Ryan Johnson, CPO of CallRail, shares his journey in product management and the evolution of CallRail as a lead intelligence company. He discusses the company's focus on conversational intelligence and the use of AI to summarize phone calls, analyze sentiment, and generate follow-up emails.

Ryan also explores the potential disruption in the search industry and the challenges of pricing and packaging in a complex SaaS business. He highlights the cross-functional team at CallRail that handles billing, pricing, and packaging, as well as the systems involved, such as Zora and NetSuite.

The conversation explores the challenges of building and managing a monetization system for B2B SaaS companies. It discusses the lack of standardization and the tendency for companies to reinvent the wheel when it comes to monetization. The conversation emphasizes the importance of early investment in standardized solutions and the need to focus on core product development rather than building internal billing and monetization systems. It also touches on the complexity of pricing models and the impact of AI on cost of goods sold (COGS). The conversation concludes with advice for early-stage companies on preserving agility and flexibility in monetization.

Takeaways

- CallRail has evolved from a call tracking and analytics company to a lead intelligence company with a focus on conversation intelligence and AI.

- The search industry is facing potential disruption, and companies like Google may need to adapt to new technologies and approaches.

- Pricing and packaging in a complex SaaS business like CallRail can be challenging, requiring a cross-functional team and coordination with finance and engineering.

- Systems like Zora and NetSuite play a crucial role in governing pricing, packaging, and billing in a SaaS company. Building and managing a monetization system for B2B SaaS companies can be challenging and often involves reinventing the wheel.

- Early investment in standardized solutions can help companies avoid the need for extensive internal development and allow them to focus on core product development.

- Pricing models in B2B SaaS can be complex, especially when there is a usage component involved.

- The impact of AI on cost of goods sold (COGS) is an important consideration for companies developing AI-powered products.

- Preserving agility and flexibility in monetization is crucial for early-stage companies, and working with experts in the field can be beneficial.

Sound Bites

"Over the past six years, CallRail has been focusing on the conversation that happens during phone calls, leveraging AI to summarize, analyze sentiment, and generate follow-up emails."

"The search industry is facing real threats, and companies like Google may need to adapt to new technologies and approaches."

"Pricing and packaging in a complex SaaS business like CallRail can be challenging, especially as the company grows and introduces new products and promotions."

"You're building your app and so certainly not as easy as being able to utilize other software to help manage that for you."

"Product and engineering generally have to go build monetization and B2B SaaS. And it feels like they generally don't have a standard or a pattern that they can refer to."

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Ryan Johnson's Journey

04:58 The Evolution of CallRail: From Call Tracking to Lead Intelligence

08:03 The Potential Disruption in the Search Industry

16:29 Challenges of Pricing and Packaging in a Complex SaaS Business

25:15 The Role of Systems in Governing Pricing and Billing

29:19 The Need for Standardization

31:46 The Complexity of Pricing Models

34:58 The Impact of AI on COGS

43:16 Preserving Agility and Flexibility

Keywords

Ryan Johnson, CallRail, product management, conversation intelligence, AI, lead intelligence, search industry, pricing, packaging, SaaS, billing, Zora, NetSuite, monetization, B2B SaaS, standardization, internal development, pricing models, cost of goods sold (COGS), agility, flexibility