Jeremy Balius: Welcome to Go to Market Playmakers, where we bring you winning go-to market strategies from the industry’s best. Each episode we sit down with B2B Tech and SaaS founders, executives, and industry Playmakers who’ve mastered the art of taking products and services to market. Whether you’re scaling a startup, refining your go-to-market motion, or driving revenue growth through a channel program or a partner ecosystem, this is where you’ll learn the plays that work.

I’m your host, Jeremy Balius. Today’s theme is tech pricing and monetization, how to build pricing into your go-to-market strategy. I’m joined by Tania Kalambet, a monetization and commercial management specialist, currently at one of the big four firms. Tania’s background is in pricing business analytics for EY, Google Cloud, Immiscout 24, which is Germany’s largest leading online platforms for real estate.

This is a phenomenal conversation going deep on how to structure your thinking around pricing. She has articulated pricing strategies in ways that I’ve not heard anybody speak about. It’s really affected my thought process and it’s given me a lot to think about. I hope it adds as much value to you as it did for me.

Let’s get straight into the conversation.

Hey Tania, thanks for coming on the show today.

Tania Kalambet: Thank you for having me.

Really excited to be here.

Jeremy Balius: I’m really excited to have you here. You’re dialing in from London, right?

Tania Kalambet: Yes, it is. Eight o’clock here. Yes. Yeah.

Jeremy Balius: And it’s, uh, already getting dark here in Sydney, so we’re beaming across the world and connecting for conversation.

I am. Really excited to be talking to you today because the theme today is around tech pricing and monetization, and you’ve got so much experience in this space that I’m really looking forward to, digging into. But before we get into all of your specialties, I’d love to start with your origin story.

How did you. Get to where you are today. Tell me your backstory.

Tania Kalambet: Sure, I would love to.

Uh, originally I started as a big focus consultant in business modeling and valuation. So I think I have almost six years in valuation business modeling, and at some point working with different corporate clients. I was.

Um, I was willing to explore more and going deeper into the business, working deeper inside of the company. And that was my intention when I started to look for a job. Uh, and I had actually no idea about the pricing and monetization topic more like. Um, specifics of it, uh, from the outside, it sounded really scary, to be honest.

Um, but that’s the role that I found. And, uh, I had an amazing management saying that, don’t worry, you will, you will get to it. It’s. Not a rocket science. You understand the specifics of it. Um, and you have everything it takes to be successful in it. And that’s how I got into pricing. Um, I’ve been working at IMO Billing Cloud, uh, for a couple of years, which is the real estate platform in Germany.

Um, and I. I’ve explored the whole world of pricing after the business modeling base background that I was also, um, using in this role. Um, and at some point I realized that I. There is also an opening at Google Code. Uh, and it was again, like a totally surprising thing for me because, you know, Google is a place where everybody wants to work.

Uh, but being a commercial person, finance person, I was always thinking that. You know, you need to be a software engineer. You need to have like a real technical background. And uh, yeah, uh, they got the role open and I was very excited to join. And I had also, um, support from my friends and basically. Um, thanks to the role at IMA billing Cloud, I moved to Google Cloud, which was basically a natural succession in pricing, but a bit different from the business model of course.

So, as you mentioned, uh, I have an experience in monetization in both companies, mostly B2B. Uh. My experience so far, um, as I’ve also left Google, um, a while, uh, have been interesting from both sides. So it’s not only like how the pricing is working from outside, how does it look for the customers, but also, uh, what it, what does it mean for the company?

Um, so yeah, I think that’s, that’s my backstory bit.

Jeremy Balius: Yeah. That’s amazing. So, so you, you almost fall into pricing as a result of, other people saying , that you, that this is a skillset that you have and you join. Germany’s largest real estate platform. Yes. And, , and you hone your skills there. And then from there, move to Google Cloud.

I think this is such a, such an amazing journey already. And, um, oh, thanks. Um, and, and, and really exciting on the journey that you have been on and from where you started, where you feel like you’re starting from zero and to where you are today, having. Yes. Contributed to some pretty significant product launches.

In what ways has your view of pricing changed along that journey?

Tania Kalambet: Um, thanks for the question. I think. It com It changed completely. Moreover, it changed a couple of times, I’d say. So as, as I mentioned when I just started, when I just joined the company, uh, in a billion scout in Germany, uh, I felt that pricing is like a technical expertise kind of area where you need to understand like a lot of.

Complex structures of supply and demand. A lot of maybe data work, anything like really technical behind, because pricing does sound a bit technical, as in there is some kind of signs and. What you see is just a price and there is like whole walls underneath. And, um, you know, uh, I think that was the first myth, uh, for me that got broken right away when I started working at the Bilion Scout because you realize that it’s much more about understanding the product, understanding the market, understanding how your sales team operates, what is your strategy, what, what are the features that the product, uh, in your product that get.

Use more, what are the killing features? So it’s more about, I think, collaboration and understanding where we are heading and trying to bring all these points together rather than just sitting somewhere with a lot of data and trying to come up with the, you know, the perfect price, let’s say for your, for your new product.

Yeah. So that was my first change, I think. And uh, as, as we mentioned, I felt in the beginning, like my leg is technical. Really technical background expertise, this kinda magic understanding of what the price is about. Um, but I think that’s got, um, which, which is a happy thing for me really because it, it is much more interesting, I imagine in the beginning and when I joined to Google, I think, um.

The difference is also at scale, in the scale of how the modernization teams work, how many products are there. So it is just a different point of view and pricing as well. So, uh, there, I like my vision adopted, let’s say. And the last change that I had, uh, when I started mentoring people and startups, uh, also a digital post platforms.

Um. Because, you know, having the B2B experience, it’s also hard to just completely be sure that this experience will be useful. Uh, but now, like a lot of people have the same questions and a lot of experience from the cross industries can be used in completely different industries and for completely different products.

So I think that’s, that’s. I kind of how my understanding of pricing evolved from really technical expertise to more something collaborative and having a customer at center of it, I try to say. So yeah, I think that’s, that’s how I view it right now.

Jeremy Balius: Yeah, that’s really interesting to, to consider, particularly when you, the concept of pricing and the way that you arrive at pricing seems to be viewed as a very rigid.

Technical process and you’re really showing me specifically around it, it’s almost fluid that it’s, there is no right answer necessarily. There might be a right answer for right now, but it’s not permanent necessarily.

Tania Kalambet: Definitely, uh, right to the point. Um, there is no right answer. It’s always also, uh, there are a couple right answers.

I would say. So, so it’s not always once one and only strategy that you can use, uh, you can think about, you know. How your product would be role winning. Why way, uh, one way or another. So the same way that your product strategy can be different. You can, you know, uh, grow with different features. You can face different market the same way.

The pricing strategy is not the only perfect strategy. But yes, I agree with what you’re saying. I need to say. There is of course, uh, a bit of. Data work and a lot of analytics, uh, underneath it. It’s just, I think my main point wa uh, well, wasn’t, is that it’s not the only thing and it’s not even the most central thing I’d say, especially in the B2B segment.

Um, yeah, so, so yeah. Uh, it is quite fluid. Um, it’s a lot. A result of negotiations, result of collaboration, trying to understand different points of view from product team, sales team, marketing team, finance team. So, yeah, uh, I, I agree with you definition. I think fluid is a good word for it.

Jeremy Balius: Uh, thank you. Now, uh, what I’m really interested in what I’m hearing here is you’ve been working in-house.

Um, at Im OSC Scout and at Google Cloud, and you’ve also done a lot of consulting across, um, a range of SaaS and B2B Tech, and you’ve been advising startups and founders and so on. So you’ve, you’ve had a lot of exposure to a lot of different scenarios and different types of value packaging that is trying to address or reach.

Different types of Yes, uh, target customers. I would be really into, in, in all of that exposure. In all of that experience, what are some of the common ways that you think leaders and founders are underestimating the role of pricing within their go to market?

Tania Kalambet: That’s such a good question. Thanks a lot for that.

Um, I think. When I think about it, the first comes to mind is, um, when we are talking, first of all, setting the price rate. Uh, so, um, when we take the pricing is more as a, um, analytic, kinda get me to the point job. Rather than a discussion as which market we are addressing, which customers we are addressing, how does it perceive this product?

How does it perceive our competition? Uh, how different we are from our competition, what is our unique proposition and, uh, based on it, how we can build our pricing strategy in line with our product strategy, um, to enhance the. Product offering rather than, you know, just to blend within the market. So I think the common traps that I’m seeing, um, especially in the startups, for example, is just trying to get to the point without, uh, analyzing a lot of.

Data and a lot of customer opinions, talking to people, trying to understand, uh, how they value, how they see your product. Uh, so that would be the first one for sure, uh, because it’s not about, you know, coming and saying it should cost 100. Oh, it should cost five 50. Uh, and this is how the pricing function is normally perceived.

That you would come and tell how much should it cost? It should also be a story. Why does it cost that much? So the most effective pricing function inside of the organization would be able to help you build this bridge with your customer, where they understand how much they’re paying and for what they’re paying.

And this is very important because it kind of enhance. The trust also, uh, in your operations, in your pricing strategy, in your prices and ongoing, especially in B2B sector, it’s important that they trust you, that you won’t just, you know, increase the prices completely tomorrow. So that’s, I think, something that is getting overlooked because the function is seen rather technical and more like, give me the number s.

Opposed to the strategic one? I think, yeah, I think what I’m trying to say is that it should be much more strategic and it should go along together with the product much more closely than just, um, marketing sales function.

Jeremy Balius: Did I hear you right? Did you say pricing should be seen as a discussion?

Tania Kalambet: Definitely. Yeah.

Jeremy Balius: And did you say that pricing is storytelling?

Tania Kalambet: Yes. I, I, I know it, it sounds a bit maybe, but I think this is

Jeremy Balius: so good. Tanya, no one, no one has ever, ever said that to me. That is so, that is so good. I, I, I’m just processing that because the, the concept of pricing being an active conversation.

Is really illuminating on its role that it is a fundamental engagement rather than a transaction.

Tania Kalambet: Yeah, but let’s look for example, at Netflix. I dunno. I, I, I, I just, just to touch point, this is so good, Tanya.

Jeremy Balius: This is so, I’m so excited right now. This is so good.

Tania Kalambet: Thanks. But, but that’s, for me, it is probably like what it also, that is what makes this role so interesting for me, that it’s basically, there is no one perfect thing.

You need to get to it and understand and talk to the people and. Basically from how it’s, you can say as, as, as, as, as we just mentioned, you can have the same price rate, you can have the same $100. Uh, at the end your customer pays the same, but, uh, what they feel about. What they’re paying is completely different and that affects your relationship with your customer and that affects your potentially future commercial success as well.

Uh, success of any strategies you will be, uh, pursuing further any product strategies, marketing strategies. So yes, I think. This, this is important both for startups and for mature companies. Um, I was just mentioning that like, because we had like this, uh, case around LinkedIn where they increased the prices and everybody’s was like, I don’t mind that you increase the prices, but you are not explaining anything.

You are not giving enough information. Uh, you are not. Justify anything. And that’s what you mean. Uh, he needs to be able to get into the dialect with, with your customer, uh, and to the level of understanding where we are, you know, operating under the same kind of trust and transparency issues. And that helps not only, it’s not only about being customer centered, but it’s also helping you.

Um. Pursue your commercial strategy.

Jeremy Balius: Hmm.

Tania Kalambet: If that makes sense.

Jeremy Balius: It makes absolute sense. It makes so much awesome sense. This is really, really good. Thanks. Really eye-opening. Um, uh, speaking of Netflix and speaking of. Tech in general. Mm-hmm. How do, how, in what ways does pricing sit within product market fit, and how does that become a self-fulfilling flywheel?

As you’re listening to the market and as and, and, mm-hmm. You’re adjusting and analyzing the data that’s coming back.

Tania Kalambet: Yeah.

Jeremy Balius: What does that look like in practice? Can you describe that for me?

Tania Kalambet: Sure. Uh, and from the go on, I, I will say that in different organizations, uh, the pricing function, magnetization function can see differently.

It can be also even. Quite a lot. Uh, quite often there is like not a separate function. It can be part of finance, it can be part of sales org, it can be part of product org. So from my experience, the most, I’d say the most effective pricing function, uh, first of all would be separate from sales org.

Because, uh, with all due back and love to salespeople, uh, there is a lot of different contradicting goals in the, in what the sales team is doing, what the pricing team is doing. And you need sometimes a bit of a space, uh, in order to be able to think independently rather than think in terms of quotas, for example.

So, uh, first of all, I think. From, and I, I, I was lucky to have my function being pretty independent in most of the places that I’ve worked. Uh, and I feel like this is the right way to go. Um, which doesn’t mean that pricing people don’t listen to sales or that they don’t care, whatever the hell is going on with the sales, uh, team and sales plan because at the end, uh, we are the same.

Trying to maximize. Revenue profits. We are trying to work within our product strategy with our customers to bring the most, you know, efficient monetization strategy, uh, and everybody benefits of it, sales benefit from it as well. So, back to your question. Um. From, again, from my experience, uh, as I mentioned before, collaboration, it sits somewhere between sales, product, finance and strategy per se.

Um, and I argue that the closer the pricing strategy to product team, it’s actually the better, uh, because it’s, it is. So much about understanding the product. It is so much about understanding how your product gets applied to your, to your specific customer, by your specific customers. Uh, because what I’ve seen in practice is.

Sometimes people just look at the market and they say, oh yeah, here is another product. It costs so much so we should cost that much, for example. Uh, and on the surface it looks fine. It’s like it’s natural. Uh, it’s also saving time to, you know, for decision making. But then if you go into use cases with product people and you start talking, you understand that the same, like the same product from you and your competitors, uh, have completely different.

Need completely different time to work, need completely different efforts. So meaning that they would trigger completely different prices again, even if it price them kind of, uh, on the same line. Uh, let’s say one product would need to be used three times, another one would need to be used one time. And that drives already completely different, creates a completely different commercial story.

So I think, um, what I see is a pricing. As the most efficient is independent function, being closely connected to product and sales, a bit more closer to the product than to sales team. That’s, I’d say,

Jeremy Balius: yeah. I, I can understand the motivation there. Uh, as you’re leaning in with the product team, to what degree are you assessing the value?

In the context of the pricing, so the value derived by the customer. Mm-hmm. Um, how, how is that feedback coming back into the business and how is that being applied to a pricing strategy?

Tania Kalambet: Mm. So the value is really good word here. Uh, and I think. There’s a lot of talks in general on pricing and we, we all are trying to drive value-based pricing because that’s, that’s where the storytelling starts.

Uh, your customer understanding what they’re paying for, so. And this is the ideal scenario, of course, you would be estimating how much value your product brings to your customer to different customers. So like for one business model, if you’re talking about B2B, it would mean that much in terms of monetary value.

For another business model, even though it is the same product, they would be using it in some age cases. That’s why it’s, it’s in an essence brings much more or much less. Basically monetary value. And this is important when you are working across different industries, trying to understand that, you know, um, they will be using the feature set completely different and maybe they will be also triggering different costs at the end.

So, uh, I think understanding this as in use case of your customer, how specifically are they using it? That’s what. That’s what value is for me, really. Uh, what, how, what for, and what does it mean for their business?

Jeremy Balius: Yeah. Interesting. Yeah, I, and I like how you describe that as an estimate, um, and that, that would be differently applied, you know, particularly in B2B Tech, where, uh, the value derive may not necessarily have a direct.

Correlation with revenue, but might be fundamentally intrinsic to the revenue. How you estimate value against that would be very challenging.

Tania Kalambet: Yes. Uh, yes, of course. I mean, um, as said, this is the ideal scenario when we know how much value our customer is getting from the product. Uh, was, you know, we talked about the traps one.

Yeah. Opposite side of it would be also sometimes overanalyzing it. So, uh, and that’s what I see also sometimes for startups as well. We are trying to cut like into the customer hats, trying to understand like, to the very detail to estimate this value, which is really hard to do. You know, you run all the surveys, you talk to different people and you get different estimations, for example.

Um. I think at some point, uh, the trap is. Don’t waste that much time on that. So at, at some point you need to stop, uh, talking in theoretical concept and trying to kind of, you know, working with supply demand, trying to run the business model calculation for your customer and trying to assess what the monetary value they’re getting is fine.

Uh, but as, as you just mentioned, it’s not ideal, it’s estimation and is any model we should stop. Quite soon, once we have like our underlying data to actually go ahead and test it. So, uh, uh, so that we don’t, you know, spend so much time on something that can be adjusted later on.

Jeremy Balius: This really resonates with me.

I, I, I can relate to this a lot, particularly in working in the go to market space where you mentioned founders, but I think business leaders even in general are. Deliberating and in many cases overthinking to such a finite detail that by the time. A launch occurs, the details have changed so radically anyways.

Exactly. And the landscapes changed, and the political environments changed, and none of the details that had been overthought mattered in the end anyways, because you had to adjust and pivot and align and uh, and figure out what’s best for them. So. That. Yeah, that, that, that, that’s really good advice to, to not overthink, just test, yeah.

Start testing quickly.

Tania Kalambet: But, uh, uh, specifically in this place where we are trying to get to the value, because, uh, as you mentioned, it is really hard to get this. Perfect estimation. And um, with the changes in market, uh, my point is also that value is a dialogue. So you can start selling your product, you can start offering new service and see what your customers say about it.

Sometimes you’ll be surprised you have been thinking that it’s like such a small feature that you know doesn’t change much. But that’s actually what. Drives, you know, now traffic to your product. So that’s, that’s what I mean also by that, that go ahead and go to market, like literally, uh, and see what, what the market has to say about the value that you’re assessing.

Jeremy Balius: Yeah. Yeah. And it’s interesting the way you mentioned that, that’s a roadblock for founders or early stage leaders in um. Do you think that maybe there’s a sense of fear of not. Hitting the mark perfectly, definitely launch and maybe, maybe a reticence that, um, a pivot or a, a price adjustment would reflect badly on them, perhaps.

Tania Kalambet: Definitely. Definitely, uh, I had, um, masterclass recently, I think a couple of months ago, and that’s, uh, because I was talking predominantly to founders there. Uh, that’s something that I wanted to bring up, uh, that, uh, we think that long about this perfect, perfect price, mostly because of the fear. What happens if the price is too high or too low?

So we looked into it, uh, and talked what can be done because yeah, uh, perfect is perfect, but there are things that you can do when the price is a bit too high or the price is a bit too low. Uh, when you introduce a product. In my mind, products is much more at core here. Uh, importantly that the product is something the market needs and it works vice versa.

Actually, that’s one one of the things that I wanted to bring up. Uh, when you asked about, you know, how, um, central functions, how CEOs, um, take it on sometimes or sales take it on, sometimes the pricing function and the price per. If the product is not needed by the market or there was a price you put on it, even if it’s really cheap price, they won’t be buying it or they would be buying it, they won’t be using it.

So, um, that’s also important to understand that, uh, especially for startups, product market fit is in the first place. Pricing is important. So, you know, uh, translate it into, into commercial success. Of course. But, uh, go ahead and try your product. Don’t think too much. Uh, yes. And, uh, coming back to, uh, that master class that we had, uh, we also were talking there, uh, because I was wondering, um, what is a passa not ideal place to be?

Being too expensive or being too cheap? Uh, for, as, as initial point, you know, uh, for a price.

Jeremy Balius: Yeah.

Tania Kalambet: Because both of them have upsides and downsides into how you address this challenge. So, uh, you know, decreasing the price, uh, kinda, um, psychologically feels better for the customers and increasing the price.

Uh, but there are still a lot of, you know, issues to, to consider on both sides because I. This is not a verdict. Uh, if you have your price wrong, you can still, uh, have your strategies, uh, especially around storytelling, communicating why the price is changing. What do you see as. Cost improvement, performance improvement, um, anything.

A lot of different ways to communicate the price change without hurting your image really. Um, and, uh, coming, just circling back to this weather too high, is Passa too low? Is Passa, um, at least, uh, in our consensus to high, like people were leaning to, to high and I. Like one of the things that you should consider when you are, you know, in this, um, trap of thinking about a perfect enterprise, um, you might go a bit, a little bit, slightly higher and just go with it.

If it’s too high, you will get like, adjust. You will adjust the price later. Yeah, so, so interesting, interesting topic. I definitely think that a lot of it is fear and you know, not thinking about what can you do afterwards if the price is not a deal. You feel like, again, that’s my personal view. It will not kill your product with your price.

The same way as you will not sell your product with your price only. It will not kill your product with your price only.

Jeremy Balius: Wow. Wow. Yeah. You know, it’s interesting also as you’re thinking about the psychological, uh, focus, uh, and, and the ramifications of having the right price when launching. You know, uh, you, you, you mentioned this, but, but what I’m.

Particularly interested in talking to leaders about is no one is out there waiting to hear from you, and even if you have the ability to reach them with that first launch offer, it’s unlikely that you’ll reach them again. And so there is very low risk in. Adjusting your story, adjusting your positioning, and as you mentioned, adjusting your price because you are not open ai suddenly, you know, uh, millions of users in 24 hours.

It’s, it’s a very slow. Start and there’s no media watching and there’s no reviews being published. It’s all, you know, but there’s a, there’s an expectation that, that, uh, the launch is, is it, and that Yes. Reputation’s on the line. When, when definitely when, you know, most of the reach initially is just to their own networks actually, yes.

Tania Kalambet: No, completely. Uh, I agree. And, uh, there is also a question of, uh, transparency about your price, uh, when you start the services as well. Uh, and that, that goes to, to this point, if, especially like, you know, your small founder, you’re just, you know, starting, you don’t even know how your operations would work, so you.

You might not want to reach that many people to start with because you need to figure out how would you work at scale, uh, with this certain level of sales, let’s say. Uh, so at uh, in the beginning, it’s also completely fine not to publish your price. Uh, something that probably not that, um, popular os from the pricing person.

Uh. Yeah, you’re experimenting, you’re trying to find your product market fit and launch can happen if you have your price benchmarks for yourself and you use them, you know, uh, if we are talking about B2B, uh, for example, that’s still a negotiation process. Um, you don’t necessarily need to publish your prices for all world to see and charge that this is too expensive.

This is too cheap. Yes. But yeah, I, I completely agree. I think with B2B, it’s a bit different story though. Like, um, you might want to be consistent, at least in your positioning of the price, and it’ll pay off even if you change your story. Um, but, uh. When you start up, when you are just, uh, as you said, reaching your network, uh, there is, you know, people, we think that people think much more about us than they actually do.

So that’s probably, uh, getting into two psychological point of it. But on commercial.

Jeremy Balius: Absolutely. Well, while we’re in founder land and, and talking about startups, I’m really interested to hear from you, let’s say you’re starting mm-hmm. From scratch. Yes. You’re tasked with a pricing strategy development.

Where do you start? What’s, what’s step number one for you?

Tania Kalambet: Okay, so I have a product, right? And that’s, that’s like I, now I have a checklist of the questions that I’m asking the founder. Uh, when, when, when I talk to them, um, I have a product. Uh, first question is, has anybody see my product? Have they tried my product?

Do they understand my product? If there are people who have already tried. I might want to talk to them, trying to understand what the level of price or some monetary value they would attribute to this product. I might want to look at whether those people actually I, my target audience and you know, among those who have tried it, even for free, I would be talking to somebody who I perceive as my key market.

So, uh, coming back to pragmatic steps. Yeah. Uh, launch. Try trial period, whatever, however you call it, trying to understand and work with your customers on the value of your price. That’s definitely like one of the key steps that I would be doing. Of course there is um, quite a lot of research. You know, as always, we all look at competitors.

It’s important to look at the market that you are entering and to understand your strategy with regard to the market. So that’s something that I would be doing as well. And it’s also. Mm, this competition analogies, uh, in my mind, speed up a process of decision making if you get it right, if you don’t, as, as we mentioned, if you don’t fall into trap when your products are actually used completely different and, you know, bring completely different value with it, um, it’s a good st it’s a good place to start.

Uh, you might start not from, you know, copying the strategy. You might start from saying. By, by the way, my product brings twice as much value, so I’m charging 50% more because I also, you know, bring higher value for less money. So that would be a strategy, and you still start much higher. But, uh, once you talk to your customers, you feel like this is actually, uh, still a very, very good proposition as compared to what market offers.

Yeah. So that, that probably would be like. You know, again, as I mentioned at the beginning, uh, nothing extraordinary. You know, I think, uh, people are afraid sometimes thinking about money, talking about money, understanding the, you know, maybe they are sometimes afraid of realizing that their product doesn’t bring that much value to the customers.

That’s why they kind of, um, take a step back from just engaging this. Potential customers. Uh, but, uh, that will, you know, you will figure it out the hard way then. Uh, so I think that is the key, um, trying to, trying to understand the value from the people themselves.

Jeremy Balius: Yeah. Interesting. Okay. So that’s, that’s early stage.

Yes. Uh, let’s, let’s say they, they start achieving revenue. Mm-hmm. They grow beyond that. Maybe a couple of rounds of investment, the product starts maturing. How? How does the pricing strategy mature along start alongside the product? I.

Tania Kalambet: That’s a good question. And you know, that’s one of the differences that they’re also seeing, as I mentioned, between the, uh, in cloud and Google Cloud because of different product sets and different, you know, um, basically story of the product.

And you have a completely different market in terms of maturity as well. Um, so. First of all, you have much more data. So now it’s less about, uh, trying to figure out what market thinks and more about you. You have data on how to use your product. If you’re talking about digital products, you can track whatever, like every little step, every little feature of your product.

How is it getting used? By whom is it getting used? You can see, like you can, uh, segment your customers trying to understand for whom, in which scenarios does it actually work. And it’ll be already based on the data. So it’ll be already much more, you know, uh, high level of shotty your hypothesis, um, that you are using, which, uh, you will be able to prove or disregard much faster with a high level of confidence.

I’d say so. Um, then you also understand like, which features are needed, which features are needed, and you already have it. You have Salesforce who has, you know, this feeling of the customer. This is really something very important, uh, that like, um, from my work with sales teams, like different sales teams in different countries for different products, I.

The most value in terms of monetization strategy is that once your product is maturing, your sales can talk much. You know, they can talk for your customers. They know for sure what your, what your customers, how they will perceive this or that product. So that is already a big advantage. So, uh, whenever you have like any.

Strategy in mind, you can go directly to your team and verify it instead of running more research, market research and surveys and stuff like that. So that’s already big plus as well. Um, and yeah, I think, I think that’s like consistency, trust, and uh, trying to understand where your product is developing, like.

What is it? Is it going to be a suit of the product, uh, which, which calls they’re accomplishing for a customer. They want to be an integrated, like vertical integrated. Do you want to, I don’t know. Uh, you suddenly realize that your customers who are using one product. Might benefit from this completely unrelated feature and you go ahead and create it because it’s like, no, easy, fast, and that way you also compliment your product.

So that’s, I think maturing is more about using the data you have at hand to understand how you address the needs of the customers better. Um, also comes quite often, more often than not, uh, with the talk about price changes like. Price increases, um, migrations, uh, you know, as we mentioned, Netflix, uh, adjusting which customers are getting, like what level of product.

So, um, I think what I don’t like bit about the word maturing, that’s. It implies that you are already this, you know, kind of perfect state where you already, you know, just milk the cow, basically just increase your price. That’s not, that’s not it. No. Like, uh, be aware you have competition. You, you cannot just increase the price without understanding.

Where is the value increase that encompasses it? How, how do you communicate it to the customer? Everything that we talked about. So yeah, I think that’s, that’s why it’s a bit negative connotation for me as to maturing, um, because, you know, also, uh, quite frankly, it’s just getting much more boring. Uh, if, if you are working with, you know, this subtle kind of product that doesn’t.

Do anything and just want to make the most of money out of it, which is fine. It’s, I mean, we’re in commercial world. We are living in the, you know, uh, capitalism era. Uh, and my job is here, uh, for that purpose precisely. Uh, but, uh, I think maturing companies also need to remember is that. You still need to be in touch with your customer.

You, you work on your products first and you complement your pricing strategy with it, rather than you increase your price and then you go and like, oh, well what’s, what’s do I add now in order to, you know, kind explain this price increase? Yeah, I think that’s, that’s a, my specifics of it.

Jeremy Balius: Amazing. Amazing.

Tanya, this has been, uh, so amazing. Thank you so much for going deep on, on all things monetization. I’ve already picked up so much. I’ve got some new phrases that I’m gonna start quoting you on. Oh my God. And, um, I’m sure the listeners are gonna get just as much value out of it. Thank you so much.

Tania Kalambet: Thank you for inviting me.

It was a pleasure to talk. Thanks.