Most people I work with are highly driven, committed, and hold themselves to high standards.

They’re also tired.

But our energy shapes how we think, decide, and lead, and how we show up for the people around us.

That’s the perspective behind my work.
I focus on creating high-energy lives - at work and beyond.

If that angle resonates, you’re in the right place.

We all deserve better energy.
Not one-day-off energy.
Not “recover-on-vacation” energy.
But steady, sustainable energy that supports clear thinking, good decisions, and a life you actually enjoy.

That belief led me to create Rising Yellow - a wellbeing brand built on a simple idea: life is too short to stay in a bad state, and we can choose to shift it every day.

For over 15 years, I worked in global organizations, leading People & Culture and transformation initiatives. I was capable, driven, and always “on.” For a long time, I ignored the signals my body kept sending, until I couldn’t.

That moment didn’t break me.
It redirected me.

Today, I work at the intersection of wellbeing, leadership, and People & Culture. I help companies and leaders protect and reclaim energy, especially during growth, pressure, and change.

My work is grounded in:

• Functional Medicine principles
• Positive psychology and behavior science
• Hands-on experience in corporate transformation

I focus on closing the gap between what people know is good for them and what they actually do on busy workdays.

How I help people and organizations:

For individuals:

• Daily insights on LinkedIn
• The Weekly Energy Shift Newsletter
• The Energy Shift Journal
• Private community: Yellowers (Energy Shifters)

For organizations:

• Workshops for leaders and teams
• Keynotes on energy, resilience, and performance
• People & Culture consulting

If you believe performance and health don’t have to compete, and that better energy changes everything, we’re already aligned.

📩 Open to corporate collaborations, trainings, workshops, and keynotes
More here: https://risingyellow.com/

Contact: gozde.imamoglu@risingyellow.com 💛

Gözde İmamoğlu

Last year, I learned more than I had in my entire career.

It was a deliberate decision to leave my corporate job and push myself to step out of my comfort zone.

Turns out, when nobody’s watching, you find out who you really are.
There’s no such thing as “I don’t know.”
There’s only “go figure it out.” 

But you don’t need to take a huge leap to grow.
You just need to refuse to stand still.

Here’s how to make sure you’re not in the same place next January:

1️⃣ Pick one new skill and commit 15 minutes a day
 → Not a massive course that overwhelms you
 → Something you can practice immediately

2️⃣ Say yes to one thing that makes you nervous
 → The presentation you’d normally pass on
 → The cross-department project
 → The conversation you’ve been avoiding

3️⃣ Ask someone you trust: “What’s my biggest blind spot?”
 → Your manager about growth areas
 → A peer about how you collaborate
 → A client about where you could add more value

4️⃣ Track something that proves forward movement
 → Problems you’ve solved
 → Connections that opened doors
 → Skills that changed how you work

Where were you last January?
If today feels exactly the same, that’s not stability.
That’s stagnation.

The good news?
You can change direction starting this week.

P.S. Future you is watching 👀
Will you make one small move this week?
Yes 💪 / I’ll think about it 🤔

👋 New here? Hi, I’m Gözde Imamoglu. I help people build energy-rich lives through small, sustainable habits.
💌 Join my newsletter for more: https://lnkd.in/di3iSKmx

Gözde Imamoglu

Follow me for career, well-being, and personal growth strategies | 15+ years driving change for people & workplaces | Get the energy to match your success | Board-certified functional medicine health coach

The most successful people I know subtract more than they add.

They understand something most don't: 
Your capacity has a ceiling.

Think of your life like a business budget.
Fixed resources. Infinite options.

Every hour you spend here is an hour you can't spend there.
Every "yes" to something mediocre is a "no" to something exceptional.

I stayed at my recent corporate job for more than a decade because it felt safe. Decent salary. Manageable work. Good colleagues.

What I wasn't calculating: opportunity cost.

While I was comfortable, I wasn't available for:

→ The role that would have doubled my impact
→ Projects that matched my actual strengths  
→ Networks that could have accelerated everything
→ Skills I never developed because I didn't need to

Most people ask: "Is this bad enough to leave?"

Better question: "What am I NOT doing because I'm here?"

3 signs it's time for strategic subtraction:

1️⃣ You're maintaining instead of building
Your energy goes to keeping things stable, not growing them.

2️⃣ Better opportunities feel "impossible." 
You can't even imagine them because you're at capacity.

3️⃣ Your growth has plateaued
You're the same person you were 6 months ago.

The highest-value opportunities come when you have space to see them.

Strategic subtraction isn't about running from problems.
It's about running toward potential.

P.S. What might you need to subtract to multiply what matters?👇 

🔄 Repost to inspire others. 
👋 Follow me Gözde Imamoglu for more on building energy-rich, strategically designed careers.

For years, I told myself “next month." Waiting didn’t make me more prepared. 

It made me wish I’d started sooner.

Thank you to my friend Dr. Heather Maietta - Coach for Career Coaches  inspiring me to share this. Make sure to follow her. 

Most people never feel 100% ready. 

Confidence isn’t a prerequisite.

It’s a byproduct of action.

You gain it by trying, messing up, and figuring it out.

Even the awkward, uncertain steps move you forward. 

Each one teaches you something.

The gap between you and your goals won’t shrink with more planning, more money, more time.

At some point, you have to quit strategizing.

And start moving.

Waiting for perfect alignment is how dreams expire.

Momentum is built by choosing to begin. 

Every week, we get a chance to start anew.

How will you spend this gift? ⬇️ 

🎁Your dreams need your best energy! Get my free guide with 100 micro habits across 10 life areas to build it.  https://lnkd.in/dhR3AyCt

🔄 Repost to help your network. 
➕ Follow me Gözde Imamoglu for more.

7 quiet signs your culture actually respects people:

(without perks or pay raises)

1/ Meetings end early when the work is done
↳ No one feels obligated to fill the full hour just because it was scheduled

2/ People disagree openly without fallout
↳ Conflict stays focused on ideas, not personalities, and relationships stay intact

3/ Leaders say "I don't know" without losing credibility
↳ Curiosity gets rewarded more than having all the answers

4/ Sick days mean you're actually resting
↳ No guilt, no check-ins, no expectation to prove you're "sick enough"

5/ Bad news travels up as fast as good news
↳ Problems surface early because people trust they won't get shot for being the messenger

6/ People leave on time without explanation
↳ Boundaries are respected, not questioned, and overtime isn't a performance metric

7/ Success is shared, failure is owned
↳ Teams get credit for wins while leaders take responsibility when things go wrong

I can't repeat enough that culture isn't built in everyday moments.
How you handle the person who speaks up.
Whether asking for help feels safe.
If people can be human without penalty.

Companies with healthy cultures don't just keep talent.
They become magnets for it.

🔄 Repost if you believe culture is your strongest competitive advantage.
➕ Follow Gözde Imamoglu for more.

I watched a leader kill psychological safety in 8 seconds.

He had no idea.

A team member asked a question. His response? "We literally just talked about that."

Everyone went quiet.

Not because they had nothing to say. Because they learned it's safer not to.

Here's what I mean: Psychological safety doesn't live in your company values. It lives in how you react when someone opens their mouth.

And most leaders destroy it without even knowing.

You sigh when someone asks a question. 
You check your phone while they're talking. 
You say "that won't work" before they finish.

Small moments. But your team is always watching.

So what actually builds safety?

Pause before you answer. Even if the question feels obvious.

Don't jump to why an idea won't work. Ask what would need to be true for it to work.

When someone pushes back, thank them. Out loud. In front of the room.

Put your phone down. Look at them. Let the silence breathe before you fill it.

None of this is complicated.

But it signals everything.

Because trust breaks in seconds and takes months to rebuild.

Next time you're in a meeting, ask yourself: Am I making it easier or harder for the next person to speak?

That's where real culture starts.

What's one thing you'll do differently in your next meeting?

🔄 Repost if this resonated.
➕ Follow me Gözde Imamoglu for more on leadership, culture, and building teams where honesty doesn't feel risky.

Image Credit: Justin Wright

Careers can be rebuilt.

Health is harder to negotiate with.

Think about the extra hours you’re putting in at work right now.
Late evenings. “Just one more thing.” Weekends half on, half off. 

Now stretch that over a year.
Then over many years.

Often, it’s for a bonus.
A title.
A promotion that might come.

But the cost is very real.
Your body feels it.
Your focus drops.
Your nervous system stays on edge.

So here’s the shift I made:

I started betting on myself.

That means protecting:
 • my time
 • my focus
 • my energy
 • my relationships

Not someday. Now.

If overworking is your default, try one of these today:

1. Pick a clear end to your workday
Choose a real stop time. 
Close the laptop. Step outside. Change rooms. Signal the end.

2. Schedule recovery like it matters 
A walk. A short rest. Reading for pleasure.
Put it in your calendar. Treat it like a meeting with yourself.

3. Pause before saying yes
Ask: Is this worth my energy right now?
If not, delegate, delay, or decline.

Nothing dramatic.
Just small choices that protect yourself.

Because overworking at the cost of your health is not worth it. 💛

P.S. If you protected one thing more this year, what would it be? Time • Energy • Focus • Health or all of it? 

♻️ Repost if someone in your network needs this reminder.
➕ Follow Gözde Imamoglu for more.

One bad day can turn into a bad week.

Unless you interrupt it in the first hour.

You know I’m all for protecting your energy at work and in life.

Anything that drains it should deserve your attention.

We all know these moments:
• The message you overthink all afternoon
• The meeting where your tone didn’t land
• The comment that sits with you longer than it should

Before you realise it, you’re four days deep in a low-energy spiral that started with something small.

Last week, I walked out of a conversation feeling unheard in a way that touched my core values.

My chest was tight, I kept replaying it, and I carried that tension into the evening.

By the next morning, I remembered that we always have a choice. The choice to shift our state, protect our energy, and reset our direction.

Here’s what actually helps break the cycle:

1️⃣ Name it out loud
 "I'm having a bad day, not a bad life."
 It separates the feeling from the story.

2️⃣ Protect your sleep
Bad days spread fastest when you're tired.
Sleep brings your energy back online.

3️⃣ One small kind act
For yourself or someone else.
A tiny gesture interrupts the spiral.

4️⃣ Choose your circle
Telling the story to five people keeps you stuck.
One grounded conversation helps you move forward.

5️⃣ Give tomorrow one bright point
Something simple to look forward to: morning coffee, breakfast, a short walk.

Remember: 
Your state is yours.
Treat it like gold. 

P.S. What do you do first to shift your energy?

📒I’ve been building my biggest product that will help you shift your energy in unexpectedly simple ways. 

If you want to be the first to know, you can sign up here: https://lnkd.in/di3iSKmx 💛 Coming very soon!!!

Back-to-back meetings are energy vampires.

You walk into meeting number five feeling like a ghost of your former self.

But here's what I share with my clients all the time: 
You can reset your entire state in under 2 minutes.

Here are 9 science-backed micro habits you can do between meetings:

1️⃣ Inhale for 4, hold for 7, exhale for 8.
A single round activates your parasympathetic nervous system and reduces cortisol levels instantly.

2️⃣ Cold water on your wrists
Your pulse points are cooling stations for your entire body. Cold water triggers an alertness response that lasts hours.

3️⃣ Look at something 6 metres away
After staring at screens, your eye muscles lock in “near focus.” Distance gazing relaxes them. 

4️⃣ Stand and reach for the ceiling
Sitting compresses your diaphragm. One big stretch opens your ribcage, increases oxygen flow, and signals energy to your brain.

5️⃣ Drink a glass of water (250ml) mindfully
Dehydration drops cognitive performance. It creates a mental pause that resets your nervous system.

6️⃣ Roll your shoulders 5 times backward
Forward head posture reduces lung capacity and creates tension. This realigns your spine and opens your chest.

7️⃣ Step outside or near a window
Natural light regulates cortisol and boosts serotonin. Even 60 seconds of daylight shifts your internal state.

8️⃣ Name 3 things you can see, 2 you can hear, 1 you can touch This grounding technique pulls you out of mental overwhelm.

9️⃣ Set an intention for the next meeting
Instead of rushing in reactive mode, take 30 seconds to choose how you want to show up.

Small shifts compound into massive energy changes.

I've been testing these with my clients for months. The difference is immediate.

And honestly? I use number 7 between every single call myself. (It’s been a childhood habit of mine.)

Tomorrow I’m sharing my complete guide:
“100 science-inspired micro habits across 10 key life areas” in my newsletter. You don't want to miss it. 

Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/di3iSKmx 

Which habit resonates most with you? Drop a number below 👇

🔄 Repost to help someone feel a little less stressed today.
➕ Follow me Gözde Imamoglu for more energy management insights 💛

5 daily invisible leadership mistakes:

And each one can be fixed in under 15 minutes.

1️⃣ Mistake: Leaving people guessing

When priorities aren’t clear:
 → Every decision becomes a guessing game
 → That constant weight of “Am I doing this right?”

The fix:
 → Monday morning priority email

2️⃣ Mistake: Meeting addiction

Every unnecessary meeting fragments focus:
 → 30 minutes to get back in the zone
 → Constant mental task-switching

The fix:
 → Friday calendar cleanup
 → Replace meetings with async updates

3️⃣ Mistake: Missing the warning signs

Early signals are easy to miss:
 → Missing small deadlines
 → No longer volunteering for projects

The fix:
 → Weekly energy check-ins
 → Adjust workload based on what you hear

4️⃣ Mistake: Priority whiplash

If there’s an “urgent” project every week, it creates:
 → Learned helplessness
 → Fear of committing to anything

The fix:
 → Monthly priority protection meeting
 → Choose 3 priorities that won’t change

 5️⃣ Mistake: Only seeing problems

Great performance goes unnoticed. Only fires get attention.

Over time, this kills:
 → Motivation to excel
 → Connection to the mission

The fix:

 → Friday wins email
 → Highlight 3 specific contributions

When you fix these 5 mistakes:
 → Your team stops second-guessing
 → Focus returns naturally
 → People feel seen for their strengths
 → Energy comes back without burnout

P.S. No judgment zone: Which number are we unlearning together? 

🔄 Repost if someone in your network needs this reminder
➕ Follow Gözde Imamoglu for more on building teams that thrive.

5 leadership blind spots quietly draining your team

Stop sacrificing your health for success.

The healthier you get, the more wealth you can create.

And you have more control over this than you think.

Because 80–90% of chronic conditions are lifestyle-driven not genetics. 

That’s biology responding to inputs.

And listening to the signals and partnering with your body can be the most important skill you will ever learn. 

So here’s a more useful way to think about it:

1. Sleep
If you wake up already tired, your body didn’t finish its repair work. That’s information.

2. Movement
If a full day passes without your heart rate changing, your system stays in “idle mode.”

3. Food
If meals leave you foggy or hungry again fast, your body didn’t get what it needed. That’s feedback.

4. Breathing
If your jaw is tight or shoulders are lifted, your nervous system is asking for a pause. A few slow breaths can change the signal.

5. Connection
If you feel drained after social time, something felt unsafe or rushed. If you feel calmer, that’s regulation.

Quick honesty moment 👀
Is your body whispering 🤫… or shouting 🚨 already?

🎁 If this resonated, download my free guide with 100 micro habits for better energy across 10 key areas of life: https://lnkd.in/dhR3AyCt

➕ Follow me Gözde Imamoglu for more on career, growth, and high-energy work life habits.

A company reached out and asked for a proposal to present to their leadership team.

I had all the content ready.
Except the deck that speaks their language.

They wanted me to offer my workshop to help their teams build energy-rich routines.
Great opportunity.
Short timeline.

I had to turn everything I already had on my already existing presentation into a clear, credible pitch deck - fast.

Because decision-makers need the problem framed in their world and a structured solution with a clear timeline showing:
• what happens,
• for whom,
• in what format,
• and when.

Here’s how it works:
You create one base deck with placeholders.
Then you remix it by adding the client’s specific details.

Gamma instantly generates a customized version for that exact audience.

Instead of rebuilding slides, I remixed my base deck in minutes, then stayed in the same flow to:

• adjust the tone for decision-makers
• tighten the structure
• refine visuals without starting over
• make it feel boardroom-ready

And once it was done, I reused and remixed it again for:
• follow-up conversations
• the workshop itself
• future client pitches

Your time and energy are valuable.

Use it for:
• real conversations
• building trust
• impressing business partners
• closing the right opportunities

Not fixing fonts at midnight.

👉 Try NanoBanana in Gamma https://lnkd.in/evaBDUk7 and spend your energy where it actually matters.

🎥 Watch the short example video to see how you can do the same.

P.S. What usually takes more of your energy?
🧭 Turning your work into a clear story
🎨 Font-size therapy at midnight
(Be honest 😅)

#gammapartner

Strategy & GTM Advisor | Follow me for strategy, growth, and leadership tips.

I lead Growth at Pricing I/O, the leading hands-on SaaS pricing consultancy.

Our track record:
→ 400+ software companies
→ 98% client satisfaction
→ 15x average Year 1 ROI

Before joining Pricing I/O, I was their client. I spent 11 years at Mercatus, a private equity software company:

→ Started as employee #5
→ Navigated multiple promotions
→ Eventually became Global Head of Product & Marketing
→ Built global teams and owned pricing and GTM strategy
→ Hired Pricing I/O in 2019, a key inflection point
→ Delivered Avg 85% YoY ACV growth 
→ Led to a 9-figure exit to State Street (Fortune 250)
→ Company now manages $1.8+ trillion in private equity assets for the world's largest investors

I lived the pricing struggle every leader fears:
→ Sleepless nights: Are we leaving millions on the table?
→ Boardroom wars: Everyone has an opinion on price
→ Investor pressure: Triple revenue AND keep customers happy

If your feel the same way at your software company, let's talk.

Connect:
→ Book a FREE pricing strategy call at pricingio dot com
→ Join The Moat, my free newsletter for B2B leaders for an inside look at our growth playbook.

Ali Mamujee

In 2012, Best Buy should’ve died:

Wall Street called it “dead walking.”
The stock hit a 10-year low.
They lost $1.7B in a single quarter.

The industry even named the problem: “showrooming.”

Customers walked into Best Buy, touched the TV, scanned the barcode, and bought it cheaper on Amazon - while standing in the aisle.

The advice to the incoming CEO Hubert Joly was obvious:
→ Close stores immediately
→ Fire thousands of employees
→ Accept that physical retail is dead

He did the opposite.

Joly launched "Renew Blue" with a simple insight:
"Showrooming proves customers want the store experience. They just don't want to overpay for it."

His counterintuitive solution:

1. Price Match Guarantee
↳ This didn’t win the sale.
↳ It removed the only reason customers had to leave.

2. Invested in employees
↳ While others treated staff as a cost center.
↳ Joly invested in expertise customers actually valued.

3. Turned stores into brand showcase partners
↳ He realized stores are media channels not just warehouses
↳ He got Samsung, Microsoft, Google, and later Amazon to pay for floor space to showcase their tech.

The result:
→ Stock rallied from $12 (2012) to $70+ (subsequent years)
→ Returned to profitability
→ "Showrooms" became an asset, not a liability
→ Became the go-to partner tech brands.

The lesson:
The leaders who win don’t eliminate their disadvantages. 
They reframe them and build a strategy around what others misinterpret.

♻️ Repost if this resonates.
🔔 Follow Ali Mamujee for more insights.

In 2013, Adobe made the most hated pricing decision in tech:

~ 50,000 customers signed a petition begging them not to do it.
They ignored every single one.

For years, Adobe sold its creative suite in a box:
Pay once. Use it forever.

It worked - until it didn’t.

Customers skipped upgrades (the old version still worked)
Revenue spiked at launches and sagged in between
The upfront price locked out millions of would-be users

So in May 2013, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen announced:

CS6 would be the last major perpetual release.
Future innovation would ship through Creative Cloud.

The response was intense. Forums were flooded.
Long-time customers were angry.

And the financial impact was real.
Net income fell from $832.8M to $290.0M - a ~65% drop.

But Adobe wasn’t just changing prices.
They were changing who could enter.

Narayen faced a choice: listen to 50,000 angry customers or risk short-term pain for long-term transformation. He chose the risk.

By moving to subscriptions, they:
- Lowered the barrier to start
- Created continuous value instead of one-time upgrades
- Built an always-on relationship with customers

Over time, that changed everything.

→ Stock: ~$37.68 (2012) → $444.68 (2024)
→ Revenue: $4.4B (2012) → $21.5B (2024)
→ Subscribers: 37M+ (2024)

The lesson isn’t that subscriptions magically create growth.

It’s that pricing power comes from removing friction for the right customers.

When you make it easier for people to start, stay, and succeed, revenue follows.

♻️ Repost for your network
🔔 Follow Ali Mamujee for more pricing insights.

The advice I needed the most when I felt incredibly lost:

Pursue yourself.

Sometimes feeling lost is that pause before clarity.

Here are 3 truths that helped me:

1. Find What Lights You Up 
 ↳ Pay attention to what energizes, not just what pays.
 ↳ Trust the moments that make you feel alive.

2. Break Free From Others' Dreams 
 ↳ Stop chasing someone else's definition of success.
 ↳ Your path doesn't need to make sense to anyone else.

3. Start Small, Start Now 
 ↳ Take one tiny step toward what interests you.
 ↳ Let action clear the fog of uncertainty.

Your gut knows where you need to go. 

Trust that voice – it's been right all along.

♻️ Repost for others who need to hear this.
 
Quote credit: @elevated states

In 1962, Ford spotted a generation priced out of their dreams:

A wave of young buyers (baby boomers) wanted something sporty. Something that felt like freedom.

But the options were out of reach: 
Corvette: ~$4,000. 
European sports cars: even more.

Ford’s research showed these buyers would pay up to $2,500 for the right car: style + identity, without luxury-sports pricing.

Most automakers would've tried to build a cheaper Corvette: strip features, cut corners, compete on specs.

Ford took a different bet.

Lee Iacocca, Ford's VP and the internal champion for this vision, realized these buyers weren't buying horsepower.

They were buying identity. Style. Customization. A car that said something about who they were.

So the Mustang was designed around that insight:
→ Style over specs (emotion beats horsepower)
→ Customization over bundles (let buyers make it theirs)
→ 4 seats, not 2 (sporty and practical)
→ Built on the Falcon platform (so the economics worked)

They didn't build a cheap sports car. 
They created a new category: the pony car.

Result:
→ Launched April 1964 at $2,368
 → Forecast: 100,000 in year one
 → Actual: 418,000
 → 1M+ in 18 months

The lesson:

That's what value-based pricing really means:
Pick the market you want. Pick the buyer you're serving. 
Then design the offer that wins at that price point.

♻️ Repost if this resonates.
🔔 Follow Ali Mamujee for more insights

Patrick's strategy for Colossus hit different. 

(Colossus is a premium print magazine + media company run by Patrick O'Shaughnessy - it’s one of my favorite things to get in the mail.)

He wrote: "I don't like to destroy competitors. 
I just feel bad that it's not unique enough."

That’s always been my philosophy.
If we’re being compared, we haven’t built something distinct enough yet.

I see too many B2B companies stuck in feature warfare - matching competitors point-by-point, racing to parity.

The problem isn't that they're losing.

It's that they're playing a game where "winning" still leaves them commoditized.

Most strategies sound like:
"We'll be faster."
"We'll be cheaper."
"We'll outwork them."

But the best strategies don't start with comparison.
They start with: What are we building that didn't exist before? 

When your offering is truly unique:
- Price objections disappear
- Competitors become irrelevant
- Customers can't find alternatives

The best strategy isn't about winning the race.
It's about running a different race entirely.

♻️Repost this if it resonated.
🔔 Follow Ali Mamujee for strategy and growth insights.

If your B2B deals keep stalling, run these 3 checks:

These checks come straight from our sales-call reviews with trusted advisors.

This is for complex, multi-stakeholder B2B cycles.

1) Are all the right people in the room?
In complex B2B purchases, decisions rarely sit with one person.
Buying groups average ~5.4 stakeholders - each with different incentives and concerns (CEB).

That’s why stalled deals often sit with a single champion: someone who loves the idea but doesn’t own the budget.

Test: If your champion left tomorrow, would the deal survive?

Fix: Keep your champion empowered but earn access to the people who weigh in and sign off.

2) Can you make the future state concrete?
Deals drag when the customer keeps re-explaining themselves.
Calls spread out. People rotate in. Memory resets.

Test: On every call, can you say:
→ Here’s the problem you described
→ Here’s what “better” looks like (in your words)
→ Here’s the gap between now and there

Fix: Restate the before/after every call. Not once. Every time.

3) Have you put a number on their pain?
Most reps stop at “that sounds painful.”
But pain without numbers rarely creates urgency.

Test: When they say "discounting is out of control," do you know the actual cost?

Example: A $100M SaaS company with a 5% discounting gap leaks $5M/year.
Make it real:
→ ~$400K/month
→ ~$20K/day 

Suddenly a $200K engagement isn’t “expensive.” It’s a 10 working-day payback.

Fix: Don't build a fancy ROI calculator. Get one simple number they agree is real.

If a deal is stuck in “maybe,” it’s usually failing one of these checks.

Run the diagnostic. Fix the failure point. Watch it move.

♻️ Repost if your sales team needs this
🔔 Follow Ali Mamujee for more B2B growth insights

A $100M+ company wrote this in an RFP they sent us:

“We’ve created the appearance of modern pricing with none of the behavior.”

Most honest thing I've read.

They had done everything “right”:
→ Moved from seats to usage
→ Launched a self-serve tier
→ Built enterprise packaging

On paper, it looked modern. But underneath:

→ Sales still discounted like it was 2015
→ Customers still couldn’t explain what they were paying for
→ Finance still couldn’t forecast revenue with confidence

The model changed. The behavior didn’t.

At Pricing I/O, we're seeing this pattern everywhere:

Companies adopt the language of modern pricing - usage-based, PLG, value-aligned - without building the system to support it.

So what happens?

→ The new pricing sits on a page no one actually uses
→ Sales defaults to whatever closes the deal
→ Customers feel the disconnect and push back harder

The gap between “announced pricing” and “real pricing” quietly grows.

And leadership wonders why the transformation isn’t working.

Here’s the truth most teams miss:
Pricing transformation isn’t a launch. It’s a rewiring.

It touches:
→ How sales gets paid
→ How CS talks about value
→ How finance measures success
→ How product designs packaging

Change the model without changing those and the organization pulls it back to the old way.

If your pricing looks modern but still feels stuck, the problem probably isn’t the model. It’s everything around it.

♻️ Repost if this hit close to home
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A higher price can literally make the same product feel better:
(according to brain scan)

Not “feel” as in marketing fluff.
Feel as in: your brain processes it differently.

In a 2017 experiment (INSEAD + University of Bonn), people tasted the same €12 red wine but saw three different price tags:

- Wine bottle #1: €3
- Wine bottle #2: €6
- Wine bottle #3: €18

The “€18” wine was rated as more pleasant.

And brain scans (MRI) showed price cues shifted activity in reward/valuation-related regions.

Same liquid. Different reality.

The point isn’t “charge more.” 
The point is: price is part of the experience.

The pricing lesson for SaaS:

If you underprice (or over-discount), you don’t just lose revenue.

You often create:
- more skepticism (“what’s the catch?”)
- more nitpicking (“why doesn’t it do X?”)
- less patience during onboarding (“not worth the time”)

Because the brain uses price as a shortcut for value.

So the real question isn’t:
“What’s the minimum I can charge?”

It’s:

“What price supports the value story customers need to believe - so they actually experience the value?”

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Source: Schmidt et al. (2017), Scientific Reports - INSEAD & University of Bonn

In 2008, Airbnb was failing.

They had almost no traffic. 

Co-founders (Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia) had racked up $20,000 in credit card debt each. 
 
And they’d made less than $5,000 from the actual Airbnb business.

So they did something that sounds like a joke…
They made election cereal.

Two boxes: Obama O’s and Cap’n McCain’s. 

They printed and hand-assembled 1,000 boxes, and sold them as limited edition collectibles for $40 each. 

The press ate it up.
Obama O’s sold out. 
Cap’n McCain’s didn’t. 

But the stunt did what the product couldn’t (yet):
It generated $20,000–$30,000 - more than the company had made from bookings. 

Then came the interview that changed everything.

Paul Graham - the founder of Y Combinator, the startup accelerator - didn't love the Airbnb idea.

Until he heard the cereal story.

His line: "If you can convince people to pay $40 for a $4 box of cereal, you can probably convince strangers to stay in other strangers' homes."

He called them "cockroaches."
They just wouldn't die.

Then → Now
Airbnb’s FY2024 revenue was $11.1B. 
And it generated $4.5B in trailing-twelve-month free cash flow. 

The lesson for founders:
Runway isn't only money in the bank. 
It's your ability to manufacture value when the core model isn't working yet.

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I spent 11 years at Mercatus that sold for 9 figures.
If I had to credit one framework, it’d be this one slide.

Back in 2015, Peter Cohan trained our team at Mercatus.
(He wrote Great Demo, Doing Discovery, & Suspending Belief)

He taught us the Situation Slide (see image 👇)
Real example + editable slide link in the comments 👇

If you run B2B sales calls, use this as the North Star for discovery.

It forces clarity before you pitch.
Who it’s for. What’s at risk. Why now. And what it’s worth.

It didn’t just improve sales. It became our storytelling framework for the entire company.

→ Sales used it to qualify pipeline 
→ Product used it to prioritize the roadmap 
→ Marketing pulled messaging directly from it
→ Customer Success referenced it during onboarding 

Fast forward to Pricing I/O: our pipeline nearly 2x'd - and win rates had to follow. So I brought it back.

It’s the fastest way I know to spot unqualified pipeline early.

Incomplete slide = incomplete qualification. 

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Mailchimp’s accidental move 5x’d growth in a year.

Here’s how it happened:

In 2009, Mailchimp had $0 in funding.
Their competitor, Constant Contact, had raised $100M+.

Mailchimp couldn’t outspend them.
So co-founder Ben Chestnut needed a different way to grow.

Ben’s plan: split Mailchimp into two products.
→ Free for building email lists
→ Paid for sending emails

But the lead engineer said the codebase was too complex to split.

The engineer’s workaround:
“Instead of two products, I’ll make it one but free up to a limit.”

Ben’s response: “We’re running out of time. Do it.”

Ben later said they didn’t want to give anything away for free:
 “We wanted to charge the hell out of people.

That’s it. No grand strategy.
An engineer’s shortcut became the freemium model.

The results: 

→ Users: 85k → 450k in 12 months (≈5x)
→ Profit increased by 650% 
→ CAC dropped to under $100

Here's what made it work:

Free wasn't charity. Free was the funnel.
Every email sent by a free user carried Mailchimp's badge. 
Customer usage became the marketing engine.

In 2021, Intuit acquired Mailchimp for $12B.

The lesson:
Freemium only works when "free" creates a loop: 

→ What action delivers value fast? 
→ What action spreads the product? 
→ What moment naturally triggers "now I'll pay"?

If your free tier doesn't answer all three - it's not freemium. It's just free.

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AI was supposed to deliver massive value

Instead it’s delivering massive shelfware.

AI has become the easiest justification for a price increase.

But a lot of customers aren’t adopting it. They’re hesitating.

Because they don’t trust they’ll stay in budget.

Some numbers that explain why:
→ 68% of vendors restrict AI to premium tiers 
→ AI add-ons can add 30–110% to the base cost 
→ Orgs use only 47% of their SaaS licenses 

And the pattern looks like this:

Vendor: “We added AI. Price goes up.”
Buyer: “Fine. We need to stay current.”
Finance: “Why did spend jump?”
Users: “I’m not clicking that - what if it charges us?”

One pricing strategist put it perfectly:
“Usage stopped not because of price, but because admins didn’t trust they’d stay in budget.” 

If customers are afraid to use what they’re paying for, you didn’t create value. You created anxiety.

The best pricing doesn’t maximize what you can charge.
It maximizes what customers will actually use.

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How to sell your most expensive plan:

Change what it’s compared to.

Behavioral economist Dan Ariely showed this in an experiment.
He tested The Economist’s subscription options with 100 MIT students:

→ Web Only: $59 
→ Print Only: $125 
→ Print + Web: $125

With all three options available:
→ 16% chose Web-only
→ 0% chose Print-only
→ 84% chose Print + Web

Then he removed the "useless" Print-only option.

The results flipped:
68% chose Web-only while 32% chose Print + Web

The high tier went from the clear favorite to the minority choice just by removing an option nobody wanted anyway.

People decide based on what something sits next to.

If your high tier plan feels expensive instead of worth it, look at the context you're giving it.

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