In this episode of Mostly Growth, Kyle Poyar and CJ Gustafson unpack the pricing models hiding in plain sight. They break down razor-and-blade economics, hardware plus software, waitlists, free samples, luxury and Veblen goods, decoy pricing, two-part tariffs, and price anchoring. Using examples from Costco to SaaS and AI, they show how pricing psychology drives acquisition, retention, and willingness to pay.
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SPONSORS:
Tropic is an intelligent spend management solution that consolidates your spend data and processes into one unified offering, enabling insights and decisive action. From spotting hidden optimization opportunities to automating painful procurement workflows and giving you the best market data to turn vendor negotiations in your favor, Tropic combines smart insights with real human expertise to keep you ahead of the curve. Visit https://www.tropicapp.io/mostlymetrics to learn how.
HockeyStack is an AI platform for modern go-to-market teams that unifies sales, marketing, and customer data into a single system of action. With AI agents that prospect accounts, support reps, improve forecasting, and automate what’s already working, HockeyStack helps teams move faster without guessing. Trusted by companies like RingCentral, Outreach, ActiveCampaign, and Fortune 100 teams—learn more at https://www.hockeystack.com
RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving, visit https://www.rightrev.com
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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/
https://www.growthunhinged.com/p/plg-vs-microsoft
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RELATED EPISODES:
Pricing in the Real World: Babies, Bots, and Billing
The CFO Case for Probabilistic Forecasting With AI | Bruno Annicq
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00:00 Snowstorm banter
00:03:28 Setting up the episode: real-world pricing models
00:04:09 Razor–razor blade pricing explained
00:07:45 Applying razor–blade pricing to SaaS and hardware
00:08:59 Hardware + software razor–blade tradeoffs
00:09:51 Sponsors — Tropic | HockeyStack | RightRev
00:13:31 Waitlists as a growth and pricing lever
00:19:39 Free samples and freemium models
00:23:23 Luxury pricing, exclusivity, and Veblen goods
00:27:29 Luxury tiers in tech and professional services
00:29:52 Decoy pricing and the Economist example
00:32:54 Two-part tariffs and membership economics
00:37:05 Price anchoring and steering buyers to the middle
00:38:46 Event-driven price increases tied to new value
00:41:26 Outro
#MostlyGrowthPodcast #PricingStrategy #PricingModels #SaaSPricing #Monetization
