Best Robbie Kellman Baxter Podcasts (2024)

1
How SaaS & Subscriptions are Transforming Farming with John Deere's Justin Rose 39:29

9d ago39:29

39:29

One of the hottest growth areas for subscriptions is farming. Surprising? Maybe. But with small margins and big numbers, efficiency matters. And farming has become an increasingly high tech, high stakes business. Justin Rose is the President of Lifecycle Solutions, Supply Management, and Customer Success at John Deere, a 187 year old company with r…

1
Scaling a Bootstrapped Membership with James Schramko 42:09

1M ago42:09

42:09

Many subscription entrepreneurs lament their lack of fancy software and dashboards to allow them to better manage their business. But if you know your ideal member and understand their pain points, and if you're always tinkering and adjusting your offering to better align with the needs of those members, you can build a powerful recurring revenue b…

1
Everything You Wanted to Know About Involuntary Churn with Butter Payments’ Vijay Menon 37:58

2M ago37:58

37:58

One of the great mysteries for me is why so many otherwise sophisticated companies don’t focus on involuntary churn. Also known as passive churn or accidental churn, involuntary churn happens when a payment issue raises a flag that causes a merchant to cancel a customer’s subscription. In 70% of these cases, there is no fraud, so the company is lit…

1
Loyalty 3.0 with Euromonitor International’s Nadejda Popova, PhD 36:31

3M ago36:31

36:31

Loyalty programs seem to be at a crossroads. Industries including hospitality, financial services, and retail are going beyond the points-based programs we're so familiar with and exploring more personalized, emotionally engaging programs. Some, like CVS, Inspirato, and of course Amazon with Amazon Prime have even incorporated paid loyalty subscrip…

1
The Future of Loyalty Programs for Retail & CPG with Amazon Web Services’ Justin Honaman 38:08

4M ago38:08

38:08

Loyalty programs have been around forever. Points, cashback, branded credit cards, and now increasingly, we're seeing paid subscription loyalty programs, like Amazon Prime or CVS Care Pass. The goal is the same, to smooth out the lumpy buying behavior common in consumer packaged goods, retail, and hospitality, and to drive habits and engagement. To…

1
Lessons in “Service-First Product Leadership” from Ford, PlayStation and Beyond with Ross McGregor 41:30

4M ago41:30

41:30

Building a new subscription model in a large, successful company is hard enough, but when your company's core competency is manufacturing and the subscription involves content and software, you have to do more than build the new business model. You have to change the way the organization thinks about product management. With experience, both at Pla…

1
How a Subscription can “Smooth the Lumps” in B2B Services with DDI’s Dr. Tacy Byham 40:35

5M ago40:35

40:35

You're in for a special treat today. My guest, Dr. Tacy Byham, is the CEO of Development Dimensions International, or DDI, a global leadership consulting firm that helps organizations hire, promote, and develop exceptional leaders. A few years ago, I worked with Tacy and her team as they incorporated subscriptions into their business model. The res…

1
Subscription Pricing, Metrics and the Changing Role of the CFO with Maxio’s Randy Wootton 36:21

5M ago36:21

36:21

The world of B2B subscriptions has changed a lot since companies like Salesforce first paved the way for what would become known as Software-as-a-Service. And while there are hundreds of marketing and sales-oriented SaaS products, it's taken a lot longer for the subscription model to be fully embraced in the CFO's office. Randy Wootton has seen the…

1
Best Practices in Subscription Funnel Management with Ken Houseman, VP, Product at The New York Times 28:48

6M ago28:48

28:48

If your subscription uses a freemium model, it can be tricky to decide what’s always free, what’s free for a while, and what’s always behind the paywall. Knowing how to manage people at each stage of the funnel can be really challenging. Today’s guest, Ken Houseman, is an expert on both the strategy and the technology required to monetize the funne…

1
Season Five Wrap-Up and Season Six Sneak Peek with Robbie Kellman Baxter 2:03

7M ago2:03

2:03

Season 6 is launching soon, but while you wait, catch up on our most recent season. Some of Season 5’s most popular episodes include Mighty Network’s Gina Bianchini returning to subscription stories for a second time to share her wisdom about building purpose-driven communities, as well as Dan Zavorotny of Nutrisense talking about blending hardware…

1
Keeping Complex IOT Subscriptions Simple for Customers with Samsara CPO Jeff Hausman 40:16

10M ago40:16

40:16

Subscriptions are going beyond software, content, and community, and increasingly are providing access to the physical world. The internet of things lends itself well to providing subscribers’ ongoing benefits, blending data from sensors and cameras with sophisticated software. This type of subscription can be complex to build, but has to provide v…

1
Subscription Models and Innovation with Columbia’s Rita McGrath 33:40

10M ago33:40

33:40

To launch a successful subscription business, you need to think like an innovator. But what does that really mean? Rita McGrath is widely recognized as the premier expert on leading innovation and growth, particularly during uncertain times. A longtime professor at Columbia Business School, Rita is also the author of several bestselling books, inc…

1
Subscription Pricing for Value with Mark Stiving 40:31

11M ago40:31

40:31

Pricing is one of the trickiest elements of good subscription strategy and one that most practitioners feel unprepared to tackle. Coming up with a simple and clear pricing strategy is really complicated. That's why I invited Mark Stiving to the podcast. Mark is an educator at heart as well as a pricing expert, and in this episode, I ask him all kin…

1
Scaling Membership for the Long Game with Pavilion Founder Sam Jacobs 35:58

11M ago35:58

35:58

Do you believe in the adage "Kind Folks Finish First"? Entrepreneur Sam Jacobs certainly does, and it's the driving force behind his successful organization, Pavilion. Sam is the Founder & CEO of Pavilion. In 2016, he started Pavilion, originally named Revenue Collective, and bootstrapped it to an impressive $10M in ARR. In 2021, he secured a $25M …

1
The Legal Side of Subscriptions with Davis+Gilbert Partner Paavana Kumar 39:38

12M ago39:38

39:38

If you haven’t been focused on subscription compliance before, you definitely need to start paying attention now. The Federal Trade Commission (or FTC) is getting serious about cracking down on “dark patterns” in the world of subscriptions. They recently filed a lawsuit against Amazon for enrolling consumers in Amazon Prime without consent and for …

1
Building a DaaS Subscription Business in Europe With Acer's Mailin Jappé 32:51

12M ago32:51

32:51

The Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) Market is expected to Surpass $190 Billion by 2026, according to Market Research Future. That’s a compound annual growth rate,of of 55.8%. Acer is at the forefront of that wave, and today’s guest, Mailin Jappé, launched and now runs Acer’s DaaS business for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). It’s hard enough t…

1
Mastering the "Subscription Marketing" Mindset with Anne Janzer 33:24

1y ago33:24

33:24

In the world of subscriptions, the role of a marketer is rapidly evolving. It’s not enough to acquire subscribers—you have to acquire the right subscribers. But how do you market with an eye toward retention? Today’s guest, Anne Janzer, is the author of Subscription Marketing, now in its third edition. In this episode, we focus on the right mindset…

1
Going Deep on Customer Retention Analytics for Subscriptions with Harvard Business School's Eva Ascarza 42:59

1y ago42:59

42:59

When I first started talking about the Membership Economy, there just weren’t that many academics or researchers interested in studying the power of customer retention. That’s why I’m really happy to see some of the best minds in finance, strategy and marketing today are thinking about how to build, and measure durable relationships between organiz…

1
The 16-Year Evolution of a Global Subscription Pioneer with Babbel’s CRO and US CEO Julie Hansen 34:45

1y ago34:45

34:45

Based in Germany, and a global leader in digital language learning, 16-year-old Babbel was part of the early wave of online subscriptions. When they launched, subscription pricing was unusual and controversial. The early team even had to develop their own Subscription Engine to support the business. My guest today, Julie Hansen, has led the company…

1
The Secret to Building Great Subscriptions with Leading Silicon Valley Product Builder, Tom Willerer 42:44

1y ago42:44

42:44

Before you start building your subscription product, make sure you really, really understand the ongoing problem you are solving. So says product leader Tom Willerer. Tom, my guest today, has worked with some of Silicon Valley’s most renowned companies, like Netflix, Opendoor and Coursera. He’s also an Entrepreneur in Residence at Reforge and a Ven…

1
Does Your Company Need a Chief Customer Officer? With Rod Cherkas, Author of The CCO Playbook 38:13

1y ago38:13

38:13

In the Membership Economy, customer-centricity is critical in building lasting relationships and optimizing lifetime value. As a result, the Chief Customer Officer, or CCO, is increasingly present at the leadership table. Today’s guest, Rod Cherkas, founder of HelloCCO, literally wrote the book on the CCO role. It’s called The Chief Customer Office…

1
Blending Hardware, Software, and Services into an Ideal Healthcare Subscription with Dan Zavorotny of Nutrisense 34:58

1y ago34:58

34:58

I’m fascinated by the recent explosion of healthcare subscription companies. If you’re a regular listener of subscription stories, you probably knew that, as recent guests have included Midi Health’s Joanna Strober, Whoop’s Ben Foster and Matthew Mengerink of Thirty Madison. We’ve even explored telehealth for PETs on the show with Fuzzy’s Zubin Bhe…

1
Building a Purpose-Driven Subscription Community with Mighty Networks' Gina Bianchini 38:18

1+ y ago38:18

38:18

I have interviewed today’s guest many times, and it’s always a wild ride. Mighty Networks founder and CEO Gina Bianchini is so smart, passionate and insightful. She was my finale guest for Season 1 of the Subscription Stories podcast, back in 2020. That episode holds the record for most popular Subscription Stories show of all time. We were all stu…

1
Season Four Wrap-Up and Season Five Sneak Peek with Robbie Kellman Baxter 1:52

1+ y ago1:52

1:52

Hey it’s Robbie Kellman Baxter, host of the Subscription Stories podcast. Season 5 is launching soon, but while you wait, catch up on our most recent season. Season 4 has some of our listener’s favorite episodes ever. We opened the season with two thought leaders, Nir Eyal, author of Hooked and Indistractible, and Tiffani Bova, Salesforce Global Ev…

1
Product-Led Growth for Subscriptions, Using Examples from Medium, LinkedIn and The Athletic with Caitlin Roman 35:37

1+ y ago35:37

35:37

Everyone’s talking about “product-led growth” in the subscription world right now. Companies are seeing the connection between the way the product is designed and how effective the company is at acquiring, engaging and retaining customers—and even driving referrals. To do product-led growth well, product managers need to think like business leaders…

1
Scaling a Telehealth Pet Subscription, by Starting in Person. With Zubin Bhettay, CEO of Fuzzy 35:45

1+ y ago35:45

35:45

Sometimes the best way to launch a digital subscription is to launch a physical subscription. Even if you plan to scale with a virtual business model, you can learn so much more about your customer, value proposition and messaging by starting the old fashioned way—in person. That’s the approach Zubin Bhettay used in launching Fuzzy. Today, Fuzzy’s …

1
Emerging Best Practices in Personalization with Piano.io CEO Trevor Kaufman 39:38

1+ y ago39:38

39:38

We can learn a lot from subscription businesses that experiment with different revenue models and personalization. Organizations with too many offers risk overcomplicating things with competing goals. I’m talking about companies with multiple revenue streams—different promotions, pricing options and tiers and/or a combination of subscription, one-o…

1
Maximizing Customer Lifetime Value in Volatile Times with Paul Larsen of Optimized Payments 43:21

1+ y ago43:21

43:21

The single biggest source of churn might surprise you. It’s not a communications issue, or a product/market fit issue, or even an onboarding problem. The biggest driver of churn in most consumer subscriptions is what’s known as passive or involuntary churn. Involuntary churn is when a customer is canceled due to a payment issue or other technical p…

1
Building an Educational Subscription at Scale with LinkedIn Learning’s Jill Raines 35:21

1+ y ago35:21

35:21

You’re probably all familiar with LinkedIn Learning, formerly known as Lynda.com. It’s LinkedIn’s professional development platform. They offer more than 18,000 video courses available via subscription. There’s a huge range of educational topics covered—from how to use Adobe Aftereffects, to how to have difficult conversations, to the fundamentals …

1
How Employee Experience and Customer Experience Drive Corporate Growth with Salesforce's Tiffani Bova 46:17

2y ago46:17

46:17

We’ve spoken before on the show about the importance of Customer Experience in driving growth, with guests like Wharton’s Peter Fader, Gainsight’s Nick Mehta and Bain & Company’s Stu Berman. But today’s guest says you need to think beyond the customer. If you really want to accelerate growth, you need to focus on the employee experience. Tiffani Bo…

1
Bestselling Author Nir Eyal on How to Ethically Hook Your Subscribers 36:49

2y ago36:49

36:49

By Robbie Kellman Baxter

1
Season Three Wrap-Up and Season Four Sneak Peek with Robbie Kellman Baxter 3:46

2y ago3:46

3:46

Hey, it’s Robbie Kellman Baxter, host of the Subscription Stories Podcast. I wanted to just reflect on some of my favorite moments of season 3 and also share a sneak peek at Season 4. We packed a lot into this season, truly something for everyone. We opened the season with David Lorsch, the Chief Revenue Officer of Strava, the world’s largest athle…

1
Midi Health's Joanna Strober on the Ultimate Forever Transaction—Healthcare 30:25

2y ago30:25

30:25

My final guest of Season Three, Joanna Strober, was the very first guest on the Subscription Stories podcast. Back then, we were talking about Kurbo, the children’s service for WW (that’s Weight Watchers new name). Today, she’s back to talk about her latest venture in direct-to-consumer healthcare, Midi Health. While Kurbo focused on helping kids g…

1
How to Find Your Best Subscribers and Develop Relationships That Last with Google Chief Measurement Strategist Neil Hoyne 42:00

2+ y ago42:00

42:00

Not all customers are created equal. The best subscription businesses know the power of customer lifetime value (CLV). They optimize around understanding who their best subscribers are, and then deepening the relationship with those best subscribers over time. Neil Hoyne is an expert at this. As the Chief Measurement Strategist at Google, as well a…

1
Subscriptions that Combine Hardware and Software with Ben Foster, Chief Product Officer of WHOOP 45:43

2+ y ago45:43

45:43

The first wave of the Membership Economy was mostly digital-- software, content, and services. But increasingly we’re seeing subscriptions around physical products. Challenges abound when manufacturing comes into play, especially with the pricing model. Many companies are selling the physical product and then offering subscriptions as an add-on. Ex…

1
Getting Good at Goodbyes: Optimizing for Retention from Hello with Patrick Campbell, CEO of ProfitWell 36:12

2+ y ago36:12

36:12

Most subscription-based businesses focus too much on acquisition and not enough on retention. But actually retention improvements are usually more effective, both for total revenue AND profitability. Today’s guest Patrick Campbell couldn’t understand why so many organizations weren’t doing the math, and so he started his company Profitwell to help …

1
Using Subscriptions to Democratize Healthcare with Matthew Mengerink, CTO of Thirty Madison 32:19

2+ y ago32:19

32:19

Nearly every industry can benefit from joining the Membership Economy, and most industries have great examples of subscription-based organizations. One of the slowest movers has been the healthcare industry and for good reason. There's so much complexity to delivering health outcomes—as well as great risk. And that's why I'm so excited about this e…

1
Beyond Subscriptions, Pricing for Impact with HBS/ESADE Professor Marco Bertini 34:30

2+ y ago34:30

34:30

Even though people think of me as a subscription person, I always say that for me, subscriptions are simply a tactic. Subscriptions force companies to better align their pricing with performance. If the subscriber doesn’t perceive ongoing value, they cancel the subscription…so it becomes the organization’s responsibility to ensure that the customer…

1
Designing for Subscriptions with ThoughtSpot's Bob Baxley 40:15

2+ y ago40:15

40:15

Bob Baxley is a design executive who lives and works in Silicon Valley. He currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Design & Experience at ThoughtSpot, a business intelligence and data analytics platform. Prior to ThoughtSpot, Bob was Head of Product Design at Pinterest where he built, led, and managed a multifaceted design team responsible…

1
The Right Teams & Culture for Subscription Growth with Gannett-USA Today Network CMO Mayur Gupta 31:18

2+ y ago31:18

31:18

Mayur Gupta is the Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer at Gannett – USA Today Network. He is responsible for leading the transformation of Gannett into a subscription platform that is obsessed with user value and not just site traffic. Mayur is responsible to actualize Gannett’s mission to build trusted local communities where people thrive. This …

1
How the "Daily Homepage for the World's Largest Industry" is Rethinking the Future of Travel with Skift's Rafat Ali 35:14

2+ y ago35:14

35:14

In March of 2020, travel as we knew it abruptly ground to a near standstill. First cruise ships were docked, and then air travel quickly became limited to very special cases. Hotels stood empty except for those that held people in quarantine and the health care workers who cared for them. I think it’s fair to say that no industry has changed more a…

1
The Quantitative Side of Customer-Centricity with Wharton's Peter Fader 39:00

2+ y ago39:00

39:00

Customer-centricity is essential in the world of subscriptions. To succeed you have to understand who your most valuable customers are, and invest your resources in those relationships. But measuring the value of each customer over an extended period of time, and understanding which metrics matter most, can be tricky. Peter Fader, the Frances and P…

1
Building a Subscription Bundle to Better Deliver on Your Forever Promise with Tommy O'Hare, SVP of Outside 40:20

2+ y ago40:20

40:20

Bundles are a hot topic right now and Outside+ is a fascinating example. A few months ago, the Outside Magazine organization announced they were welcoming 20 new publications including Trail Runner, Velo News and Yoga Journal to their family. More recently, they launched a suite of new features such as training plans & workouts, access to the Gaia …

1
How Profit and Purpose are Combining to Create New 21st Century Iconic D2C Companies Like Tesla, The RealReal and Bellwether Coffee with DBL Ventures' Ira Ehrenpreis 43:38

3y ago43:38

43:38

There is no bigger topic when it comes to consumer sentiment than the rising demand and focus on Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance related issues. Today we’re looking at this challenge from the perspective of a leading VC who has invested in some of the most iconic consumer focused, mission driven businesses. Ira Ehrenpreis has been i…

1
The Importance of Storytelling in the World of Subscriptions with GoodTrust's Daniel Sieberg 38:54

3y ago38:54

38:54

The ability to tell a good story is valuable—and not only when the story is the product, as it is in journalism. Stories can build understanding, trust and connection with members, prospects and investors alike. Storytelling is an important skill in the Membership Economy, and GoodTrust Co-founder Daniel Sieberg is a fantastic storyteller. Daniel S…

1
Small Is Beautiful - Niching Down Your Subscription to Grow Faster with Mindful.org CEO Bryan Welch 39:29

3y ago39:29

39:29

Mindful.org is dedicated to a very specific goal--sharing the gifts of mindfulness through content, training, courses, and directories— and helping people enjoy better health, foster more caring relationships, and cultivate a more compassionate society. Because of that core focus, Mindful has been able to develop deep expertise about how people wan…

1
How to Reinvent Your Organization as a Member-driven Movement with Ariel Zirulnick of The Membership Puzzle Project 41:38

3y ago41:38

41:38

Since The Membership Puzzle Project (MPP) launch in May 2017, they have studied, advised, and supported more than 100 newsrooms around the world, from Akron, Ohio, to New Delhi, India as they make the transition to a member-driven newsroom. In this conversation I’m talking with Ariel Zirulnick, who runs MPP's Membership In News Fund, which supports…

1
How Strava Built a Subscription Business within a Social Platform with Strava CRO David Lorsch 39:00

3y ago39:00

39:00

Just over 10 years ago, I had my first conversation about the idea that would become Strava with serial entrepreneurs Mark Gainey and Michael Horvath. They talked to me about their bold objective of building the world's largest community of athletes. Since then, they've achieved that goal, touching over 90 million athletes and logging over five bil…

1
Season 2 Wrap-Up with Robbie Kellman Baxter 5:06

3y ago5:06

5:06

As we wrap up Season 2, we’re reflecting on the amazing guests we had, and all of the wisdom that was shared. We covered best practices in pricing, scaling and supporting your subscription offering, and did deep dives on what membership means at organizations including CrossFit, Nike and YPO. Take a listen to this 5 minute short, to hear about them…

1
Managing Subscription Partnerships for HBO Max Across Multiple Channels with WarnerMedia's Molly O'Connor 36:11

3y ago36:11

36:11

Much has been written about the so-called "Streaming Wars." The market for streaming video content is crowded with players, each with unique strengths - from Netflix's digital native, early adopter status, the platform power of Apple and Amazon, to the highly specific and valuable content of niche players like Crunchy Roll or the History Channel, w…

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Robbie Kellman Baxter Podcasts

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