Patrick Campbell, CEO of ProfitWell, argues that pricing is an ongoing strategic lever rather than a one-time number, and that early on the exact price matters far less than the value metric and the customer segments…
Phil Carter introduces the Subscription Value Loop, a framework for growing consumer subscription apps that face hard problems: app store control, dependence on paid acquisition, high churn, and low, hard-to-grow ARPU…
Bobby Pinero, CEO of Equals, recounts how adding a freemium plan and removing onboarding friction initially spiked user counts but then stalled engagement, retention, and revenue. The team reversed course by…
Kristen Berman walks through the four main quantitative willingness-to-pay methods (Van Westendorp, Becker-DeGroot-Marschak, multiple price list, and discrete choice), comparing their strengths and biases. She argues…
“I recently read Monetizing Innovation by Madhavan Ramanujam and Georg Tacke. Overall, I can recommend this book, but with one major caveat. In the book, the authors recommend that for any new product idea, we need to consider the monetization potential from the very beginning. This I agree with. However,”
Melissa Perri and Kevin Broom argue that SaaS companies chasing net retention above 100% through land-and-expand can clash with customers who believe their subscription already covers new features. Using fast food menus…
This post examines how fast-growing B2B startups converted their first users into paying customers, grouping them into three early sales motions: bottom-up self-service, bottom-up with inside sales, and outbound…
Lenny Rachitsky, with OpenView and Pendo, benchmarks free-to-paid conversion from a survey of 1,000+ products, defining good and great rates for freemium, sales-assisted, and free-trial models. It argues conversion…
Lenny Rachitsky answers a reader question by outlining the metrics that matter for consumer subscription businesses, split into content, software, and physical goods models. The post argues that success depends on six…
Lenny Rachitsky and Dan Hockenmaier argue that every business can be reduced to a simple equation, and that you don't fully understand your business until you can write one. Building the equation forces teams to name…
Lenny explains when a product should be free and how to choose between freemium and a free trial, based on an analysis of about 50 SaaS pricing models. He frames free as an acquisition strategy, either disrupting a…
Lenny Rachitsky closes his seven-part B2B series by answering how long reaching $1M ARR typically takes, which growth channels scale B2B companies, and when and how much to charge. He draws on interviews with founders…
Lenny Rachitsky and Palle Broe analyze how 44 application-layer tech incumbents monetize AI features, comparing direct and indirect strategies. They argue direct monetization (add-ons, standalone products, or plan…
Lenny Rachitsky's guest author, a Google AI product leader, argues that the SaaS freemium playbook breaks down for AI products because each free request carries real compute cost. He proposes a modern AI paywall built…
A reader question about business model types prompts this issue, which the author notes was hard to find summarized anywhere. It lays out eight core ways businesses make money, such as selling a thing, renting, taking a…
Lenny Rachitsky explains how marketplace and platform builders should choose a take rate, the fee charged on each transaction. He introduces a simple formula combining convenience and demand minus competition, walks…
The post examines how fast-growing B2B companies converted early free users into paying customers. It maps three early go-to-market strategies (bottom-up self-service, bottom-up with inside sales, and outbound sales)…
Lenny draws on interviews with founders and product leaders at Noom, Duolingo, Grammarly, Calm, Spotify, Future, Flo and others to explain what helps consumer subscription apps last. The core argument is that winners…
Lenny Rachitsky and Casey Winters surveyed 20 experienced growth practitioners to define what good and great retention looks like across business types. They asked for benchmarks on user retention at six months and net…
This case study traces how Pieter Omvlee built Sketch, a lightweight vector drawing app for Mac, into a serious alternative to Adobe's Illustrator and Photoshop. Omvlee started with a student project, charged for it…
This essay traces Medium's history from its 2012 launch by Evan Williams through its 2018 monetization struggles. It argues Medium's minimal design and long-form focus reinvigorated interest in in-depth writing and…
A guest post by Kyle Poyar compiling 25 low-effort, high-impact quick wins that operators at well-known tech companies used in their first months in a role. The ideas span funnel friction, pricing tweaks, workflow…
Lenny Rachitsky polls sixteen growth experts on what counts as a good customer payback period across B2C, SMB and enterprise businesses. The post explains how to calculate payback on a gross-profit basis, why it matters…
Seed fundraising is presented as one of the most high-stakes and confusing parts of a founder's job, and this guide, co-written by two seed investors who have been involved in over 1,000 seed rounds, aims to make it…