Most companies make pricing an after thought.

Most companies also are never able to use pricing as the superpower it actually is.  

I have had the privilege of overseeing revenue management for over $6 billion in revenue across a diverse range of industries during the past decade. Throughout this experience, I've gained a deep understanding of the critical role that pricing plays in business success. 

I'm passionate about sharing my expertise and insights to help organizations harness the power of pricing strategies to improve profitability and overall performance.

Karan Sood

I can't teach you pricing in a day or week, or a month. 
There is a reason I no longer offer a monthly membership. 

None of the things that matter in pricing can be learnt in days or weeks. 

It took me: 
- 5 years to move off cost based pricing

- 10 years to learn building reputation with sales

- 15 to likely learn that  I am not even in the pricing business

- 17+ to learn what truly generates growth in pricing people

These things were learnt over the years, not in weeks or months. A lot came not from any text book, or linkedin post, but from test and learn and working with other professionals. 
 

A lot came through working with execs, learning how to really speak their language, going on hundreds of sales calls..


There is a reason I am bullish about PricingTribe and the way we run it. For all the above reason I know in the age of AI where content is dime a dozen, a place for connection with peers will be sought after. 


We discuss deeply, frequently and more broadly. We are way beyond what we would discuss and say in public. 


That's why I think PricingTribe will be the marquee place for all pricing professionals ! If you haven't check it out, you should. 

Apply on website: pricingtribe.com

#PricingTribe.

Join the best private community for all pricing professionals ! Apply on website !

I am going to keep reminding pricing people ! 
You need to be expert in pricing, but generalist in nature. 


Your pricing skills matter, but your other skills matter just as much.



1) Core Skill - Pricing: This is your foundation.

You need breadth across pricing models AND depth in how pricing actually works across industries. It’s not enough to just know one space. You need to be open to learning from other industries. SAAS can learn a thing from manufacturing and they can learn a thing from services.. 

Your pricing instinct comes from multi model knowledge - not just the one in your company. Talk to people outside of your core.



2) Essential Skills - Finance + Industry +AI

Finance is non-negotiable. If you don’t know what’s inside a P&L, you should start now. You should be able to understand:

AR
BOM
payment terms
reserves
accruals
margin math contribution vs. gross…
P&L management is essential. 

Industry knowledge is the other essential. Knowing the market, competitors, and the value chain. It will let you speak with authority in any room. Pick up a basic book like "Financial Intelligence". Easy !

I don't want to talk about AI, you know that's an essential skill now to ingrain into your processes, workflows, analysis. 

3) Preferred - Soft Skills:

This is where careers are made. You need to grow your Influence and be better at executive communication. 

Executive communication upwards
Framing difficult conversations.
Reading a room full of execs. 
Know when to be firm and flexible.

You need to stand up for yourself sometimes too, you may go against the grain. But it's okay it builds your character. 


4) Desirable - Cross-Functional Knowledge

This is your long-tail advantage. Know other areas of the business like:

IT
Sales and Marketing
Operations
Contracts
Supply chain
Commercial terms
Basic legal understanding


You don’t need to master everything, but knowing how things actually work makes you a far more strategic partner.


Develop this skill set and your impact becomes impossible to ignore.


If you made it this far, please: 

👍🏼Like it or 
♻️share it with everyone
✉️ Send it to a peer.
💾 Save it for yours

This is the bedrock of everything inside #PricingTribe group if that's of interest.

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Building pricing credibility is hard. 

And I mean deep credibility where people will rely your POV consistently, where people will move meetings for your POV or wait for you to come back from vacation to get your POV or just shelf a decision because you are busy. That level of credibility is hard hard hard stuff. It comes at a cost too. 


It takes years to build. Years, not months, not weeks, not days. And, you could work on it for years, and have it derailed in one quarter or worse in one meeting. I've been there, likely you too.


I have been thinking of a hierarchy of things I think pricing professionals need to master to build that credibility. Consider it a working draft. 


You could apply this framework at any level, but it does lend itself to mid to senior professionals more. 

It starts at the bottom with commercial understanding, you need to know the business better than most people. This goes a long way in establishing yourself as a business knowledge powerhouse. That builds credibility, that comes from having your ear in several functions with healthy relationships with business or area heads. 


Measure your impact your majesty ! Big or small ! These small wins go unnoticed but when put together could build a lot of trust. Document it, track it, revise it and blow it up on the slide occasionally. 


Systems: Everytime I missed a growth opty in my career it was because my systems or processes were not in place. I was too ad-hoc of a margin slinger while someone with less skill had better systems and went ahead. Systems will eat adhoc processed for breakfast anyday. Build your systems sir !!!! 


You need consistency in how you present to the exec. You have to nail the format, the message in the way they like, understand and approve decisions. If you bring a different date every time, side eye is all you'll get from them. (I am kinda proud of this non AI reference I made, please tell me you read this far). 


And, lasting credibility will come with clear ownership of decisions. Where you own, the win and the loss. And are the sole owner of pricing decisions. This is a big reason I am not a fan of pricing committee's. Pricing has one owner, who can present find to the exec committee or product or whosoever. You add too many cooks, you'll spoil the broth mama said...


Will expand on this soon in #PricingTribe...


PS: It's 6:30 AM and don't let down by the Beatles playing in the background. The version where they play their last concert together in a 42 mins set on a rooftop. Not sure why I told you this, but felt like it ! Beatles are my favourite.

Apply for our membership: pricingtribe.com

You were warned. 
Back in 2023 I posted this note on why Spotify was massively under monetized and it was leaving money by not changing price fast enough with value. 


The post went viral and I was roasted by everyone media people, marketing people, execs, coaches, teachers and janitors and even 2023 AI experts !! 


90 comments and mostly people disagreed that Spotify had any pricing power,  because replacement was easy. There was no differentiation. 

There was no value add like Netflix which constantly adds new value.


Fast forward 3 years, and Spotify has increased price every year 2024, 2025 and now 2026. The old 9.99 is 12.99. The change is probably most of its annual profit by now. 


Those same people who commented, now pay 30% higher while their value extraction from the platform has rarely changed. 


Not sure why I am bringing this up. Maybe because it goes to say why pricing power is underestimated and not well understood. 

#PricingTribe community ! We are live !

Toying with an idea of a podcast ? 

Thinking of interviewing Sr. Pricing/Finance and Strategy leaders.

Would you want to listen ?

I feel real audio in a world of AI will be valuable. 

Who would you want me to interview ?

I love talking. I want to do more talking and writing. 
 
I love #PricingTribe !!

Can we adopt the term 'Pricers'. 
I am a bit tired of telling people I am an art and science expert in Excel. 

or that we are finance, just more balanced towards org goals.. 

WTH even is a role that sits at the intersection of finance, marketing, strategy and sales ? I know that's what you tell people. 


Just like marketing has marketers. No marketer goes out and says I sit at the intersection of demand and supply by helping people convert to customers... 


The dictionary literally says 'Pricer: A person who prices things and puts price tags on them'... 


Can we pretty please ? 
Who do I have to convince ?

Pricing people: In a world of AI slop, be careful of what you read and spend time on.


The world of AI content is centering towards the average, and you are not average and neither is your time. Please value it accordingly. 


This is the big reason I have pivoted from writing too much on linkedin or long form articles to more peer to peer connection and to video. It just feels more authentic in this new world.


Remember….Real learning will always happen by doing, by testing, by asking questions, by failing, by mentoring, by shadowing, by reverse engineering, by taking a L sometimes, and a win other times and by peer support and networking..


That’s it ! 
#PricingTribe

Pricing is not easy. 
But #PricingTribe is making it easier.

To be successful automate yourself out of a job. 
That's a kind of north star metric that drives more success.

PricingTribe invited Megan Smith who has ran deal desk for Hubspot, Dropbox and Linkedin for a Deal Desk: Design and Setup workshop. 


Here were the key takeaways for you: 


- Setup processes and automate yourself out of a job. That should be your core objective. 

- Deal desks work because humans require human touch on deals. It can be through negotiation on discounts, terms, builds etc. 

- Deal Desk should have clear authority: “up to X discount / down to Y margin", anything outside is an escalation path. 

- Create an “easy way vs hard way” path for sales. Easy way is fast with higher success, hard way is escalations, and is slow and doesn't guarantee success. 

- Reward reps who bring complete context (faster SLA, advocacy).

- Measure what matters: time-to-close (DD deals), win rate (directional), ACV/margin impact, and attach rate (low overall, high on big deals


Here is a valuable clip from that #PricingTribe workshop. 


Posting for the : 7:45 Algo gods. While listening to "Sound of the silence: Live in central Park" where paul simon got 600K people to come in. I don't even have that many impressions all month...let me know if you read so far !!

Price increases rarely fail because of the price.
Last week’s 1Password pricing episode is a good reminder of that.


They didn't change price for 10 years and then raised them by 33%, the backlash was swift and cruel. 


Within days:

- Reddit threads exploded with complaints
- Users posted cancellation notices
- Competitors started advertising against the increase
- Discounts started appearing to calm the backlash


So here are the TLDR learnings: 

- Don’t wait 10 years to change price
- Segmentation matters more than most teams realize
- Features <> value communication (excels fans)
- Every word in price communication matters
- Always prepare for backlash

I wrote all about it in today's newsletter ! 

https://lnkd.in/ghj-JeKw

Price increases rarely fail because of the price, they fail because of the execution around the price.

What's the hardest part of executing a price change ?

I have in good faith from my 7 year old daughter that I can live with her when she get older, even with her kids. She wrote it down and we circulated it inside the house. Wife's okay with it. She knew this day would come from DAY 1. 


We also started a LinkedIn page for PricingTribe (real big boy pants). We also have one follower, that's me. You can be the 2nd if you want. 


Tomorrow I write a long post about the most recent major pricing blunder in recent history !! So bad, it makes me feel bad for the pricing team involved. 


It's 7 am EST. They say good stuff only happens after 8:30 am, but by that time I will be running kitchen !! 


So please go ahead scroll past me or not, your choice ! But I don't care anymore, I am going to live with my daughter !

PricingTribe

Pricing lesson for everyone ! 
Strait of Hormuz closed: 30% of oil gets choked

Less oil = Expensive Oil (Especially Asia)

Expensive Oil = More expensive manufacturing

More expensive Manufacturing = Higher cost

Expensive Oil= Equally expensive freight 

Higher Cost + Higher Freight = Higher Prices

Higher Prices = Less Demand

Less Demand = Less Profit

Less profit = Slowdown in economy

For pricing professionals this will be a time of re-thinking strategies again.

Is Discount a form of value ? 
Discount is a necessary evil, if anyone told you otherwise including some big pricing consultant be very cautious. 


I have been a pricer, a seller and a buyer on multi million dollar deals ! And I can tell you none of those million dollar deals I sat on would have happened without some form of discount. For a lot deals it was a mental barrier in the seller's mind. They won't sign without the perception of a deal. 

- The business owner expects it
- The procurement person expects it
- The exec sponsoring  the deal expects it
- The finance team thinks its their birthright ! 

In fact if you as a pricing team are not providing sales a discount range to negotiate within a cost framework and empower them, then you are losing a big credibility lever for  yourself in the org, and your growth will suffer. Trust me bro, I know.. I have scars to show ! 

So this is a very interesting take from Ed Arnold's session inside PricingTribe on value communication in pricing. He has a hard stance that discount is a form of value !! I tend to agree... 

#PricingTribe.

Can someone please explain what I do to my wife ? 

Reetika Negi has a hard time understanding what I do !! 
She thinks I have some weird obsession with pricing. 

Her words: You write status messages about pricing ? 

Is she right ? Am I status message junkie ?


If my work meant anything to you. Please comment and tell her what I do. Tell her our PricingTribe is a real deal !!! We are for real community, with bells and whistles !!  

-------------
PS: She is the reason I am able to do this, so she might as well know !

Procurement Delivery Manager at Roche

Jay Odedra is the real deal ! #PricingTribe Go work for Jay.

Pricing, Packaging and Monetization Leader

One of the things I love most about working here is the level of collaboration and the trust to make real impact. We’re hiring a Director of Pricing Strategy to help set our direction in a fast‑growing industry — if this sounds like you (or someone you know), check out the role below 👇

Campbell, California, United States (Remote)

Ed arnold is a leading authority on customer value validation.

We at #PricingTribe were lucky enough to host him at our monthly members hangout !

Amazing session. We talked about what does it take to change a value model from pricing team into a value model that is owned by the customer.

The whole premise of customer value validation is to just surface the 3-4 drivers of value to the customer and filter out the noise !!

Thanks Ed Arnold , you have been too kind to the community !! Hope to see more of you.

I can’t stop thinking about the ‘Magic Trick’ value argument. That’s a great way to position value models.

#PricingTribe

I quantify the value that products deliver to customers.

Last week I met up with the good folks at the Pricing Tribe to talk about how I validate customer value. Great discussion!

Here are highlights.
https://lnkd.in/e8fFcTuG

Karan Sood Denise Gangi Jared Smith, Ph.D. Simon Lamb Cam Hartwick Rea Stamatoulakis Olga Bobikina, MBA, MS, BA

Open article: Why It’s Important to Validate Customer Value by edarnold1.substack.com

Why It’s Important to Validate Customer Value

When you have no discounting controls.

Employee creates 100% discount codes and walks away bunch of free shoes ! 

Honestly I am surprised it doesn’t happen more often given what I have seen in discount code control.

If you just starting your pricing career, this is great starting role !! Work for Valerie and James !! Great team and managers !

I’m hiring for a Junior Pricing Analyst.

I’m looking for someone who is organized, detail-oriented, analytically curious, and strong at keeping work moving across teams.
This is not just a spreadsheet role. It’s a chance to build experience across pricing, systems, dashboards, process management, and cross-functional execution.

Core strengths I’m looking for:
Loves clean process, deadlines, and operational follow-through
Comfortable managing workflows and keeping tools like Asana accurate and up to date
Strong basic Excel skills: XLOOKUP, pivot tables, formulas
Able to work carefully in systems and manage things like price book setups without creating downstream issues
Has the judgment to spot something unusual in the data and raise the right questions
Understands key pricing fundamentals like gross margin, discounting, net price, win rate, churn, and elasticity

Helpful experience:
Power BI, Tableau, or Looker
SQL exposure
HubSpot reporting
CPQ/CRM tools such as Salesforce, NetSuite, Dynamics, HubSpot, or quoting platforms
Pricing admin workflows such as discount approvals, contracting, and price book maintenance

In this role, you would:
Own Asana board hygiene and workflow tracking
Maintain pricing dashboards and reporting routines
Set up new products in our CPQ tool
Partner across Sales Ops, Finance, Product, Legal, Billing, Marketing, Sales, and Systems Administration
Conduct product market research
Support key pricing and administrative processes

This role is ideal for someone early in their career who wants to learn fast, contribute immediately, and build real pricing and commercial operations experience.

Know someone strong? Tag them or send them my way. https://lnkd.in/gphnVdfB

Why did Clay grandfather everyone ? 

I don't think clay understands the future drawback of two tier system.

Principal Product Manager @ Dell | Managed Services and Cloud Product Management | Author of Product Management IRL

As the Lead Product Manager at Dell Technologies, my focus is on pioneering managed services that seamlessly integrate with third-party providers.  My expertise in defining XaaS offers and developing managed services from incubation to market introduction has been instrumental in sales growth and service delivery. Collaborating with an extensive virtual team, I've negotiated key contracts and empowered a product team dedicated to year-over-year growth, all rooted in a deep understanding of software product management and networking.

Amy Mitchell

A hidden skill in product management: handling conflict.
 
David Pereira helps us choose progress over picking a fight:
 
🔹 Words shouldn't hurt you
         Step back
         Control your response
 
🔹 Choose a path forward
          Build the future instead of arguing the past
 
"You will face many conflicts before you succeed."

Open article: The powerful skill almost nobody has. by dpereira.substack.com

I recently spoke with Dr. Tim Varelmann, a specialist in mathematical optimization and operations research, about how he worked with a product team on a planning system.

They had built a prototype that automated purchasing decisions. It followed the rules. It reduced manual effort.

Leadership still hesitated.

The team clarified what they were optimizing for and how trade-offs should be handled. Once that was defined, review conversations changed and trust started to build.

It changed how I think about recommendation products.

When our products allocate, price, or plan, we are encoding decisions into software. The question is whether those decisions reflect the strategy of the business.

When your product makes decisions, are the trade-offs clear to everyone reviewing the output?

Tim and I wrote about the full story in my latest newsletter. 
🔗

Open article: Your Prototype Works. But Should Anyone Trust It? by amycmitchell.substack.com

Your Prototype Works. But Should Anyone Trust It?

I used this simple slide while reviewing a new capability with a product manager.
 
We realized something interesting:
 the capability was clear, but the offer and business signals weren't.
 
Over time these accumulate.
I think of them as bright spots. Impressive capabilities that never connect to the product system.
 
One quick test I’ve started using with teams is four questions:
 
• Which offer does this capability strengthen?
• Which solution becomes more complete because of it?
• Where does it appear in the sales motion?
• Which business signal should move if it succeeds?
 
This often takes a quick conversation to link capabilities to the product.
🔗 https://lnkd.in/guMy7vVN

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