Categories
Entrepreneurism Innovation Podcast Software

Secrets to Successful Software Pricing with Luke Hohmann

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Welcome to Next Future Today, hosted by Dan Keldsen.

Find more episodes at https://NextFutureToday.com, on YouTube, or in your favorite podcast app.

This interview between Dan Keldsen and Luke Hohmann discusses the importance of pricing and profit streams in software businesses, based on Luke’s latest book “Software Profit Streams” a spiritual successor to the long legacy of “canvas” style books first started by Business Model Generation.

“Software Profit Streams” is remarkably easy to understand, beautiful on the eyes, but quickly allows you to go VERY deep into software pricing.

Key Points

  • 🕰️ Time-based cadence is one of the triggers to change pricing.
  • 🏢 Internal triggers like adding new features can also necessitate pricing changes.
  • 🌍 External triggers such as regulatory changes, competitive forces, or hardware changes can impact pricing decisions.
  • 💰 Customer benefit analysis is the foundation for effective pricing strategies.
  • 🎯 Ilities (Reliability, Maintainability, Curability, Scalability) can be recast into current or future economic terms to inform pricing and licensing decisions.
  • 🤝 Intangible benefits of working with a company, such as being more flexible and willing to listen, should be considered in customer benefit analysis.
  • 📈 Pricing decisions should be revisited at least once a year, but more frequently in fast-growing products.
  • 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Collaborative decision-making is essential for pricing strategies.
  • 🧠 Simulations can be useful in building mental models, but relying too much on them can be risky due to unknown external triggers.

Keywords

  • Customer benefit analysis: Assessing the economic value or structure of a software’s benefits.
  • Ilities: Reliability, Maintainability, Curability, Scalability; attributes that can be recast into economic terms to inform pricing decisions.
  • Infrequent transaction: An event that occurs rarely, such as selling a house or revisiting pricing decisions.
  • Intangible benefits: Non-quantifiable benefits of a product or service, such as being a nice company to work with.
  • External triggers: Factors outside of a company that can impact pricing decisions, such as regulatory changes or competitive forces.

More about Luke’s book at:

https://amzn.to/3KgdLqC (this is an affiliate link)

Categories
Podcast Presenting

Revolutionizing Events in a Hybrid World

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Welcome to Next Future Today, hosted by Dan Keldsen.

Find more episodes at https://NextFutureToday.com, on YouTube, or in your favorite podcast app.

In this episode host Dan Keldsen interviews Jon Harris, the CEO and co-founder of BuzzIt, a platform designed to enhance attendee engagement and overall event experience.

It’s a tale of a pivot – dodging and weaving from one idea, connecting college students in big, anonymous classrooms, to much more… watch/listen for the details, in the meantime, here’s the quick summary.

Three Key Takeaways from BuzzIt’s Journey

  1. The initial idea for BuzzIt was to create a location-based messaging product.
  2. BuzzIt pivoted to focus on improving attendee engagement and experience at events.
  3. The platform aims to cater to the unique needs of smaller, more frequent events.

A Step-by-Step Process to BuzzIt’s Evolution

  1. Initial concept: John Harris was inspired to create a location-based messaging product after a bad experience with a food vendor.
  2. Pivot to classrooms: Realizing the potential for this product in educational settings, Harris and his team started using it in classrooms to help students connect.
  3. Transition to events: BuzzIt shifted to events, where it found a better market fit and started focusing on helping event organizers create better experiences for attendees.
  4. Covid-19 impact: The pandemic forced event organizers to adapt to virtual and hybrid events, and BuzzIt evolved alongside these changes to provide solutions for a niche market.
  • 📱 Buzzit began as a location-based messaging product
  • 🎓 Initially focused on classrooms for better communication
  • 🚀 Shifted focus to events and event organizers
  • 🌐 Adapted to online events during the Covid-19 pandemic
  • 🤝 Helps both attendees and hosts for better event experiences
  • 💼 Target audience: smaller, frequent events (75-150 people)
  • ⏳ Saves setup time for event organizers
  • 🌉 Bridges the gap between in-person and virtual attendees
  • 🎯 Not a one-size-fits-all solution,  tailored to a niche market
  • 🗣️ Strong engagement with clients to understand their needs

More about BuzzIT at:
https://www.buzzit.ca/

Categories
Podcast

What is ENDineering?

episode thumbnail of dan keldsen and joe macleod

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Welcome to Next Future Today, hosted by Dan Keldsen.

Find more episodes at https://NextFutureToday.com, on YouTube, or in your favorite podcast app.

This is Episode 10, and features a wonderful twist on the usual discussion around User eXperience (UX) and Customer eXperience (CX).

There’s been a long evolution from:

Usability concerns (do people know what a control does), To UX (is it easy to use),

To Information Architecture (IA) (is the end-to-end experience and the supporting tech and “connective tissue” between systems – like consistent navigation, terminology, ability to search across everything, etc.),

and in to CX (does what you’ve built make it easy to become a customer, onboard, and remain happy throughout the experience)…

All of these concepts and practices are typically focused on starting and maintaining an experience.

But none of them focus on how to create architected, designed and executed END experiences.

And that, dear reader, listener, watcher… is something where a TON of value can be unlocked.

In an industry obsessed with acquisition, Joe’s practice of Endineering provides a fresh perspective:

to rethink consumerism through the design of offboarding, so the end experience is designed as well as the beginning.

Find out more about Joe MacLeod and his company at:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephmacleod/

https://andend.co/?utm_referrer=nextfuturetoday_interview

Categories
Entrepreneurism Podcast

Employee Supremacy, the COVID Rollercoaster

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Welcome to Next Future Today, hosted by Dan Keldsen.

Find more episodes at https://NextFutureToday.com, on YouTube, or in your favorite podcast app.

This is Episode 9, and on the surface, the topic is about a visitor management system company called “The Receptionist” – and how the company has evolved from pre-COVID, thru COVID to the other side.

In this interview, I chatted with Andy Alsop, CEO of The Receptionist, on the rollercoaster of providing a solution used to greet and track people checking in at the front desk, at a time when nobody was in-person at all.

Throughout the evolution of the company, Andy’s also been pursuing what he calls “Employee Supremacy” a nice twist on exactly which “shareholder” is the most important, and what that explicitly means.

For decades, companies have operated under a model of Shareholder Supremacy, where leadership decisions are driven solely by what’s best for shareholders.

Andy argues that when a company’s leadership decides what’s best for employees before anything else, all of the company’s stakeholders will benefit.

Find out more about Andy and The Receptionist at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyalsop/

The Receptionist

Fun fact: Both Andy and I are classic muscle car enthusiasts – he’s a Camaro fan, and I’m a Mustang fan. But we won’t let those differences get between us! 😉

Categories
Entrepreneurism Podcast Presenting Remote Work

Start.Suck.Get Better. with Desiree Rose and Dan Keldsen

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Welcome to Next Future Today, hosted by Dan Keldsen. Find more episodes at https://NextFutureToday.com, on YouTube, or in your favorite podcast app.

This is Season 1, Episode 8, and the topic is “Start.Suck.Get Better.”

In this interview, I chatted with Desiree Rose from  @All-In-One Social Media about her newest book ( Start.Suck.Get Better. ), social media for individual/personal brands, small businesses, and well… anyone.

She started her career in social media and video specifically roughly 6 years ago, and has built quite a reputation as a content creator, and in her work with and as a military spouse, and female entrepreneurs as a whole.

If you’ve been listening to previous Next Future Today episodes, the core idea of Start.Suck.Get Better. fits fantastically with the key concept of Next Future Today… it’s not just gaining knowledge, but taking ACTION, quickly, that’s the key to empowering yourself as well as your team.

The sooner you start chipping away at making change happen, the sooner you’ll see the results!

Find out more about her work at:
https://www.allinonesocialmedia.com/
https://mrsdesireerose.com/

Fun fact: Desiree was the very first person to upload an unboxing video of our products at PlexiCam.com. That video was an early sign that the word was getting out that there was a real problem out in the world, cringingly bad eye contact on Zoom calls, interviews, recorded videos, you name it – and we were being seen as the solution.

Alright, let’s dive on into it with Desiree!

Categories
Agile Podcast Remote Work

Ditch Mediocrity with Helene Smuts and Dan Keldsen

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Welcome to Next Future Today, hosted by Dan Keldsen.

Find more episodes at NextFutureToday.com, on YouTube, or in your favorite podcast app.

This is Season 1, Episode 7, and the topic is “Ditch Mediocrity.”

I had a wonderful chat with my guest, Heléne Smuts, the founder of Credo Growth, a people development consultancy out of South Africa.

In 2021, she published her first book, “Ditch Mediocrity”, to empower leaders to develop their own teams rapidly.

If you’ve been listening to previous Next Future Today episodes, this idea fits fantastically with the key concept of Next Future Today… it’s not just gaining knowledge, but taking ACTION, quickly, that’s the key to empowering yourself as well as your team.

The sooner you start chipping away at making change happen, the sooner you’ll see the results!

Heléne is also an Advance Coach, a personality profiler, an expert in behavioral psychology, the holder of an honors degree in Industrial Psychology and a captivating keynote speaker.

Find out more about her company at:
Contract-SA.CO.ZA

I was introduced to Heléne by Richard Mulholland, who I interviewed a few episodes back about his book “Here Be Dragons” – which is similarly practical and insightful to Heléne’s book!

There’s something in the air in South Africa with Richard and Heléne, and whatever it is, it’s working!

Alright, let’s dive on into it!

Categories
Creativity Innovation Podcast Presenting Sales

Here Be Dragons with Rich Mulholland and Dan Keldsen

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Time for another episode of Next Future Today!

Find more episodes at NextFutureToday.com, on YouTube, or in your favorite podcast app.

This is Season 1, Episode 6, and the topic is “Here Be Dragons.” My guest is Rich Mulholland, who is a professional speaker, a salesperson, an author, has a pro music/entertainment background supporting a variety of internationally known rock bands, he’s a sales and speaking trainer, and perhaps most importantly, one heck of a storyteller.

Rich’s approach to explaining not just that storytelling is important, but HOW TO CREATE WELL CRAFTED STORIES, is among the best I’ve found.

I know I’ve found gold when I read a book and follow someone’s social feed, when most of the resources they mention are not the same old list that every one refers to.

And his latest book, “Here Be Dragons” is an incredibly compelling read, chock full of memorable nuggets.

More about Rich and his work:
msnglnk.com
linkedin.com/in/richardmulholland

His latest book:
https://amzn.to/3HU2JF1

And my company, and the product we discussed early in the conversation is:
plexicam.com

Thanks to Rich for his humor, insights and support – he’s serving a very similar audience in the same spirit as we are – there’s power in simplicity, and in making compelling presentations a normality rather than a rarity.

Categories
Innovation Podcast Theory of Constraints

Constraints are made to be Broken with Lisa Scheinkopf and Dan Keldsen

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Time for another episode of Next Future Today!

Today’s topic is all about Constraints.

Well, maybe not ALL about constraints, but that’s the main target.

Specifically, we’ll be talking about the Theory of Constraints, or ToC as it’s called. And my guest is Lisa Scheinkopf, Founder of Jenrada.

Lisa founded Jenrada in 2019 after 14 years as a Partner at Goldratt Consulting where she led the company’s consulting practice in North America and India and headed the Goldratt School. 

If you went to a business school, or perhaps have had a manufacturing job, you may have run across one of the first big best-selling “Business Novels” – The Goal, which is a wonderfully easy to understand romp through Theory of Constraints.

Or more recently, with a decidedly enterprise development twist into DevOps, “The Phoenix Project” – which is a similarly awesome book that extends ToC out of physical manufacturing, into bits and bytes.

For this episode, if you are interested in smarter change management, a way to look at processes and opportunities by hunting down constraints and, often, eradicating constraints that may have been blocking you or your organization for years, maybe even decades, then we have a treat for you.

Let’s dive on into it!

Find out more about Lisa’s work at:

Jenrada.com

And connect with her on LinkedIN:

linkedin.com/in/lisascheinkopf

Categories
Creativity Documentaries Innovation Podcast

Everything is a REMIX (and then some!) with Kirby Ferguson and Dan Keldsen

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Welcome to Next Future Today with your host, Dan Keldsen.

Find more episodes at NextFutureToday.com, on YouTube, or in your favorite podcast app.

This is Season 1, Episode 4, and this is for all of you who want to learn to be more creative, dive deep into both original and remixed content, and a whole lot more.

This fun chat is with Kirby Ferguson, who’s most famous online work is the multi-part, and currently being updated and re-released series, EVERYTHING IS A REMIX.

We talk about the process of creativity, some of the tools that Kirby uses to jump-start creativity, the sheer volume of work that goes into creating a fast-cut documentary like EVERYTHING IS A REMIX and (THIS IS NOT) A CONSPIRACY THEORY.

And to follow Kirby’s work, find him at:

kirbyferguson.com

everythingisaremix.info

thisisnotaconspiracytheory.com

And anywhere memes are getting discussed, torn apart, and remixed into an infinity of memes.

Let’s dive on into it!

Categories
Podcast Remote Work

Beyond Collaboration Overload – with Rob Cross and Dan Keldsen

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Welcome to Next Future today with your host, Dan Keldsen.

Find more episodes at NextFutureToday.com, on YouTube, or in your favorite podcast app.

This is Season 1, Episode 3, and today’s episode is an episode for all of you who are caught in an onslaught of collaboration situations of all sizes that as much as you may love the general idea of collaboration, could well be doing more damage to you and your organization than it’s helping.

Today’s guest is Rob Cross, who for more than 20 years, has studied the underlying networks of effective organizations and the collaborative practices of high performers.

Working with more than 300 organizations and reaching thousands of leaders from the front line to the C-suite, he has identified specific ways to cultivate vibrant, effective networks at all levels of an organization and any career stage.

Through research and writing, speaking and consulting, and courses and tools, Rob’s network strategies are transforming the way people lead, work and live in a hyper-connected world.

He has written over 50 articles for Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, Academy of Management Executive and Organizational Dynamics. His work has also been repeatedly featured in venues such as Business Week, Fortune, The Financial Times, Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CIO, Inc. and Fast Company.

Today’s chat will be about his latest book, Beyond Collaboration Overload. This is another of the few books on collaboration in recent years that is not focused purely on the positive aspects of collaboration, but the serious issues that can arise from over-collaboration, burn out your high performers, and kill team focus and energy. If you haven’t listened to the prior interview with Chris Dyer on Remote Work, that is the only other recent book that comes to mind on not just how to do remote work and collaboration, but to do it WELL.

Let’s dive on into it!