If Prices Could Talk

What makes a business more valuable, and what happens when some of your most productive team members aren't human? In this episode of If Prices Could Talk , Holden Advisors President and CEO Brian Doyle and Emily Macaulay sit down with Nick Anderson, CEO of OneAccord , to explore two major challenges facing business leaders: building a company that can grow beyond its founder, and understandin...

Better pricing starts with better data—but that doesn't mean your data has to be perfect. In this episode of If Prices Could Talk , Holden Advisors' Richard Klein and Patrick McCullough sit down with Donna Burbank, Founder and Managing Director of Global Data Strategy , to explore the connection between data quality, pricing strategy, profitability, business valuation, and AI. Donna has sp...

What does great pricing look like when weather, tariffs, geopolitics, commodity markets, and supply chains can change the equation overnight? In this episode of If Prices Could Talk , Holden Advisors President and CEO Brian Doyle and Emily Macaulay sit down with Bhadra Menon, Senior Director of Global Strategic Pricing at Cargill , to explore how one of the world's largest privately held compa...

Private equity firms don't invest in companies hopingthey'll grow. They invest expecting them to grow. So why do so many portfolio companies struggle to execute? In this episode of If Prices Could Talk , Brian Doyle and Emily Macaulay sit down with Dan Bernoske , Founder and CEO of The Cortado Group, to discuss what actually drives revenue growth inside investor-backed businesses. Together...

In a world where AI can generate endless content, what actually creates authority? In this episode of If Prices Could Talk , Brian Doyle and Emily McCauley sit down with Adam Witty, Founder and CEO of Advantage | The Authority Company, to explore how authority, trust, and authenticity drive pricing power in today's market. The conversation examines how business leaders build credibility, why b...

Most companies don’t have a pricing strategy problem. They have a value capture problem. In this episode of If Prices Could Talk , Holden Advisors sits down with Kevin Mitchell , President of the Professional Pricing Society, to explore why so many organizations struggle to turn pricing strategy into real financial outcomes. They discuss: - Why pricing has evolved into a critical business discipli...

Pricing problems rarely start with pricing. They start with leadership. In this episode of If Prices Could Talk , Holden Advisors sits down with founder and CEO Charlton Evans of End StateSolutions to explore the leadership decisions that ultimately shape pricing outcomes—and why most organizations focus on tactics instead of the real issue. They discuss: - Why pricing is fundamentally a leadershi...

In today’s world, procurement teams are more sophisticatedthan ever—and most sales teams are still playing by outdated rules. In this episode of If Prices Could Talk , Holden Advisors CEO Brian Doyle and host Travis Umpleby sit down with John La Vecchia, Chief Revenue Officer at Equifax Canada , to unpack what’s really happening inside modern negotiations. They explore: - Why procurement teams are...

Modern factories rely on a complex network of automation systems, software platforms, and industrial equipment. But behind the scenes, there is a group of companies responsible for making those technologies actually work together: system integrators. In this episode of If Prices Could Talk , Tracy Dent and Brian Doyle sit down with Adrienne Meyer, CEO of the Control System Integrators Association...

Pricing power rarely disappears overnight. More often, it erodes slowly as markets become more transparent, buyers gain more information, and sellers struggle to defend value. The automotive industry has lived through this transformation for decades.   In this episode of If Prices Could Talk, Partner Patrick McCullough and host Tracy Dent sit down with Randy Kobat, a longtime automotive industry e...

In this episode of If Prices Could Talk ,  Tracy Dent sits down with Jeet Mukherjee (Chief Strategy Officer) to unpack why pricing services feels more emotional, more political, and more fragile than pricing products - and why that can quietly destroy pricing power inside otherwise strong companies. We’ll explore why discounts show up late in the deal, why confidence matters more than math, and wh...

Without strong execution from client facing teams, even the best price model will underperform. In this episode of If Prices Could Talk, Tracy Dent sits down with Jeet Mukherjee (Chief Strategy Officer) and Travis Umpleby (Negotiation Master Facilitator) to unpack why price increases derail once they hit the field. This episode breaks down why price increases collapse in the real world: misaligned...

In this episode, Cuvama CEO MG Gurbaxani joins Jeet Mukherjee and Tracy Dent to break down myths in value based selling and what it takes to succeed when AI is no longer a differentiator. Learn how to sell on value versus features, what CROs are saying behind closed doors about the pressure to scale sales with automation, and how to maintain the human element of discovery. Topics: What value-based...

Many B2B companies still rely on cost-plus pricing. For good reason! It’s clear, it’s simple to explain and defend, and it’s predictable. But when buyers use it as an excuse to call you a commodity and demand discounts, it can lead to extremely thin margins and dilute your pricing power.  In this episode, Tracy Dent and Jeet Mukherjee discuss five levers to escape the cost-plus pricing trap withou...

In this episode, we unpack the impact of AI on SaaS pricing, differentiation, and value - and a rundown of pricing related pops and flops. From Notion’s bundling strategy to the GenAI price war and Reddit’s data lawsuit against Anthropic, this episode digs into how commoditization is forcing B2B software leaders to rethink what they’re really selling—and what buyers are still willing to pay for. R...

How do you build a sales team that doesn’t crumble under pressure? 30-year sales veteran Vanessa Giuliani joins Holden Advisors CEO Brian Doyle and host Tracy Dent to unpack real-world lessons from high-stakes negotiations across the US, UK, and Canada.  From poker-playing procurement tactics to sales team transformation, this episode is full of stories and takeaways for sales leaders up against t...

In this episode of If Prices Could Talk , Tracy Dent is joined by Greg James and Jeet Mukherjee to break down the economic, strategic, and emotional factors shaping the autonomous vehicle industry.  What’s the difference between Tesla’s feature-based pricing and Waymo’s per-mile approach? How does trust impact pricing power? What happens when legacy companies are forced to compete in platform econ...

Join us to unpack the biggest pricing and strategy headlines from the last few weeks. From Klarna’s AI stumble and rising credit defaults to Airbnb’s push to become a full-service travel platform — we explore what these moves mean for value perception, customer trust, and margin pressure. Plus: the implications of Dick’s potential acquisition of Foot Locker, and new consumer sentiment trends out o...

In this episode, Chris Anderson joins Tracy Dent and Jeet Mukherjee to break down what it takes to lead a pricing transformation inside a PE-backed company. From board pressure and sales resistance to customer risk and internal politics, Chris shares the emotional and strategic complexity of navigating pricing change - especially when the spreadsheet says one thing, and the reality says another. C...

In this episode, we explore what happens when pricing meets volatility — from SaaS boardrooms to EV factories and grocery aisles. Join host Tracy Dent alongside Jeet Mukherjee, Pete Morelli, and new Holden Advisors Senior Director Richard Klein as they break down some of the most important business stories of the week through the lens of pricing, strategy, and value. Topics covered: Why SaaS compa...

In this episode, Tracy sits down with Scott Leick, SVP of Finance & Analytics at RhythmScience, and Patrick McCullough, Partner at Holden Advisors, to discuss pricing, analytics, negotiations, and new product launches.  We discuss: ​How to use analytics to replace gut instinct in pricing decisions ​Lessons from the drug-eluting stent “race to the bottom” on price ​How to price new tech when the ma...

In this episode of If Prices Could Talk , Josh Read, COO of IDverse, and Brian Doyle, CEO of Holden Advisors, join Tracy Dent to unpack the realities of high-stakes B2B negotiations. From handling procurement pressure to identifying buyer types and navigating cultural dynamics in global deals, this episode brings stories from the front lines of enterprise selling, and how AI and analytics are chan...

In this episode, Jeet Mukherjee and Tracy Dent unpack how businesses can navigate today’s chaotic economy — from inflation and tariffs to supply chain risks and uncertainty. We explore how to manage volatility across your product portfolio and what leaders must do in the short term and over the next few years. We discuss: How to build flexible pricing strategies in unpredictable environments The ...

In this episode, we sit down with Kelly Nagel, former President & GM of Jabra North America, to talk about building influence, securing buy-in for large-scale transformations, and aligning sales and pricing strategies with value. Kelly shares hard-won lessons from her 30-year tech career, including insights from her time at Ingram Micro and Jabra, and takeaways from leading transformation whil...

In this episode, Adam Howatson, CEO of LogiSense and author of The Usage Economy , joins Pete Morelli and Tracy Dent to explore how usage-based pricing is helping companies future-proof their business models and win in markets where expectations are shifting fast. We discuss: Why flat-rate subscriptions are losing their edge How to align pricing with real customer usage and value Common pitfalls i...