In this episode of Mostly Growth, the number one podcast in product monetization, CJ Gustafson and Kyle Poyar break down why SaaS may be heading from nonstop price increases into an all-out price war. They unpack HubSpot vs. Intercom, what cloud, airlines, and streaming can teach SaaS, and how companies should decide when to fight, where to discount, and how to win without destroying their business.

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LINKS: 

Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com

CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/

Growth Unhinged: https://www.growthunhinged.com/

Kyle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-poyar/

Slacker Stuff: https://www.slackerstuff.com/

Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slackerstuff/

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TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Intro banter: Olympic fees and resort fees

1:39 Show intro

2:02 Topic intro: era of price wars

3:00 Historical examples: cloud and SaaS

4:00 Streaming wars example

5:23 Airline basic economy example

6:18 HubSpot undercutting Intercom in half

8:41 ERP price war examples

9:56 Sponsors — Tabs | Lightfield | beehiiv

12:56 Whoop: subsidizing adoption

14:41 How to respond: what's the playbook?

15:15 Decide if you should fight the war

19:23 Win beyond price: talk track and value

20:20 Build a business case for customers

24:51 Pick your battles: customers and segments

25:40 Adobe bundling example

26:42 End game planning

28:16 Death spiral: the CFO's nightmare

29:18 Lightfield unit economics example

30:11 If all else fails: get acquired

30:20 Business blunders

30:43 Gartner magic quadrant blunder

31:44 Credits

#MostlyGrowthPodcast #SaaS #Pricing #ProductMonetization #GrowthStrategy