BROADCASTS.com

Naomi Ionita is a Partner at the venture capital firm, Menlo Ventures. She started her career in engineering in 2002, shifted to product in 2006, and built product growth and monetization teams starting over a decade ago as one of the first PLG leaders in B2B. She was an early mentor at Reforge and her expertise is in building full-stack growth teams and cultures, launching new products, and helping existing products monetize and retain their users. Consider today\u2019s episode a master class on monetization and pricing. We talk about common mistakes made by founders, specific experiments for how to determine pricing, and why initial growth sometimes comes at the expense of revenue. Naomi also introduces the concept of the Modern Growth Stack, how AI will play a role in growth, and what she\u2019s most excited about for the future.

\u2014

Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-price-your-product-naomi-ionita-menlo-ventures/#transcript

\u2014

Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for supporting this podcast:

\u2022 Miro\u2014A collaborative visual platform where your best work comes to life: https://miro.com/lenny

\u2022 Notion\u2014One workspace. Every team: https://www.notion.com/lennyspod

\u2022 Vanta\u2014Automate compliance. Simplify security: https://vanta.com/lenny

\u2014

Where to find Naomi:

\u2022 Twitter: https://twitter.com/npilosof

\u2022 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naomipilosofionita/

\u2022 Website: https://www.menlovc.com/naomi-pilosof-ionita

\u2014

Where to find Lenny:

\u2022 Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

\u2022 Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan

\u2022 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

\u2014

Referenced:

Disclaimer: Lenny is an angel investor in a few startups mentioned in this episode: Eppo, Endgame, Pocus

\u2022 Evernote: https://evernote.com/

\u2022 Figma: https://www.figma.com/

\u2022 The Van Westendorp pricing model: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccasadwick/2020/06/22/how-to-price-products/?sh=7e6077f855c7

\u2022 OpenView: https://openviewpartners.com/

\u2022 SaaS business model at Profitwell: https://www.profitwell.com/recur/all/saas-business-model

\u2022 Envoy: https://envoy.com/

\u2022 Invoice2go: https://invoice.2go.com/

\u2022 Gas: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gas/id1641791746

\u2022 Endgame: https://www.endgame.io/

\u2022 Pocus: https://www.pocus.com/

\u2022 Optimizely: https://www.optimizely.com/

\u2022 Eppo: https://www.geteppo.com/

\u2022 Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/

\u2022 Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/

\u2022 Zuora: https://www.zuora.com/

\u2022 Metronome: https://metronome.com/

\u2022 Orb: https://www.withorb.com/

\u2022 Monetizing Innovation: How Smart Companies Design the Product Around the Price: https://www.amazon.com/Monetizing-Innovation-Companies-Design-Product/dp/1119240867

\u2022 Ask the Storybots on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80108159

\u2022 Madhavan Ramanujam on Lenny\u2019s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/videos/the-art-and-science-of-pricing-madhavan-ramanujam-monetizing-innovation-simon-kucher/

\u2014

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Naomi\u2019s background

(06:21) Why Evernote wasn\u2019t able to leverage the kind of growth that Notion did

(08:06) What founders get wrong when it comes to monetization

(12:34) Which features to include in a freemium product

(13:22) Day one vs. day one-hundred premium features

(15:35) Matching price to value for optimal segmentation

(18:50) When pricing should be revisited

(19:38) How to determine price, and why it\u2019s a good idea to have a cross-functional pricing team

(23:06) How to restructure pricing holistically\xa0

(25:58)\xa0How Envoy learned that they were undercharging

(28:39) The importance of experimentation\xa0

(32:19) How to balance growth with revenue

(35:12) What is the modern data stack?

(36:45) The modern growth stack

(42:22) The importance of experimentation in the growth stack

(42:59) Platforms for billing and monetization

(46:13) Why a hybrid model of pricing tends to be most used in SaaS companies

(49:01) Leveraging AI\xa0

(49:52) Lightning round

\u2014

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.