in and get ready to take some notes.  Key Takeaways What does pricing entirely encapsulate and why do many businesses struggle with it?Finding out who in the company should initially deal with the pricing and packaging aspect of thingsProblems and pitfalls that Dan has encountered with all the companies he's helped, and what indicators are there to guide companies in the right directionMetrics that companies can use to verify if they are meeting their goals and whether or not their pricing is playing a role in meeting those goals Pricing model variations between long-term businesses versus exit-driven businessesThe pros and cons of the various discounting strategies in use by different companies i.e free trials, freemium, free tools, etc.The importance of free tools to act as a starting point for the user and fend off buyers remorse without added effort to convert the prospects to customersThe dangers that businesses might run into with a low price; especially with new non-existing products in their category Connect with Dan Website - https://www.producttranquility.com/  LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/  Twitter - https://twitter.com/dan_balcauski 

Dan Balcauski is the Founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, a consulting firm that helps B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. On the podcast today, he outlines the three core value drivers (functional, emotional, social) and delves into the psychology of value. He shares why freemium models almost never work and why he hates the term “product market fit.” 0:00 Intro 1:02 Dan's background 5:55 Value and pricing 7:15 3 core value drivers 8:00 Value cascade 11:55 Brand and Positioning 18:48 Pricing 21:15 Product market fit 22:10 Packaging 26:30 Who's responsible 29:10 Rolling out internally 33:42 Freemium 42:18 Connect with Dan 42:45 Closing words Join The JuiceFollow The Juice:| Website | Blog | Twitter | LinkedInFollow Dan: | LinkedIn | Website Follow Brett:| Twitter | LinkedIn 

Core to implementing the right pricing strategy is understanding what the perceived value the product holds for the customer; this indicates what customers value and what price they are willing to pay for it. If you learn this before implementing new features or launching a new product this is sure to increase the chances of product success!In this episode, I am joined by Dan Balcauski, Principal Consultant for Product Tranquillity deep dive into how important pricing and understanding value and how important it is for achieving product success.

Dan is the Founder & Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, a consulting firm that accelerates product growth and increases customer loyalty. They bring world-class product management and strategy practices to B2B SaaS and Marketplace companies in the small-to-mid market. Dan has managed multiple products throughout the product life-cycle from new concept incubation, product launch, product maintenance, platform transitions, and end of life over the last 15 years. In this episode we cover: 00:00 - https://byldd.com/ (Byldd - MVP Development Agency Based in New York) 01:12 - Intro 03:00 - What Is Product Value? 09:18 - Perceived Value Vs Cheap Price 13:00 - Strategy For Getting An Effective Price 16:31 - What Some SaaS Founders Get Wrong About Pricing 17:59 - How Often The Price Should Be Changed 20:34 - Adjusting The Price When Adding New Features 23:14 - Advantages Of Using Free Trials Or Freemium 32:02 - https://dofollow.io (Dofollow.io - Premium Link Building) 33:20 - Should Companies Show Pricing On Their Websites? 39:34 - When To Bring A Pricing Expert To Your Product Marketing Team 42:26 - Dan's Favorite Activity To Get Into a Flow State 43:27 - Dan's Piece of Advice for His 25 Years Old Self 43:45 - Dan's Biggest Challenges at Product Tranquility 44:38 - Instrumental Resources for Dan's Success 46:17 - What Does Success Means for Dan Today 47:24 - Get In Touch With Dan Get in Touch With Dan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/ (Dan's LinkedIn) https://www.producttranquility.com/home-extended/blog/ (Product Tranquility Blog) Mentions: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickccampbell/ (Patrick Campbell) Books: https://www.amazon.com.br/Strategy-Tactics-Pricing-growing-profitably-dp-1138737518/dp/1138737518 (The Strategy And Tactics Of Pricing by Thomas T Nagle) https://www.amazon.com.br/Monetizing-Innovation-Companies-Design-Product/dp/1119240867 (Monetizing Innovation by Madhavan Ramanujam & Georg Tacke) Magic Mind, The World's First Productivity Drink - You can get 40% off on your subscription for the next 10 Days. Try it out, go to https://my.captivate.fm/magicmind.co/SaaS (magicmind.co/SaaS) and use our Discount Code SAAS20 Tag Us & Follow: https://www.facebook.com/SaaSDistrictPodcast/ (Facebook) https://www.linkedin.com/company/horizen-capital (LinkedIn) https://www.instagram.com/saasdistrict/ (Instagram) More About Akeel: https://twitter.com/AkeelJabber (Twitter) https://linkedin.com/in/akeel-jabbar (LinkedIn) https://horizencapital.com/saas-podcast/ (SaaS Podcasts) https://horizencapital.com/saas-consulting-services/ (SaaS Consultants) https://horizencapital.com/how-to-value-saas-business/ (Learn How to Value a SaaS Company)

Dan Balcauski is the founder of Product Tranquility, a consulting that helps B2B SaaS companies define pricing and packaging for new products.Dan has 15 years of experience managing multiple products throughout their life cycles, from startups to publicly traded multinational enterprises.In this episode, Arthur and Dan discuss:- Common pitfalls in pricing- Setting a pricing strategy- The 3C's of pricing- The SVCS Model for SaaS pricing- How to approach targeting different industries and segments- How to create good packaging- Price classification- Who should be responsible for pricing in an organization?Like the episode? Subscribe to Leaders of Growth!Leaders of Growth is brought to you by Knight Capital.

In this episode, Dan Balcauski, the founder of Product Tranquility, joins us to discuss how to do SaaS pricing -- one of those topics we have wanted to discuss for a long time. Through the episode, Dan throws light on: 1. What is effective SaaS Pricing and the fundamentals that people often miss in their pricing 2. How should you identify your optimal price strategy? What is step one? Two? Three? 3. What drives pricing design? 4. In value-based pricing, how do you determine value? 5. Difference between pricing metrics and value metrics, and a lot more...

“An effective price helps you capture fair value for the value that you're delivering to customers,” says Dan Balcauski, who specializes in B2B SaaS, which stands for business-to-business Software-as-a-Service. Balcauski is the Founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, a business consulting and value creation firm, where he helps businesses optimize their pricing models. This includes dispelling a number of myths.   One of these myths is the “freemium” pricing model, where users are offered basic features of a product or service for free while they are charged a premium for higher-tier features. Dan explains that as tempting and seemingly effective as these models may be, they are almost never a good idea. Constantly churning out new features takes a toll on a company's development team, and creates an illusion of free growth. In this episode of Billion Dollar Tech, you'll learn the four pillars of a successful SaaS package, the three Cs of pricing, and the subtle but crucial difference between value metric and price metric.      Quotes: “In terms of a company's objective, I believe that an effective price maximizes the company's long term profitability.” (1:04-1:10 | Dan)  “When it comes to SaaS pricing, most executives think that what you charge will determine your success, in fact, who and how you charge determines your success.” (4:09-4:14 | Dan)  “Without a product manager there to be the voice of all the stakeholders inside the building and the voice of the customer when the customer's not represented at the table, it's hard to make decisions in an efficient manner to move the conversation forward about what should be built and when.” (11:36-11:48 | Dan) “With segmentation you really have two fundamental directions that you can start with: you can start with who customers are or what customers want.” (15:48-15:54 | Dan) “When I think about value drivers in jobs to be done, there's three categories of value drivers: the economic value drivers, (or economic function market value drivers), there's emotional value drivers, or there's the social, or community value drivers.” (23:50-24:07 | Dan) “For most B2B, you have to do research. So that's talking to customers or doing surveys. Testing your pricing and packaging is highly problematic.” (35:54-36:05 | Dan)   “Software is what economists call ‘an experience good,' which means my perception of value changes as I use it.” (49:28-49:36 | Dan)    Connect with Brendan Dell: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendandell/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendanDell Instagram: @thebrendandell TikTok: @brendandell39 Buy a copy of Brendan's Book, The 12 Immutable Laws of High-Impact Messaging: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780578210926    Connect with Dan Balcauski: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski More about Dan: https://www.producttranquility.com/home-extended/about-dan/ Please don't forget to rate, comment, and subscribe to Billion Dollar Tech on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts! Use code Brendan30 for 30% off your annual membership with RiverSide.fm  Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

When should a B2B SaaS company change its pricing and how often should it happen? How do free trials and freemium play within the pricing equation? In this episode of Marketing Spark, Dan Balcauski and I explore the pricing landscape. We look at who should be responsible for pricing, know when prices have to be increased and know when your pricing is working. Pricing may not get the attention it deserves so Dan has great insight into its role and how to think about it. 

Michael Luchen is joined by Dan Balcauski, Principal Consultant at Product Tranquility. Listen as they explore product pricing and the multitude of facets that go into setting up your product's pricing strategy.

Dan Balcauski, our pricing master, is here to help us understand the value of pricing and compete in the market while generating over-the-top revenues. He delves into the ins and outs of how effective it is to maximize your price to have long-term profitability and move your business forward. So let's hop on in, explore the depths of pricing models and learn a thing or two from this savvy expert.  Show Notes [0:58] How to be competitive while still generating revenues? [2:57] On understanding customer value, psychology and finance aspects  [3:13] What do people typically get wrong about pricing, especially in 2022? [4:17] How does he define an effective price? [5:48] How does the entire pricing process work? [8:49] Using the “jobs to be done” framework to understand customer value [12:01] What exactly is packaging from a perspective of a software product? [14:29] Make sure that your offering is clear and the customers understand what might be the best for them [17:00] Have a pricing committee and internal systems for your product  [18:21] How often should companies change their pricing? About Dan Balcauski As the B2B SaaS Pricing continues to evolve, so does Dan. Dan is always passionate about helping businesses optimize their pricing models. He's always a one-call away when you need help in your pricing endeavors. Link: Product Tranquility  Profile: Dan's LinkedIn

Pricing and packaging can be complex, which is why many companies and teams get it wrong or avoid it. It's why I spoke with Dan about how to do it right, and why he created Product Tranquility. From understanding and segmenting your customers, to creating the right packaging, to developing an ongoing process, we covered so many amazing tips for getting product pricing right. And more (like why to avoid freemium). So take a listen.Dan's Bio:Product Tranquility is a consulting firm founded in Austin, TX, led by Dan Balcauski. As the principal consultant for Product Tranquility, Dan helps high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. He is a TopTal certified Top 3% Product Management Professional and helps teach the Kellogg Executive Education course on Product Strategy.Links from the show:Website: https://www.producttranquility.com/#homeLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/More by Kyle:Follow Product by Design and Kyle on TwitterKyle's writing on MediumProduct by Design on MediumSign up for Kyle's Product Thinking Newsletter for more updates.Like our podcast, consider Buying Us a Coffee

Understanding packaging holistically is a key step in the pricing process. And something that should be revisited regularly. Our world isn't static. Your market isn't static. And your product (hopefully) isn't static. So you need to constantly be thinking about the overall product packaging and pricing to ensure you're correctly “dividing the value you're delivering” between you and your customer.I recently had a conversation with Dan Balcauski for my other podcast, Product by Design. Dan is the founder of Product Tranquility, a product packaging and pricing consultancy. This podcast highlights one point of our conversation and expands on a few points. You can find the full podcast interview linked below. Links:Podcast Interview: Getting Product Packaging and Pricing RightDon't forget to subscribe at productthinking.ccTwitter: @kylelarryevans and @producthinkingWeekly newsletter: Understanding Product PackagingOr just want to leave a tip: buy me a coffee?Check out our Product by Design podcast as well ★ Support this podcast ★

On this week's episode of Product Marketing Life, host Mark Assini is joined by Dan Balcauski, Principal Consultant at Product Tranquility. The pair discuss why Dan feels product marketing should have an active role in guiding pricing committees that drive pricing strategy, and what product marketers should look out for when approaching pricing.

On this week's episode of Product Marketing Life, host Mark Assini is joined by Dan Balcauski, Principal Consultant at Product Tranquility.  The pair discuss why Dan feels product marketing should have an active role in guiding pricing committees that drive pricing strategy, and what product marketers should look out for when approaching pricing.

For Episode 86 - our host Bryan Whittington dives deep on a topic that is absolutely key to understand if you want to grow your business - pricing! Bryan brought in an expert for this one...Dan Balcauski is the Founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility. Dan helps high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products and he shares his knowledge with us in this informative interview! Connect with Dan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/ Connect with Bryan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brywhittington/ www.ebsgrowth.com

In this episode, I'm really excited to have as my guest, Dan Balcauski, the principal consultant for Product Tranquility based in Austin, Texas. He focuses on helping high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. Over his career, he has worked in both consumer and B2B companies, across consumer internet, mobile, IT software, and test and measurement hardware and software in addition to company sizes ranging from startups to publicly traded multi-national enterprises. He also teaches Product Strategy for Kellogg Executive Education online. In our discussion, Dan talked to me about: How defining pricing and packaging starts with understanding our customer segments and the problems we solve Differentiating customer segments by buying behaviour and motivation The emotional forces driving the buying decision Listen to the podcast to learn more. https://innovabiz.co/danbalcauski (Show Notes and Blog) https://innovabiz.com.au/innovabuzz/ (The Podcasts)

Nearly all product companies grapple with pricing. What model is the best fit? How do you maximize the market value for a novel product without losing customers when it comes time to pay? Dan Balcauski has spent 15 years helping product makers solve exactly these challenges. As founder of Austin, Texas-based Product Tranquility, Dan has guided many products from new concept incubation through successful launches and transitions. He helps high volume SaaS companies assess pricing practices and optimize pricing and packaging, guiding his clients to make the most impactful pricing decisions and communicate value convincingly to decision makers. Highlights of this episode:• How to know the value of a brand new product (01:47)• What emotional value is, and why it matters (02:39)• The purpose of Jobs To Be Done in pricing (03:33)• How Airbnb got its value proposition right (07:04)• The 4 components of Packaging (09:09)• Why Freemium is a terrible idea (11:46)• Upgrading perpetual license customers to subscription (13:05)• Why Who and How you charge is what determines success (19:18)• How to approach Willingness To Pay questions (20:00)• The critical importance of segmentation (23:44)• Talking to the RIGHT people about pricing (25:16)• What most product makers get wrong with pricing (26:40)• Understanding the process of pricing to do it right (30:32)Product Tranquility Website: producttranquility.comGraphos Product, The Product Marketing Agency website

An interview with Dan Balcauski. Dan is a pricing & packaging consultant who is aiming to demystify the world of high-volume SaaS pricing and support this via his own consultancy, Product Tranquility. We talk about a lot, including: The mission behind Product Tranquility, the problems they solve and some of the ways they can help you get your product packaging & pricing strategy right The pros & cons of the three main pricing models; cost plus, competition based pricing and value based pricing Why it can be dangerous to "herd", where everyone is following everyone else's pricing models but no one's done the research to see if that pricing's right Some of the early warning signals of bad pricing that you can look out for before you go bankrupt The 4-step plan a company should go through to identify its target market, the value the product brings, the competitive alternatives & the pricing model that can support it The importance of keeping packaging simple so that customers can understand what they're going to get & salespeople are able to sell it effectively Why freemium pricing is "almost always a bad idea" - some of the downsides of this approach and what you can do instead And much more! Contact Dan You can reach out to Dan on LinkedIn or check out his pricing blog on Product Tranquility.

Dan Balcauski makes product positioning and pricing easy to understand, and shares techniques for uncovering what customers value and are willing to pay for.  Highlights include: ⭐ What is product positioning and why does it matter? ⭐ How do you know if your product has great positioning? ⭐ Why is it so difficult for companies to build what customers value? ⭐ How do you determine what a customer's willingness to pay is? ⭐ What can researchers and designers do to increase their impact?  ====== Who is Dan Balcauski? Dan is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Product Tranquility, where he helps high-volume B2B SaaS CEO's to dispel the pricing and packaging illusions that prevent new products from growing to their potential. A reformed software engineer, that went on to earn an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, and become a Head of Product, Dan knows a thing or two about what it takes to create products that serve users and deliver on business objectives. Dan's product leadership experience has included time as the Product Strategy Principal at SolarWinds, a cloud platform for DevOps. Dan was also the Head of Product at LawnStarter, an Austin Texas based platform that connects consumers to lawn service professionals. ====== Find Dan here: LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/B11vgD Twitter: https://twitter.com/dan_balcauski Website: https://www.producttranquility.com/ Blog: https://bit.ly/3GSeaNc Understanding the Jobs to be Done by Bob Moesta: https://youtu.be/f2l75aAJo44 ====== Liked what you heard and want to hear more? Subscribe and support the show by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen). Follow us on our other social channels for more great Brave UX content! YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheSpaceInBetween/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-space-in-between/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespaceinbetw__n/  ====== Hosted by Brendan Jarvis: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanjarvis/ Website: https://thespaceinbetween.co.nz/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/brendanjarvis/

Defining Success from the Customer's Perspective Shep Hyken interviews Dan Balcauski, founder and principal consultant for Product Tranquility, where he focuses on helping high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. They discuss what companies can learn from subscription models about focusing on the customer's journey and feedback. Top Takeaways:   Anything can be a subscription. Whether you are selling razor blades, pens, or a streaming service, the goal is to get the customers to say that they are getting enough value for your products to continue doing business with you. A subscription model solidifies the relationship between the business and the customer but it also requires a focus on customer experience. How do companies ensure that their customers continuously get value over time so they don't leave you for your competitors? What are the outcomes that your customers are trying to achieve? Most of the time businesses focus on operational efficiency, revenue, and profits. These are all great things. But, the problem is that these are not the criteria that the customer is using to define success. Companies need to understand that they are not the center of the customer's world. We need to understand the full journey. This week on Amazing Business Radio, I interview Dan Bacaulski, founder and principal consultant for Product Tranquility, where he focuses on helping high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. Dan takes us through how businesses can focus on the outcomes that the customer is trying to achieve and how they define success. Learn how to put the customer first, provide value, and define success from the lens of those you serve - the customers. Quote:   "We are not the center of our customer's life. We need to understand the full journey. We need to ask, "What is our customer's day to day like?" and "What are they trying to accomplish?" About:    Dan Balcauski is the founder and principal consultant for Product Tranquility, where he focuses on helping high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. He is a TopTal certified Top 3% Product Management Professional and also helps to teach Kellogg Executive Education course on Product Strategy. Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Balcauski joins Sarah Hicks on this episode of the Predictable Revenue Podcast.  Dan is the founder of Product Tranquility, a consulting firm based in Austin Texas. He is considered an expert on helping high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. Highlights include: defining Jobs-to-be-Done (1:50), the 3 types of jobs (3:30), why one of the often forgotten jobs is key to sales (6:29), an example of a prominent b2b company that uses Jobs-to-be-Done effectively (11:00), and how Jobs-to-be-Done changes perspective on competition (22:40).   SHOW NOTES:  More from Predictable Revenue experts on using the Jobs-to-be-Done in outbound sales: Why Validate an Outbound Strategy? The Importance of Relevance and Trust in Outbound Sales Write more relevant messaging with the Chain of Relevance And how our guests use the framework: How George McGehrin gets his clients to pay HIM to market to them ______ Are you looking to create repeatable, scalable and predictable revenue? We can help! ►  https://bit.ly/predictablerevenuecoaching

Dan Balcauski is the Principal Consultant at Product Tranquility, a consulting firm that helps SaaS business leaders accelerate their product growth and increase customer loyalty. Dan is an expert in digital marketing and e-commerce with a specialization in pricing and product strategy. He is also the Program Leader for Kellogg's Executive Education Product Strategy course. In addition to his role at Product Tranquility, Dan works as a freelance product manager and is a member of Veritux. Some of the companies he's worked for include SolarWinds, LawnStarter, and NI (formerly National Instruments). In this episode… So you just finished creating your SaaS product. You've researched the market and developed a solution for your target audience's pain points, but there's one important question remaining: How much do you sell it for? Properly pricing your software is difficult. Not only are the numbers changing everyday, but there are also multiple avenues for charging your clients, such as premium costs and subscription models. It can be difficult to know what will work best for your company. However, there are niche specialists who have vast experience in product pricing. Dan Balcauski has done intensive research on the topic and now helps major SaaS brands determine the best approach to take when pricing their software. Want to know his pricing fundamentals? In this episode of the Revenue Engine Podcast, Alex Gluz sits down with Dan Balcauski, the Principal Consultant at Product Tranquility, to talk about how to price your SaaS product the right way. They discuss the three main approaches to pricing and how they work for different companies. They also talk about who should have control over pricing in an organization, how to effectively test your prices, and the steps that new businesses should take when developing a product. Stay tuned!

Dan Balcauski is the founder and principal consultant for Product Tranquility where he focuses on helping high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. He is a TopTal certified Top 3% Product Management Professional and also helps to teach Kellogg Executive Education course on Product Strategy. Over the last 15 years, Dan has managed multiple products throughout the product life-cycle from new concept incubation, product launch, product maintenance, platform transitions, and end of life. Dan has worked in both consumer and B2B companies, across consumer internet, mobile, IT software, and test and measurement hardware and software in addition to company sizes ranging from startups to publicly traded multi-national enterprises. Insta: https://www.instagram.com/danrantheworld/ Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/ Website: https//producttranquility.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/marieoldfield/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/marieoldfield/support

Global Product Management Talk is pleased to bring you the next episode of... The Everyday Innovator with host Chad McAllister, PhD. The podcast is all about helping people involved in innovation and managing products become more successful, grow their careers, and STANDOUT from their peers. About the Episode:  Today we are talking about how market segmentation is done and how it impacts product pricing. To help us with the details, a product strategy and pricing expert is joining us, Dan Balcauski. Dan is the founder of Product Tranquility, a consulting firm based in Austin Texas. He has 15 years of experience in managing multiple products throughout different life cycles, from start-ups to publicly traded multinational enterprises.

What product managers need to know about positioning products to create value Today we are talking about how market segmentation is done and how it impacts product pricing. To help us with the details, a product strategy and pricing expert is joining us, Dan Balcauski. Dan is the founder of Product Tranquility, a consulting firm based […]

Stakeholders in a company are moved by two things: one is business results, and the other is stories. The goal is to break down the business metrics into usage metrics to start having a complete picture of your target customers. Dan Balcauski, principal consultant at Product Tranquility, joins our host, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, to discuss the relationship between qualitative and quantitative data and how to use both to capture powerful insights.

How are milkshakes, Netflix & Facebook competitors? What is the one big mistake companies make when they think they need to create a Customer Success team? Curious about riding a motorcycle in Vietnam? These and many other questions are answered by Dan Balcauski, this episode's CX Passport guest. Hosted by Rick Denton, CX Passport guides us through a conversation on customer experience and travel.