We sat down with Eddie Hartman, Senior Partner at Simon-Kucher, to explore what it really takes to make that leap, and how the principles from his new book, Scaling Innovation1, co-authored with Madhavan Ramanujam, can help leaders build not just faster, but smarter.
Your new book, Scaling Innovation, explores the transition from breakthrough product to lasting business. What inspired you to write it, and what impact do you hope it will have?
The journey started years ago, back when I was at LegalZoom. Madhavan, my co-author, was advising me on monetization, and he focused me on what became the next chapter of my career. That collaboration shaped how I think about growth, not just creating great products, but building great businesses.
Our work today builds on those same principles, helping companies design for monetization and scale from the start. My hope is that readers don’t just enjoy the book but use it to create meaningful impact, that it becomes a practical guide for turning innovation into lasting value.
It’s been nine years since the book’s prequel, Monetizing Innovation, first came out. Why was the sequel so important?
Monetizing Innovation focused on integrating willingness to pay into the product development process. I still love how First Round Capital summarized that book in just four words: Price before product. Period.
That principle helped companies move from building products people like to those they love, and pay for. As more founders adopted those ideas, a new question emerged: “I’ve built a great product, now what?”
That’s where Scaling Innovation comes in. If Monetizing Innovation taught you how to build great products, Scaling Innovation teaches you how to build a great business: how to architect profitable growth and truly scale breakthrough innovation.
Scaling Innovation introduces several leadership archetypes. In which ways do these different leadership styles influence profitable growth?
It almost always comes down to mindset. Profitable growth requires balancing two engines: market share and wallet share. Most leaders over-index on one and neglect the other.
Some chase growth at all costs, “I’ll figure out monetization later.” That’s the Disruptor mindset. They’re exciting to work for, their sales teams are heroes, and revenue is skyrocketing. But they’re selling dollars for 80 cents. They mistake acquisition for success and assume that territory conquered is territory held. It rarely is.
Then there’s the Moneymaker, the opposite extreme. They focus so much on monetization that they forget to grow. They perfect the pricing model, introduce clever fees, and optimize wallet share, but ignore acquisition.
The Community Builder is a newer archetype. It’s the company obsessed with loyalty and brand love. They measure everything through NPS and customer happiness, but they never ask for the fair exchange of value.
The truth is, none of these approaches work on their own. To build durable, profitable growth, leaders must be Profitable Growth Architects. Companies that give equal attention (although not necessarily equal effort) to both market share and wallet share. They understand how acquisition, monetization, and retention interact, and they design strategies that strengthen all three. That’s the real blueprint for scaling innovation.
"It almost always comes down to mindset. Profitable growth requires balancing two engines: market share and wallet share. Most leaders over-index on one and neglect the other."
As a founder of several companies, what challenges have you experienced when it came to scaling innovation?
No one likes having prices raised. No customer, no matter how loyal, says, “Please, charge me more.”
I felt that emotional pull: I love my customers. They keep my business alive. They put food on my table. I almost felt a moral obligation not to raise prices. “Oh, I haven’t improved the product enough.” “I’ve got technical debt.” “My competitors are cheaper.” These were the stories I used to tell myself.
But look around: prices rise even when products don’t change – that’s the nature of value exchange. When you improve your product or strengthen your brand, your price should reflect that too. And yes, you should be confident enough to have that decision “published on the front page of the New York Times,” as the saying goes. Because if you’ve delivered more value, you have earned that right.
That’s beautifully put, and it ties right back to the heart of Scaling Innovation: being value-led in every aspect of growth. You devote a full chapter to value communication. Why is it so important, and what does it look like in practice?
It’s one of the most overlooked parts of monetization. Most entrepreneurs are comfortable talking about features, the things they built. But customers don’t buy features; they buy benefits. A feature is what you built. A benefit is what they get.
The best value communication translates the technical into the tangible – what customers gain, not just what the product does. When you get it right, everything else aligns. Your pricing becomes beautifully simple because it reflects that story. Sales teams can negotiate from value instead of discounting from price. Customer success teams can reinforce value to reduce churn. Even price increase conversations become easier, because you’re not defending a number, you’re reaffirming the story of value.
"Customers don’t buy features; they buy benefits. A feature is what you built. A benefit is what they get."
Eddie, you’ve said before you’re obsessed with churn. Why does it matter so much and how can companies prevent it?
I hate churn the way people hate slugs - or toothache. Once a customer is calling to cancel, it’s already too late. You might save the revenue, but you’ve already lost the relationship.
The answer isn’t better retention tactics; it’s prevention. The best companies go upstream, spotting early signs of risk and acting before customers drift. That could mean re-educating them on the value you already deliver, celebrating a quick success, or simply maintaining more consistent contact.
When churn does happen, it helps to ask two simple questions: is the problem on our side or the customer’s, and is it about price or about value? It could be the customer’s circumstances have changed, or you’ve stopped demonstrating why you’re worth it. Knowing which it is gives you a playbook, not a panic button.
Ultimately, the most effective churn strategy starts at acquisition. Focus your energy on the customers who are most likely to stay: the ones who see real, lasting value in what you do.