Mostly Growth

In this episode of Mostly Growth, the number one podcast in product monetization, Kyle and CJ break down why usage-based pricing is taking off—and how it breaks the traditional SaaS playbook. They cover what’s driving the shift, what breaks (sales comp, forecasting, renewals, metrics), and how to get investors and customers comfortable. Plus, how Snowflake reframed the model and common mistakes to avoid.—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.comRightRev 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—LINKS: Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ 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/—RELATED EPISODES:The IPO Playbook: Expert Advice from Lee Kirkpatrick, Twilio’s Former CFOhttps://youtu.be/PTKAUD7PSWUSaaS Is Back… Or Is It?https://youtu.be/-Ua6ukTJihw—TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Preview and Intro5:33 Usage based pricing is taking off5:54 Why investors now love usage based7:20 AI native and pricing pattern match10:37 Sponsors — Tropic | HockeyStack | RightRev14:18 Usage based is how you run a company15:31 Sales commissions16:35 Revenue recognition18:55 Renewal conversations20:42 Onboarding22:43 Sales rep culture shift23:30 Forecasting23:54 Getting investors comfortable24:28 Snowflake's forecasting approach29:52 Portfolio of bets framing30:30 Getting customers comfortable30:48 What a "credit" actually means31:43 Help customers business case their usage33:12 Renewal terms transparency34:29 Takeaways35:27 Business blunders — Ramp vs. OpenAI38:19 Credits#MostlyGrowthPodcast #UsageBasedPricing #SaaS #ProductMonetization #AIStartups

In this episode of Mostly Growth, the number one podcast in product monetization, Kyle and CJ explore one of the most important questions in the AI era: what decisions should we actually delegate to machines? From agents spending money with corporate cards to handling customer support, hiring, and even sales, they break down where automation makes sense—and where it gets uncomfortable. Plus, how leadership changes when your job shifts from making decisions to setting the rules.—SPONSORS: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.comTropic 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—LINKS: Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ 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/—RELATED EPISODES:AI Is Breaking SaaS Pricing (Scott Woody)https://youtu.be/ujkZWqeHpQYMulti-Year Deals and the Illusion of Better Pricing | Russell Lesterhttps://youtu.be/lCU0HFrp0YY—TIMESTAMPS:0:00 ChatGPT sold a house2:13 What are we delegating to AI agents?3:04 Ramp's agent cards5:06 Mastercard's open standard7:14 Dynamic budget reallocation9:38 Sponsors — RightRev | Tropic | HockeyStack13:18 Domains of delegation13:56 Meetings16:08 Customer interactions17:22 Sales20:03 Internal announcements22:19 Hiring and team management25:42 Would you let AI buy software?27:09 Flight rebooking scenario29:36 Business blunders30:38 Chipotle blunders33:11 Credits#MostlyGrowthPodcast #AIAgents #Automation #FutureOfWork #SaaS

In this episode of Mostly Growth, the number one podcast in product monetization, we unpack Sequoia’s thesis that the next $1T company will sell outcomes, not software. If selling tools puts you in a race against AI, does selling the work win instead? We break down which industries are most exposed, real-world examples, and what this shift means for moats, pricing, and valuation.—SPONSORS: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.comRightRev 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.comTropic 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.—LINKS: Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ 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/—TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Preview and Intro2:36 Sequoia's "Services as Software" report2:56 The trillion dollar thesis6:31 Which businesses to target7:47 Barriers around personal information9:00 Sponsors — HockeyStack | RightRev | Tropic12:41 Services still need humans16:28 Outsourced dev shops18:17 Sequoia's 2x2 framework20:40 Management consulting — is McKinsey dead?23:33 Outsourced call centers25:36 Law firms28:37 Accounting firms28:58 The 10x accountant30:20 Moats in this space33:51 How investors will value these companies36:37 Hot Wheels, Nvidia, Altman brothers37:32 Credits#MostlyGrowthPodcast #SaaS #AIAgents #ServicesAsASoftware #ProductMonetization

In this episode of Mostly Growth, CJ Gustafson and Kyle Poyar break down one of the most overlooked levers in SaaS: free-to-paid conversion. With the average product converting just 8% of users, they unpack the tactics that actually move the needle—from attracting higher-intent users and improving onboarding to rethinking pricing, packaging, and sales-assist models.—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.comRightRev 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—LINKS: Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ 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/—RELATED EPISODES:AI Is Breaking SaaS Pricinghttps://youtu.be/ujkZWqeHpQY—TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Preview and Intro2:33 What percent of apps do you pay for?3:43 The 8% conversion benchmark4:48 Start with marketing, not the product6:50 Organic vs. paid channel conversion8:39 Mid-funnel SEO explained9:54 Sponsors — Tropic | Hockey Stack | RightRev13:30 Finding mid-funnel SEO topics14:42 State of paid search17:26 Onboarding friction vs. motivation21:10 Who owns conversion?22:53 Free to paid as a compound metric25:10 Pricing and plans as the fastest lever26:08 Who owns pricing decisions?27:08 Sales teams and conversion30:23 AI agents as buyers32:56 Agentic onboarding and future funnels33:50 Business blunders — Cluey revenue scandal35:41 Credits#MostlyGrowthPodcast #FreeToPaid #SaaS #ProductGrowth #ProductMonetization

In this episode of Mostly Growth, the number one podcast in product monetization, CJ and Kyle break down one of the most consequential questions in tech right now: which major private company will IPO first, and just how big will it be? From Anthropic and SpaceX to OpenAI, Databricks, and Canva, they rank the candidates, debate the motivations to go public in an era of unlimited private capital, and unpack what it means when an IPO could raise $100 billion or more. They also dig into the murky world of split-valuation fundraising rounds — and what it signals about the current market.---SPONSORS: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.comTropic 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---LINKS:Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ 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/---RELATED EPISODES:AI Is Breaking SaaS Pricinghttps://youtu.be/ujkZWqeHpQY---TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Preview and intro1:23 Intro banter and skincare routines3:51 IPO candidates and capital intensity5:28 Why go public when private capital is infinite?6:00 The case for going public8:32 Secondary market data and VC pressure9:26 Ranking the candidates: Anthropic first11:04 Sponsors — RightRev | Tropic | HockeyStack14:48 IPO banking fees16:13 SpaceX: second in line17:00 SpaceX valuation and capital raised18:01 OpenAI: third19:33 Databricks: fourth21:51 Canva: last on the list24:05 Stripe25:11 Honorable mentions: Ramp, Anysphere/Cursor, Plaid26:37 Wildcard: Liquid Death27:07 Business blunder: split-valuation fundraising31:11 Credits#MostlyGrowthPodcast #IPO #AIStocks #SaaSGrowth #VentureCapital

In this episode of Mostly Growth, the number one podcast in product monetization, CJ and Kyle unpack one of the most confusing functions in SaaS: customer success. Based on a survey of 132 GTM leaders, they break down how CS teams are staffed, compensated, and structured — and why 93% of companies still aren’t confident they’ve gotten the model right. From P&L placement to comp plans to expansion ownership, they explore whether customer success is actually driving revenue or just absorbing budget.—SPONSORS: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.comRightRev 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.comTropic 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.—LINKS: Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ 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/—TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Intro banter3:24 CS team size benchmarks5:13 93% lack confidence in their CS model6:36 Renewal rates are solid8:10 CS identity crisis9:12 Where CS reports11:44 CS on the P&L10:02 Sponsors — Hockey Stack | RightRev | Tropic13:41 P&L placement results15:51 Staffing by count vs. revenue17:44 CS as a coverage problem18:28 CS is not paid like sales20:14 MBO vs. commission vs. hybrid22:01 Why commission is hard23:13 Hybrid comp gets diluted24:30 What CS is actually paid on25:19 Pay on adoption, not NPS27:26 NPS is not predictive29:26 Who owns expansion revenue?32:12 Should you charge for CS?34:09 Takeaways36:48 Credits#MostlyGrowthPodcast #CustomerSuccess #SaaS #RevOps #ProductMonetization

In this episode of Mostly Growth, the number one podcast in product monetization, Kyle and CJ sit down with Metronome CEO Scott Woody to unpack one of the biggest questions in tech: how AI will actually make money. They discuss usage-based pricing, credit models, and why AI may push software toward value-aligned monetization—plus what happens when agents, not humans, start making purchasing decisions.—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.comRightRev 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—LINKS: Scott on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-woody-21677121/Metronome: https://metronome.com/Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ 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/—RELATED EPISODES:Figma’s AI Credit Model: Should You Copy It?https://youtu.be/-ooA-jgApCs—TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Claude outage and AI habits1:58 Stripe’s startup energy3:33 The AI monetization question4:12 Who’s getting AI pricing right6:04 Are agents the real buyers9:03 Sponsors — Tropic | HockeyStack | RightRev12:44 ChatGPT pricing psychology13:41 Why $9.99 beats $8.9715:05 Agents optimize pricing decisions18:22 Seats plus usage hybrids20:08 Investors push usage pricing22:40 Hard to change SaaS business models23:52 Usage vs seat pricing battle24:46 AI cost pressure forces change25:56 Optimization proves real value32:53 Credits are just a wrapper34:22 Value across multiple products35:29 Credits shift risk to buyer36:11 Complex credits need sales36:43 Credits move risk in pricing37:58 Block layoffs awkward all-hands#MostlyGrowthPodcast #SaaSPricing #AIMonetization #UsageBasedPricing #CreditPricing

In this episode of Mostly Growth, the number one podcast in product monetization, Kyle and CJ break down Figma’s new AI credit model and why investors sent the stock up 14%. They unpack hybrid seat + credit pricing, power-law usage, the fine print on overages, and what this means for SaaS monetization in the age of AI. Plus: Snapchat’s 25M paying subs and a cautionary overages tale.—SPONSORS: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.comTropic 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—LINKS: Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ 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.reuters.com/business/figma-jumps-ai-push-boosts-software-design-spending-2026-02-19/https://help.figma.com/hc/en-us/articles/33459875669015-How-AI-credits-workhttps://www.saastr.com/salesforce-now-has-3-pricing-models-for-agentforce-and-maybe-right-now-thats-the-way-to-do-it/https://www.growthunhinged.com/p/2025-state-of-saas-pricing-changes—RELATED EPISODES:SaaS Is Dead? The Market Thinks So.https://youtu.be/VMLuuaob1ZM—TIMESTAMPS:Podcast:0:00 Wrong side of the bed1:51 Investors reward monetization4:36 Power users drive credits5:10 Credit models surge in SaaS7:25 Usage layered onto seats9:08 Figma vs vibe coding10:10 Sponsors — RightRev | Tropic | HockeyStack13:51 What a credit costs16:07 AI efficiency vs seat risk19:17 Use-it-or-lose-it credits20:53 Credit model fatigue22:13 Salesforce’s AI pricing evolution23:36 No single “best” pricing model24:29 Late but polished AI rollout25:42 Monetizing power users27:05 Snapchat’s surprise subscription scale#MostlyGrowthPodcast #AIPricing #UsageBasedPricing #SaaSMonetization #ProductLedGrowth

In this episode of Mostly Growth, the number one podcast in product monetization, CJ Gustafson and Kyle Poyar tackle the “SaaS-pocalypse.” With median EV/NTM revenue multiples grinding to a 10-year low and stocks like Salesforce, Oracle, Figma, and Asana sharply off their peaks, they break down the real bear case: collapsing retention, AI replacing SaaS, and startups outflanking incumbents. Then they explain why renewal rates, Rule of 40 profiles, and first-party data suggest SaaS isn’t dead—just repriced.SPONSORS: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.comRightRev 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.comTropic 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.—LINKS: Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ 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.mostlymetrics.com/p/the-era-of-capital-intensive-ipos-and-the-14b-ipo-you-probably-forgot-about—RELATED EPISODES:Pricing Strategy Guide: 7 Pricing Models Every Operator Should Knowhttps://youtu.be/5nxETc2IhrA—TIMESTAMPS:00:00 Snowstorm Banter And Shovel Debate 01:47 Is SaaS Dead? 03:27 Zombie Or Thriving 05:15 AI Threat To Project Tools 06:48 Flexible Use Cases As Moat 07:11 DocuSign Debate 08:09 Contract Data As Strategic Asset 08:32 AI Update Spooks Security Stocks 09:06 Sponsors — HockeyStack | RightRev | Tropic 12:47 Market Panic Or Rational? 13:17 SaaS Multiples Hit 3x 15:27 From Revenue To EBITDA Multiples 17:37 DCF And Terminal Value Risk 19:43 Biggest SaaS Selloffs 20:28 Figma Down 80% 21:00 PLG Tools Hit Hardest 21:46 Seat Based Pricing Risk 23:12 Bear Case 3 Assumptions 25:16 AI Still SaaS Delivery 27:32 Incumbents Win With Data 29:48 Adoption Beats Vibe Coding 30:25 Reinventing SaaS In The AI Era 31:09 Build Vs Buy Accountability 32:06 Centralized Data Vs SaaS Stack 33:20 SaaS Sprawl And DIY Chaos 35:24 Vibe Coding Vs Enterprise Compliance 35:42 Cluely Interview Meltdown 37:35 Inside The AI Startup Chaos #MostlyGrowthPodcast #SaaS #AIinBusiness #ProductLedGrowth #TechStrategy

In this episode of Mostly Growth, the number one podcast in product monetization, Kyle Poyar sits down with Emir Atli, co-founder & CRO of HockeyStack, to unpack what 90% of GTM teams get wrong about AI. They explore why most AI efforts stall, how broken data infrastructure kills results, and how agent-first workflows, sales blueprints, and AI-driven forecasting helped HockeyStack accelerate cycles, lift win rates, and drive 3x growth.—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.comRightRev 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—LINKS: HockeyStack: https://www.hockeystack.com/Emir on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emircatli/Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ 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/—RELATED EPISODES:ChatGPT’s $44 Billion Ad Playhttps://youtu.be/PcZoKVdaGm0—TIMESTAMPS:00:00 AI Pressure On GTM Teams01:28 Broken GTM Infrastructure03:15 Agents Over Prompting04:42 Measuring Agent ROI06:11 Reverse Engineering Top Performers08:21 Scaling Spam vs Pipeline Execution10:02 Sponsor — Tropic | HockeyStack | RightRev13:42 Sales Experience Drives Wins15:11 Executive Alignment Wins Enterprise Deals17:07 Building The Sales Blueprint19:08 Shorter Cycles And Higher Win Rates20:01 Replacing Opinion Based Forecasting23:21 AI Marketing Analyst Insights25:39 Balancing Human Judgment With AI27:48 Business Blunder Tariff On Swag29:04 LinkedIn Algorithm Frustration31:12 Tool Of The Week Granola31:56 Switching From ChatGPT To Claude32:54 Credits#MostlyGrowthPodcast #AIAgents #B2BSales #GTMStrategy #RevenueOperations

In this episode of Mostly Growth, the number one podcast in product monetization, CJ and Kyle break down OpenAI’s move to introduce ads in ChatGPT and what it means for AI monetization. They contrast Anthropic’s anti-ad positioning with ChatGPT’s scale advantage, unpack the $60 CPM pricing model, and debate whether conversational ads can justify premium ROI. From market size math to competitive threats from Google and Meta, it’s a deep dive on ads, optionality, and the future economics of AI.—SPONSORS: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.comTropic 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—LINKS: Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ 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/—RELATED EPISODES:The Economics of Free: When Zero Breaks the Pricing Curvehttps://youtu.be/P2_ufRTQnl8—TIMESTAMPS:00:00 Super Bowl AI Ads04:12 Intro04:35 ChatGPT Ad Revenue Potential06:24 CPM vs CPC10:04 Sponsor — RightRev | Tropic | HockeyStack13:55 Where ChatGPT Sits in the Funnel16:26 Early Ad Partners & ROI Proof18:04 Payments & Marketplace Opportunity19:06 What ChatGPT Ads Might Look Like22:27 Metadata vs Search Intent23:10 Testing What ChatGPT Knows24:17 How ChatGPT Ads Will Appear28:36 Bear Case: UX Degradation31:28 Monetization Limits & 20% Query Reality32:07 Sensitivity of Monetization Rate33:13 Business Blunders36:03 AI Double Standard in Audits#MostlyGrowthPodcast #AdMonetization #ChatGPT #GrowthStrategy #ProductMonetization

On this episode of Mostly Growth, the number one podcast in product monetization, Kyle and CJ dive into vertical SaaS and the “riches in niches” playbook. From Skimmer to Rock Auto to Epicor, they unpack why obscure software companies win, the TAM trap, product attach rate, month-one churn, and gross profit per location. Plus: front vs back office, marketplaces, competitive moats, and whether vertical AI is the next wave.—SPONSORS: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.comRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models likeusage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scalemonetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving,visit https://www.rightrev.comTropic 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.—LINKS: Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ 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.rockauto.com/https://www.mostlymetrics.com/p/the-top-metrics-for-vertical-saas-76ahttps://www.mostlymetrics.com/p/owning-the-control-point—RELATED EPISODES:The Layer-Cake Playbook for Vertical SaaS Growth | with Roland Ligtenberghttps://youtu.be/yPxWvhPISKoScaling to $1B+ Revenue: From ServiceNow to Samsara | Dominic Phillipshttps://youtu.be/vBY6WZBMljwWhy AI Hasn’t Hit Main Street Yet, According to Mangomint’s CEOhttps://youtu.be/2D-eEPkDnPk—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Vertical SaaS Riches in Niches00:01:10 Skimmer & Hyper-Specific Operating Systems00:02:27 The Layered Niche Opportunity00:04:23 Intro00:04:47 Defining Vertical vs. Horizontal Software00:06:10 The TAM Trap & Multi-Product Strategy00:07:45 Why Vertical Retention Is So High00:08:33 Investing in Vertical SaaS Post–Product Market Fit00:10:28 Word of Mouth, Low CAC & 95% Retention00:10:27 Sponsors — HockeyStack | RightRev | Tropic00:14:08 PartsTech: Zero Marketing Spend & Vertical Efficiency00:15:02 Partnerships & Ecosystem-Driven Growth00:16:12 Arbitrage Opportunities in Vertical SaaS00:17:03 Vertical SaaS Business Models: Front, Back & Marketplace00:17:47 Why System of Record Wins00:19:27 Tech Refresh Cycles & Generational Shift00:21:10 Building the Next Vertical SaaS: What Investors Want00:22:03 Product Attach Rate vs. Monetizable SKU Expansion00:23:00 Month-One Churn as the Retention North Star00:25:32 Implementation During Trial to Lock in Adoption00:26:14 Tracking “TAM Burn” and the Retention Waterfall00:28:47 Gross Profit per Location as a True North Metric00:30:02 Vertical SaaS Is Crowded—Vertical AI Is Next00:31:30 Salesforce Army Deal Stock Drop00:32:49 Anthropic’s Super Bowl Ad Strategy00:35:33 Credits#MostlyGrowthPodcast #VerticalSaaS #SaaSMetrics #GoToMarket #VerticalAI

In this episode of Mostly Growth, Kyle Poyar and CJ Gustafson break down how newsletters went from career risk to career leverage. Drawing on their own stories, they walk through a tactical, no-fluff guide to starting and growing a newsletter—from naming, domains, and branding to writing, consistency, and AI use. —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.comRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models likeusage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scalemonetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving,visit https://www.rightrev.com—LINKS: Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ 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/how-to-grow-your-b2b-newsletter?draft=truehttps://open.spotify.com/episode/4fLZsXKtoTY05btVmh1jO3?si=a4db1f43cb0c495bhttps://growthinreverse.com/cj-gustafson/https://www.growthunhinged.com/p/deep-research-for-gtmhttps://www.mostlymetrics.com/p/rumors-of-my-death-have-been-greatly-exaggerated—RELATED EPISODES:Fantasy Startup Draft: The First 5 Hires We’d Make Todayhttps://youtu.be/usxbRdABi0I—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Newsletter Side Hustles and Getting Fired00:02:41 When a Newsletter Becomes a Career Catalyst00:04:05 Ownership, Control, and Leaving With the Audience00:05:20 From Career Risk to Job Requirement00:06:38 Show Intro00:07:02 Why Newsletters Beat Social Media Algorithms00:08:27 Built-In Growth and Forwardability of Email00:09:13 Naming Your Newsletter and Finding Audience-Market Fit00:10:34 Sponsors — Tropic | HockeyStack | RightRev00:14:14 Domains as a Strategic Newsletter Asset00:15:40 Why Owning Your Domain Future-Proofs Distribution00:17:04 The Power of Direct Traffic and Memorability00:17:51 Choosing the Right “From” Name and Sender Identity00:19:16 Defining Your Newsletter Logline00:20:36 Visual Identity and Brand Consistency00:10:29 Sponsors — Tropic | HockeyStack | RightRev00:14:14 Domains, Naming, and Brand Personality00:22:45 Finding Stories and Newsletter Writing Inspiration00:24:39 Writing Titles That Drive Opens Without Clickbait00:27:00 Consistency, Timing, and Building Inbox Habits00:28:01 Using AI as a Research and Brainstorming Assistant00:29:46 Welcome Emails and Early Engagement Growth Loops00:30:21 Promoting Newsletters Beyond Twitter00:30:39 Newsletter Swaps as the Best Distribution Channel00:31:57 Using Onboarding Surveys to Understand and Grow Audience00:32:57 SEO Basics for Newsletters on Your Own Domain00:34:47 Separating Email Subject Lines from SEO Titles00:35:09 Experimenting With Paid Growth and Subscriber LTV00:36:46 The Simple Formula for Building a Durable Newsletter00:37:16 Credits#MostlyGrowthPodcast #NewsletterGrowth #ContentMarketing #PersonalBrand #CreatorEconomy

In this episode of Mostly Growth, Kyle Poyar and CJ Gustafson run a fantasy startup draft—Super Bowl–style. If you were founding a company today, who would you hire first? Marketing generalist, founding BDR, product marketing, RevOps, customer success, or a first business hire? Kyle and CJ draft five non-technical roles each, debate tradeoffs, and explain how early hiring choices shape growth, efficiency, and execution. Then it’s on you to vote on the winning roster—with real (and painful) stakes for the loser.—SPONSORS: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.comTropic 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—LINKS: Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ 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/—RELATED EPISODES:When the marketing math doesn’t math | with Emily Kramerhttps://youtu.be/sSuoV_YSrlwThe Psychology Behind Why Buyers Don’t Change | DemandJenhttps://youtu.be/h7ZgPkgZ5oE—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Fantasy Punishments and Cold Open  00:02:35 Show Intro and Draft Stakes  00:03:37 Framing the Fantasy Startup Draft  00:05:41 Round One00:10:13 Sponsors — RightRev | Tropic | HockeyStack  00:13:54 Round Two00:18:00 Round Three00:21:10 Round Four00:24:12 Round Five00:27:18 Why This Pick Didn’t Make the Draft  00:28:12 Pricing in the Real World: Super Bowl Ads  00:30:51 Bonuses in the Real World: NFL Playoff Incentives  00:32:59 Voting, Final Thoughts, and Wrap-Up#MostlyGrowthPodcast #StartupDraft #GoToMarket #EarlyStageStartups #RevenueOps

In this episode of Mostly Growth, Kyle Poyar, CJ Gustafson, and Ben Hillman break down the economics and psychology of “free,” explaining why the jump from free to even $0.01 fundamentally changes behavior. They unpack freemium, free trials, reverse trials, ungated products, and credit-card trials, sharing real conversion benchmarks and CFO-level tradeoffs between acquisition and revenue. The takeaway: “free” isn’t one strategy—it’s a set of levers that must match what you’re optimizing for.—SPONSORS: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.comRightRev 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.comTropic 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.—LINKS: Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ 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://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/mksc.1060.0254https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517722002059https://x.com/samwhoo/status/2007590903448514921?s=20https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/29/guys-i-dont-think-tim-cook-knows-how-to-monetize-ai/—RELATED EPISODES:From Credit Karma to Notion: CFO Rama Katkar on Leading Finance Through Every Growth Stagehttps://youtu.be/NWgn9ryTP38—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Personal Stories About Free00:02:38 Mostly Growth Introduction00:03:01 Why “Free” Changes Consumer Behavior00:04:30 The Psychology of Free Pricing and Promotions00:06:10 Why “Free” Works Differently in B2B vs B2C00:08:12 Free Trials vs Freemium: Key Monetization Differences00:09:04 Credit Cards, Free Trials, and CFO Anxiety00:09:21 Sponsors — HockeyStack | RightRev | Tropic00:13:02 Reverse Trials and the Calendly Playbook00:15:39 Ungated Free Products and Zero-Friction Adoption00:18:17 The Math Behind Free Funnels and Conversion Leakage00:20:31 Why Small Conversion Gains Matter in Freemium Models00:21:25 Newsletter Paywalls, Email Gates, and Monetization Tradeoffs00:23:50 How the Freemium Conversion Data Was Collected00:24:49 Why Free Trials Are Still More Popular Than Freemium00:27:36 When Freemium Works: Network Effects and Compounding Value00:29:14 Choosing Trial Lengths and What to Gate in Freemium00:31:11 Designing Freemium Around User Needs and Conversion Extremes00:33:25 Credit Card Trials: Higher Conversion vs Lower Quality Users00:35:08 Comparing Freemium, Free Trials, and CC-Gated Trials00:36:22 Choosing the Right Free Motion for Your Company Stage00:37:43 StackOverflow’s Decline in the Age of AI00:38:35 Apple’s AI Monetization Problem and Industry Uncertainty00:40:29 Credits#MostlyGrowthPodcast #PricingStrategy #Freemium #ProductLedGrowth #SaaSMonetization

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.—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.comRightRev 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—LINKS: Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ 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—RELATED EPISODES:Pricing in the Real World: Babies, Bots, and Billinghttps://youtu.be/T1cjFSZR0k0The CFO Case for Probabilistic Forecasting With AI | Bruno Annicqhttps://youtu.be/dfjSjPAXEEk—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Snowstorm banter00:03:28 Setting up the episode: real-world pricing models00:04:09 Razor–razor blade pricing explained00:07:45 Applying razor–blade pricing to SaaS and hardware00:08:59 Hardware + software razor–blade tradeoffs00:09:51 Sponsors — Tropic | HockeyStack | RightRev00:13:31 Waitlists as a growth and pricing lever00:19:39 Free samples and freemium models00:23:23 Luxury pricing, exclusivity, and Veblen goods00:27:29 Luxury tiers in tech and professional services00:29:52 Decoy pricing and the Economist example00:32:54 Two-part tariffs and membership economics00:37:05 Price anchoring and steering buyers to the middle00:38:46 Event-driven price increases tied to new value00:41:26 Outro#MostlyGrowthPodcast #PricingStrategy #PricingModels #SaaSPricing #Monetization

In this episode of Mostly Growth, Kyle Poyar and CJ Gustafson sit down with Jen Allen-Knuth to break down why “status quo” is the most dangerous competitor in B2B sales. They unpack the psychology of change, why buyers care more about confidence than features, and how sales principles show up in leadership, forecasting, and finance. The conversation covers qualifying real pipeline, running better discovery, smarter outbound, and how execs—from CROs to CFOs—can sell change inside their own companies.—SPONSORS: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.comTropic 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—LINKS: DemandJen: https://demandjen.com/Jen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/demandjen1/Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ 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.youtube.com/watch?v=B9OCYOD-e9s—RELATED EPISODES:Can You Measure the ROI of a Super Bowl Ad?https://youtu.be/YgWm4HqDlbw—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Meeting Jen Allen-Knuth00:01:12 Walkup Music, Conferences, and Setting the Vibe00:03:34 Mostly Growth Show Intro00:03:57 Meta Sales Lessons00:06:20 Why Every Executive Needs Sales Skills00:08:35 Sales Psychology, Loss Aversion, and the Cost of Inaction00:11:09 Sponsors — RightRev | Tropic | HockeyStack00:14:50 Why Great Sales Reps Assume Deals Will Fail00:16:58 The Art of the Anti-Sell00:19:03 Giving Buyers an Explicit Out on Price00:21:00 The Three Strongest Signals a Deal Will Close00:23:10 Asking How Buyers Reached Their Conclusion00:25:34 Status Quo as the Biggest Competitor00:27:24 How Much Pipeline You Actually Need to Hit Target00:28:30 Shifting to What Actually Works in Outbound Messaging00:31:52 Leading with Insight Instead of Pitching the Product00:32:42 Why Every AE Needs to Generate Their Own Outbound00:33:22 Business Blunders and the Problem with Breakup Emails00:35:07 The Providence Place Mall Squatter Blunder00:35:42 Reacting to the Providence Mall Squatter Story00:36:40 Outbound Messaging as a Business Blunder00:38:05 Solopreneur S-Corp and Payroll Pain00:40:13 Using ChatGPT for Admin and Operations00:42:33 Credits#MostlyGrowthPodcast #B2BSales #OutboundSales #SalesPsychology #RevenueGrowth

In this episode of Mostly Growth, Kyle Poyar and CJ Gustafson unpack the real economics of brand marketing—from Super Bowl ads and CPM math to attribution, incrementality, and PLG arbitrage. They debate when brand spend actually drives growth, why CFOs struggle to measure it, and how B2B companies justify big bets. The episode wraps with Pricing in the Real World, breaking down Rivian’s lower-priced R2 launch, EV subsidies, and pricing strategy under uncertainty.—SPONSORS: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.comRightRev 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.comTropic 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.—LINKS: Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ 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://skift.com/2019/01/31/what-is-expensify-thinking-with-its-pricey-super-bowl-ad/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1Tgsy7D0Jghttps://adage.com/article/special-report-super-bowl/super-bowl-commercial-prices-hit-8-million-first-time/2600146/https://www.growthunhinged.com/p/guide-to-marketing-attributionhttps://www.growthunhinged.com/p/brand-vs-growthhttps://www.themotherhood.com/super-bowl-advertising-guidelines/https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/gw30je/til_that_the_nfl_sent_a_cease_and_desist_order_to/https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/teslas-full-self-driving-is-switching-to-a-subscription-only-service-120053137.htmlhttps://www.caranddriver.com/rivian/r3—RELATED EPISODES:Scaling to $1B+ Revenue: From ServiceNow to Samsara | Dominic Phillipshttps://youtu.be/vBY6WZBMljwThe Layer-Cake Playbook for Vertical SaaS Growth | with Roland Ligtenberghttps://youtu.be/yPxWvhPISKo—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Preview and Intro00:01:11 Sponsors — HockeyStack | RightRev | Tropic00:05:15 Super Bowl Ads, QR Codes, and CFO Risk Assessment00:08:37 Super Bowl Ads as Ego vs. Economic Signal00:11:21 Bottom-Up PLG and the Expensify Playbook00:12:56 Which B2B Companies Can Justify a Super Bowl Ad00:14:44 CPM Math and Why the Numbers Sometimes Work00:16:28 Brand vs. Demand and Measuring Brand as Growth00:18:49 Brand as a Moat and Trust Over Time00:21:10 Measuring Brand Through Branded Search and Conversion00:23:22 Attribution Limits and Incrementality Testing00:26:12 Geo-Based Brand Experiments and Targeted Events00:28:13 Marketing Arbitrage and Analytics Discipline00:29:06 Unconventional B2B Marketing That Actually Worked00:30:33 Predicting Which Tech Companies Will Run Super Bowl Ads00:32:31 Subscription Pricing Comes to Cars00:34:18 EV Pricing, Subsidies, and Forecasting Demand00:34:48 Credits#MostlyGrowthPodcast #brandmarketing #b2bmarketing #pricingstrategy #superbowl

In this episode of Mostly Growth, CJ Gustafson and Kyle Poyar unpack how marketplaces really make money by dissecting take rates across companies like Uber, Airbnb, DoorDash, Etsy, and Amazon. They explore what drives take rates—power dynamics, frequency, ticket size, and value delivered—plus why pushing a “rake too far” can backfire. The episode blends real examples, a take-rate guessing game, and practical frameworks for pricing, monetization, and long-term marketplace health.—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.comRightRev 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—LINKS: Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ 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.mostlymetrics.com/p/comparing-marketplace-take-rateshttps://techcrunch.com/2026/01/06/a-viral-reddit-post-alleging-fraud-from-a-food-delivery-app-turned-out-to-be-ai-generated/https://abovethecrowd.com/2013/04/18/a-rake-too-far-optimal-platformpricing-strategy/https://www.boatsetter.com/boating-resources/boatsetter-and-getmyboat-announce-merger-forming-a-powerhouse-marketplace-for-boat-rentals-on-the-water-adventure—RELATED EPISODES:The Layer-Cake Playbook for Vertical SaaS Growth | with Roland Ligtenberghttps://youtu.be/yPxWvhPISKoThe End of LTV to CAC: Rethinking SaaS Metrics for AIhttps://youtu.be/vh3AGdqlSxUSloponomics: Surviving the AI Content Flood with Rudenesshttps://youtu.be/kOK8oJ-lhZM—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Preview and Intro00:01:14 Inside the DoorDash Priority Delivery Controversy00:04:16 Why Marketplaces Monetize the Way They Do00:05:26 The Take Rate Formula: Frequency, Size, and Effort00:07:20 Take Rates as a Power Dynamic00:08:21 Sponsors — Tropic | HockeyStack | RightRev00:12:25 Marketplace Take Rate Game00:18:26 Take Rates Beyond Marketplaces: Recruiting, Sales, and Art00:20:50 A Rake Too Far and the Risks of Over-Monetization00:23:29 Optimizing Lifetime Value Versus One-Time Gouging00:25:15 Amazon’s Layered Marketplace Monetization Model00:27:23 Brainstorming Add-On Revenue Streams for Marketplaces00:31:21 Boat Rental Marketplace Merger and Antitrust00:33:28 Credits#MostlyGrowthPodcast #Marketplaces #Monetization #TakeRate #PricingStrategy

In this episode of Mostly Growth, the number one podcast for product monetization, CJ Gustafson and Kyle Poyar dig into what actually makes a sales comp plan effective—and why so many go wrong. They break down OTE, quotas, accelerators, spiffs, ramps, and usage-based models, plus how incentives shape behavior across sales and customer success. The conversation covers margin-based comp, AI’s impact on forecasting, common gaming pitfalls, and practical rules for building simple, aligned plans that drive growth without breaking trust.—SPONSORS: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.comTropic 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—LINKS: Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ 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.youtube.com/c/Vinwikihttps://www.lookingforleverage.com/p/the-characteristics-of-a-great-sales-comp-plan—RELATED EPISODES:Pricing in the Real World: Babies, Bots, and Billinghttps://youtu.be/T1cjFSZR0k0The End of LTV to CAC: Rethinking SaaS Metrics for AIhttps://youtu.be/vh3AGdqlSxUCowboy Forecasting: The Power of Fast Informed Estimates on the Back of an Envelopehttps://youtu.be/BgO3oDiE8wEDriving revenue without selling | Greg Henry of 1Passwordhttps://youtu.be/f5FsNoG8A3E—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Preview and Intro00:01:07 Sponsors — RightRev | Tropic | HockeyStack00:05:11 Commission Economics and Why Incentives Matter00:06:13 How Exotic Car Salespeople Get Paid00:07:36 Comping Sales Teams on Margin vs Revenue00:09:43 Rapid-Fire Breakdown of Sales Comp Terms00:12:49 Presidents Club Stories and Sales Motivation00:13:38 What Makes a Great (or Terrible) Sales Comp Plan00:14:46 How Sales Reps Game Overcomplicated Plans00:16:41 Accelerators, Timing Deals, and Quarter Misalignment00:17:42 Ramp Periods and Realistic Expectations for New Reps00:19:22 How AI Improves Forecasting More Than Sales Velocity00:20:11 Quotas, Deal Volume, and the Physics of Sales Math00:22:21 Cash Timing, Signed Comp Plans, and Avoiding Clawbacks00:25:04 How AI Could Reshape Quotas and Sales Efficiency Assumptions00:26:46 Improving Sales Performance by Moving the Middle of the Pack00:28:16 Rethinking Compensation for Customer Success Teams00:32:07 Usage-Based Pricing and Comping for Product Adoption00:35:25 Business Blunders: Managing Slack, Boundaries, and Energy Vampires00:38:06 Managing Slack Etiquette, Boundaries, and Closing Thoughts#MostlyGrowthPodcast #SalesComp #GoToMarket #RevenueGrowth #B2BSaaS