Scott Kelly is the founder and CEO of Blackdog Venture Partners, and he has been for 25 years. He's the host of VC Fast Pitch and he has about a dozen companies with the name Blackdog in them. Scott has taken 3 companies public and raised $5 billion throughout his career.

In this episode, Scott explains how important it is for entrepreneurs to listen to their customers when setting prices, as he shares his knowledge on maximizing profits through effective pricing strategies that investors love.

 

Why you have to check out today's podcast:

• Learn how crucial recurring revenue models are to attracting investors and why subscription-based pricing provides the consistency they seek. 
• Find out why selling on price alone is bad for both sides of the transaction and how to focus on value instead. 
• Understand the power of letting your customers help you determine pricing through relationship-building rather than transactions.

 

"Let your customers help you price."

– Scott Kelly

 

Topics Covered:

02:00 – How Scott accidentally discovered pricing through helping hundreds of entrepreneurs raise capital and maximize profits 

03:00 – Why competing on lowest price destroys value for both buyer and seller - and what to do instead 

05:00 – AI's double impact on pricing: Using it for better decisions vs. pricing AI-enabled products 

06:00 – The carpenter analogy: Why AI is just a tool and the real value comes from expertise in wielding it 

07:00 – How AI will democratize business like the internet did - and what that means for pricing

09:00 – The art of determining "what the market will bear" through customer relationships and feedback 

12:00 – Why Scott brings up pricing "almost immediately" with entrepreneurs (and why you should too) 

14:00 – Finding the pricing "strike zone" - where customers won't jump for joy but won't run out the door 

15:00 – The relationship vs. transaction mindset: How to get customers to help set your prices 

17:00 – Scott's final wisdom: Let your customers help you price - the ultimate customer-centric approach

 

Key Takeaways:

"At the end of the day, you want to provide enough value so they stick around at a price that can keep you sticking around." – Scott Kelly

"AI is a tool. You need to make sure you have the right carpenter or the right instrument and the right professional playing that instrument. So I think how you price that is the value add that you bring to this tool that's AI." – Scott Kelly

"You have to spend time getting to know them. I think it's a process of establishing a relationship versus a transaction." – Scott Kelly

 

People / Resources Mentioned:

• VC Fast Pitch: https://vcfastpitch.com/ 

 

Connect with Scott Kelly:

• Website: https://blackdogventurepartners.com/  
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blackdogceo/ 

 

Connect with Mark Stiving: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ 
• Email: mailto:[email protected]