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May 19, 2018 · 17m · top-founders

1029 The Right Way to 18x Your Price Point With $1.2m MRR Pendo CEO

Todd Olson · 8m spoken Nathan Latka · 7m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this episode of The Top Entrepreneurs Podcast, host Nathan Latka interviews Pendo CEO Todd Olson about scaling monthly recurring revenue to $1.2 million. Olson breaks down Pendo's upmarket enterprise transition, pricing model restructuring, and digital product adoption platform.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 46.5% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.4 Guest teaching 2.8 Guest disagreement 1.6 Nathan pushing back 2.8
05100:0010:000:49–7:24 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Catching Up with Todd Olson and Pendo's Massive Growth Latka references past historical metrics and pushes Todd on his expansion playbook and payback period. Todd clarifies his net retention rate exceeding 150% and explains why their evangelical category creation keeps CAC higher.7:24–9:34 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Pendo Value Proposition and the Henry Schein Case Study Latka groups Pendo with Hotjar and Intercom, prompting Todd to clarify the difference between web shopping cart conversion tools and enterprise software experience analytics.9:36–12:20 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Sponsor Segment: Acuity Scheduling Free Trial Following an Acuity ad read, Latka brings up customer WebPT and cites exact survey response rate metrics (7-8% jumping to 50%+) when Todd fails to recall the specific stats offhand.12:20–16:13 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Expansion Strategy, Native Mobile Acquisition, and Pricing Tiers Latka drills into gross logo churn. Todd explains phasing out their $99/mo plan, setting an $18k annual floor, and introducing a freemium tier to migrate smaller accounts rather than losing them entirely.16:13–17:54 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard Famous Five rapid-fire segment covering reading habits, Nick Mehta as a CEO influence, four children, and the closing recap.0:49–7:24 · Guest teaching 4/10 Catching Up with Todd Olson and Pendo's Massive Growth Latka references past historical metrics and pushes Todd on his expansion playbook and payback period. Todd clarifies his net retention rate exceeding 150% and explains why their evangelical category creation keeps CAC higher.7:24–9:34 · Guest teaching 4/10 Pendo Value Proposition and the Henry Schein Case Study Latka groups Pendo with Hotjar and Intercom, prompting Todd to clarify the difference between web shopping cart conversion tools and enterprise software experience analytics.9:36–12:20 · Guest teaching 1/10 Sponsor Segment: Acuity Scheduling Free Trial Following an Acuity ad read, Latka brings up customer WebPT and cites exact survey response rate metrics (7-8% jumping to 50%+) when Todd fails to recall the specific stats offhand.12:20–16:13 · Guest teaching 4/10 Expansion Strategy, Native Mobile Acquisition, and Pricing Tiers Latka drills into gross logo churn. Todd explains phasing out their $99/mo plan, setting an $18k annual floor, and introducing a freemium tier to migrate smaller accounts rather than losing them entirely.16:13–17:54 · Guest teaching 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard Famous Five rapid-fire segment covering reading habits, Nick Mehta as a CEO influence, four children, and the closing recap.0:49–7:24 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Catching Up with Todd Olson and Pendo's Massive Growth Latka references past historical metrics and pushes Todd on his expansion playbook and payback period. Todd clarifies his net retention rate exceeding 150% and explains why their evangelical category creation keeps CAC higher.7:24–9:34 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Pendo Value Proposition and the Henry Schein Case Study Latka groups Pendo with Hotjar and Intercom, prompting Todd to clarify the difference between web shopping cart conversion tools and enterprise software experience analytics.9:36–12:20 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Sponsor Segment: Acuity Scheduling Free Trial Following an Acuity ad read, Latka brings up customer WebPT and cites exact survey response rate metrics (7-8% jumping to 50%+) when Todd fails to recall the specific stats offhand.12:20–16:13 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Expansion Strategy, Native Mobile Acquisition, and Pricing Tiers Latka drills into gross logo churn. Todd explains phasing out their $99/mo plan, setting an $18k annual floor, and introducing a freemium tier to migrate smaller accounts rather than losing them entirely.16:13–17:54 · Guest disagreement 0/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard Famous Five rapid-fire segment covering reading habits, Nick Mehta as a CEO influence, four children, and the closing recap.0:49–7:24 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Catching Up with Todd Olson and Pendo's Massive Growth Latka references past historical metrics and pushes Todd on his expansion playbook and payback period. Todd clarifies his net retention rate exceeding 150% and explains why their evangelical category creation keeps CAC higher.7:24–9:34 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Pendo Value Proposition and the Henry Schein Case Study Latka groups Pendo with Hotjar and Intercom, prompting Todd to clarify the difference between web shopping cart conversion tools and enterprise software experience analytics.9:36–12:20 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Sponsor Segment: Acuity Scheduling Free Trial Following an Acuity ad read, Latka brings up customer WebPT and cites exact survey response rate metrics (7-8% jumping to 50%+) when Todd fails to recall the specific stats offhand.12:20–16:13 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Expansion Strategy, Native Mobile Acquisition, and Pricing Tiers Latka drills into gross logo churn. Todd explains phasing out their $99/mo plan, setting an $18k annual floor, and introducing a freemium tier to migrate smaller accounts rather than losing them entirely.16:13–17:54 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard Famous Five rapid-fire segment covering reading habits, Nick Mehta as a CEO influence, four children, and the closing recap.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 72.7% · guest 27.3%0:00 · Nathan 72.7% · guest 27.3%3:00 · Nathan 34.1% · guest 65.9%3:00 · Nathan 34.1% · guest 65.9%6:00 · Nathan 45.5% · guest 54.5%6:00 · Nathan 45.5% · guest 54.5%9:00 · Nathan 59.5% · guest 40.5%9:00 · Nathan 59.5% · guest 40.5%12:00 · Nathan 25.3% · guest 74.7%12:00 · Nathan 25.3% · guest 74.7%15:00 · Nathan 42.7% · guest 57.3%15:00 · Nathan 42.7% · guest 57.3%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 8:18 Todd counters Hotjar comparison

Todd politely rejects Latka's bucketed comparison to Hotjar, distinguishing website conversion optimization from enterprise software experience.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 14:44 Latka presses on gross logo churn target

Latka pushes Todd to specify whether annual logo churn is under 10% after Todd admits he doesn't track it off the top of his head.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 4:45 Todd outlines 150% net retention dynamics

Todd explains the mechanics of landing small at large enterprise accounts and expanding across product lines to achieve over 150% net dollar retention.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 11:46 Latka supplies detailed case study metrics

When Todd forgets the exact statistics from Pendo's WebPT case study, Latka steps in with precise conversion and response figures.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Catching Up with Todd Olson and Pendo's Massive Growth 6424 Latka references past historical metrics and pushes Todd on his expansion playbook and payback period. Todd clarifies his net retention rate exceeding 150% and explains why their evangelical category creation keeps CAC higher.
Pendo Value Proposition and the Henry Schein Case Study 5433 Latka groups Pendo with Hotjar and Intercom, prompting Todd to clarify the difference between web shopping cart conversion tools and enterprise software experience analytics.
Sponsor Segment: Acuity Scheduling Free Trial 7112 Following an Acuity ad read, Latka brings up customer WebPT and cites exact survey response rate metrics (7-8% jumping to 50%+) when Todd fails to recall the specific stats offhand.
Expansion Strategy, Native Mobile Acquisition, and Pricing Tiers 5424 Latka drills into gross logo churn. Todd explains phasing out their $99/mo plan, setting an $18k annual floor, and introducing a freemium tier to migrate smaller accounts rather than losing them entirely.
The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions 4101 Standard Famous Five rapid-fire segment covering reading habits, Nick Mehta as a CEO influence, four children, and the closing recap.

Statements from this episode (9)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Olson: Pendo headcount has reached 163 employees
“Well, we're a 163 employees today.”
Todd Olson May 19, 2018 ▶ 1:25
Assertion Supported
Olson: Pendo has raised $56 million in total funding
“We've raised now forty-five million dollars. No, 56, actually, in total.”
Todd Olson May 19, 2018 ▶ 1:30
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Olson: Pendo generates nearly $1.2 million in monthly revenue
“So we're nearly triple that.”
Todd Olson May 19, 2018 ▶ 1:52
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Olson: Pendo has expanded to well over 400 customers
“Yeah, yeah, we're well over 400 customers. Our average revenue per customer has increased significantly since then as well. We've kind of moved up the market, selling larger deals to larger companies, but yeah, well over 400 customers now.”
Todd Olson May 19, 2018 ▶ 2:10
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pendo's top 20 customers now each generate over $100,000 ARR
“So now if you look at our top 20 customers, It's all north of a 100,000 dollars in ARR and above, right? And that's complete change from a year ago this time where we probably had two or three.”
Todd Olson May 19, 2018 ▶ 3:08
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Olson: Pendo maintains a net retention rate above 150%
“We still carry a very high net retention rate. North of one 50, so .”
Todd Olson May 19, 2018 ▶ 5:01
Disclosure
Olson: Pendo's CAC payback period exceeds 12 months
“More than 12. Yeah, I think it is. I mean, it, We should be under 12. But I think a little more than 12 is fine for the stage. Growing in our growth rates, I think it's fine.”
Todd Olson May 19, 2018 ▶ 6:57
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Olson: Pendo's annual gross logo churn is under 10%
“It is under 10% annually now.”
Todd Olson May 19, 2018 ▶ 15:12
Disclosure
Pendo's minimum annual contract size has increased to $18,000
“Our minimum price point now is 18,000 dollars annual.”
Todd Olson May 19, 2018 ▶ 15:14
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