Product: Knowledge – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Product manager, entrepreneur, and author Ali Rakhimov joins Laurier Mandin to talk about how better communication can make even the most ambitious products take flight. From building payment kiosks for K–12 schools to leading multimillion-dollar initiatives at Macy’s, Ali shares how simplicity, idioms, and “stupid” questions can cut through complexity and bring teams together. 

This conversation dives into how to keep innovation alive, avoid “boiling the ocean,” and use AI as a force for clarity, not chaos.

Episode Highlights:

• 00:02:00 — From the classroom to product leadership: How Ali’s early years in K–12 shaped his management style.
• 00:04:40 — Building, failing, and pivoting: The scrappy road trip that led to a startup exit.
• 00:06:30 — The power of idioms: Why metaphors like “Elephant in the Room” and “Boil the Ocean” make teams communicate better.
• 00:09:00 — Asking the “stupid” question: Turning imposter syndrome into clarity.
• 00:12:10 — Focus vs. shiny-penny syndrome: How to simplify and ship without killing ambition.
• 00:16:00 — AI hype and reality: What teams get wrong—and how culture determines success.
• 00:21:00 — Learning curve to lifelong learning: From calculators to ChatGPT, adapting to new tools.
• 00:27:40 — Making pigs fly: How Ali proved the impossible possible in K–12 fintech.

Links:
Find out more about Ali Rakhimov and buy "When Pigs Fly": Ali.ink
Subscribe to Laurier Mandin's daily emails and buy "I Need That": LMandin.com
Learn about Graphos Product, read the blog and get all podcasts with transcripts: GraphosProduct.com

Why do some buyers eagerly drop thousands on a luxury item, then balk at paying a fraction of that for something useful and well-made?
In this solo episode of Product: Knowledge, Laurier Mandin unpacks the Premium Buyer Paradox and explores the psychology behind premium pricing.

From Dyson’s visible engineering, to Bang & Olufsen’s design-driven luxury, to Montblanc’s identity-making pens, you’ll hear how different brands justify their price tags and change buyer behavior. Laurier also shares practical tips on how product makers can earn the right to charge more—through quality, service, consistency, and customer delight.

If you want to know what really makes buyers say yes to premium pricing, this episode is for you.

Episode Highlights

[00:00:25] The Premium Buyer Paradox — why someone will drop $100K on a Range Rover but complain your $50 service is “too expensive.”

[00:01:59] Premium pricing isn’t decided, it’s earned. Louis Vuitton’s $1,500 handbags are backed by 171 years of brand-building, not just fonts and packaging.

[00:02:55] The buyer’s price ceiling = desirability ÷ resources (money, time, effort, risk). Context changes everything.

[00:03:57] The iPhone Affordability Index: 3 days of work in Luxembourg vs. 160 days in India for the same phone.

[00:05:13] Dyson turned vacuums into engineering theater—visible performance made a $600 splurge at Costco irresistible, even to value shoppers.

[00:06:34] Bang & Olufsen reframed speakers and TVs as design furniture, creating a luxury moat value shoppers won’t cross.

[00:07:12] Montblanc pens transformed from writing tools to prestige markers—identity, not function, is what buyers pay for.

[00:08:26] How to earn premium pricing: start with quality construction, offer an amazing warranty, deliver above-and-beyond service, nail packaging, and stay flawless in every detail.

[00:09:22] Delight every customer and disappoint no one. That’s the only path to lasting premium status.

Selling an innovative product relies on making change. And there can be a lot of resistance to adopting a new product of any size, but especially for B2B products with long sales cycles and complex onboarding processes. Margie Agin, author of Brand Breakthrough and chief strategist of Centerboard Marketing, helps product makers to accelerate adoption and achieve breakthroughs by distilling functions down to their core value propositions. Margie engineers “AHA!” moments for the brands as well as customers.

Be sure to grab Margie's Brand Breakthrough Action Guide for hands-on activities, checklists, interview questions and templates to kickstart your brand journey.

Here are some highlights from this can't-miss episode:

1:24: How to cruise through a blocker in the sales process
3:41: Using language and narrative to dissolve buyer resistance
4:45: Asking all the right questions (based on Margie’s market research experience)
5:41: “Poking the bruise” to trigger an urgent sense of need
7:10: Pulling the value from features to answer “What’s in it for ME?”
8:28: How (and why) small companies can connect better than the giants
10:50: Using archetypes in convincing tech people to embrace fun, customer-friendly narratives
14:43: Resonating with a diverse assortment of audience types
18:11: Building trust, in a world that distrusts brands
21:00: Testimonials that move buyers forward
22:35: Avoiding the most deadly mistake even the biggest product brands make

Centerboard Marketing: centerboard-marketing.com
Graphos Product, the product marketing agency: graphosproduct.com

We talk a lot about the high failure rates of consumer products. It’s a tough road, and launching a hit product is a rare event. Michael Sandeen is an innovator who’s exploded those odds—and he’s now done it twice. 

Thirty-five years ago Michael created Spin Jammer, a uniquely spinnable flying disc that sold by the millions in big-box retail stores like Walmart, Toys R Us and K-Mart. Then, in late 2020, he introduced SearBQ, a cast-iron griddle and press combination for the barbecue, and it turned to be his second hit product. But SearBQ doesn’t sell retail: it is only available direct-to-consumer (DTC), through what is now one of Shopify’s top-selling new stores.

It’s very deliberately a different strategy, and Michael Sandeen has been quick to adopt other new ways for SearBQ. He started out with a successful Kickstarter campaign, and due to pandemic-induced supply and shipping challenges, launched his summer product in the middle of winter—the winter solstice to be exact—and too late to capture holiday sales. 

Sales exploded nonetheless, and Michael quickly found himself facing new challenges, battling retail giants for shipping freighter space and Amazon for packing materials. Growth would be the next frontier in his DTC experiment, and he’d need to pull out everything he’s learned to manage it successfully. 

In this mouthwatering episode (we do talk about food more than we’d meant to—SearBQ has that effect) Michael Sandeen shares how he leveraged three-and-a-half decades of product design, manufacturing and selling experience to make launching a breakthrough product seem so easy. It ain’t just spin and sizzle—but those things help!

Here are some key-takeaways from this exciting and enlightening episode:

• How selling consumer products has transformed since the late ’80s (2:00)
• Why a retail veteran decided to sell only direct-to-consumer (3:30)
• How one big idea and two burned steaks sparked SearBQ (5:04)
• Delighting ideal buyers and winning over the haters (8:00)
• Why Michael won't use Kickstarter for another consumer product, despite his success (12:47)
• Things product-makers need to know about Kickstarter marketing agencies (15:08)
• The biggest lesson from supply-chain challenges and inventory depletion (17:00)
• Where you CAN'T beat Walmart and Target (17:45)
• The importance of continuous improvement, even when you’re crushing it (19:20)
• How beautiful product design and smart engineering are critical success triggers (20:00)
• The importance of putting the brand name front and center (22:15)
• Leaving room for buyers to surprise you (23:30)
• The (hands-down) best things SearBQ's inventor loves to cook on it (24:42)
• The innovation curve never ends (27:45)

Buy the SearBQ Griddle & Press online: SearBQ.com
The Product Launch & Marketing Agency: GraphosProduct.com

Consumers have had enough of phony product brands. Fabricated figureheads like Betty Crocker and the Marlboro Man ruled the twentieth century, but social media and customer reviews have permanently altered the landscape. Not only can we handle the truth—we demand it.

While everyone talks ad nauseam about “authenticity,” it’s still much easier to fall back into the old-world playbook. Emily Soccorsy and Justin Foster created Root + River to help product makers succeed at branding from the heart and build an enduring culture of truth. Doing it right creates new levels of joy, satisfaction and loyalty, but requires a new and very deliberate way of thinking. When businesses brand from the heart, amazing things happen, particularly three invaluable breakthroughs that always do.

Emily and Justin join Graphos Product Principal Laurier Mandin to talk about their proven approach to intrinsic branding, and share insights that will help you find and articulate what’s at the heart of your own product brand. 

Here are some key-takeaways from this informative and inspiring episode:

• Why today’s consumers refuse to buy falseness (1:45)
• How repelling the wrong buyers is as important as attracting the right ones (3:30)
• The “big gap” that causes branding failure, and how to close it (7:12)
• Why it’s smart to pause marketing to think about the brand (8:00)
• Why branding is a practice, not a department (10:19)
• The 3 amazing things that always happen when you brand from the heart (10:30)
• Why marketing is not the numbers game many CMOs think it is (14:35)
• How love is the reason products and teams succeed (17:00)
• Why you’re not looking for customers—you’re looking for believers (18:48)
• The real secret to creating emotion in your audience (20:00)
• How to build anticipation and demand before you even get to market (23:36)
• Why storytelling can make even “boring” brands thrill consumers (26:19)
• Finding and sharing YOUR belief system, whether your product is old or new (28:35)

Root + River: RootandRiver.com
The Product Launch & Marketing Agency: GraphosProduct.com

Pricing can make or break any product. Set it too high, and even best-fit customers will take a pass. Too low and you’re devaluing the product, stunting growth and possibly starving it for cash. 

But how do you craft a pricing structure that is just right—and be confident it is? And then how do you package your product offerings to attract specific buyer types, without alienating others? 

Pricing is a science, and those who do it effectively seldom fall into that success. Ajit Gjuman has led enterprise software product teams through the pricing process, and has interviewed a multitude of tech product leaders in writing his new book, "Price to Scale." He's also the head of product marketing at Narvar, a customer engagement platform that helps brands like Yeti, Levi's and Dyson drive long-term customer loyalty by unifying shipping and returns.

Ajit’s ultimate goal for the book was for any product manager or entrepreneur to be able to read it over a weekend, then methodically assemble end-to-end pricing in just 30 days. 

Ajit Ghuman joins Graphos Product Principal Laurier Mandin to explain how that is possible, and offer advice to listeners challenged with setting or resetting product pricing in order to profitably scale their business. 

Here are some key-takeaways from this power-packed episode:

• What team member is best-suited to implement your pricing structure (1:45)
• Ajit’s definition of “Positioning” (3:00)
• What is “Packaging” for a tech product, and what does it look like done right? (4:32)
• Identifying market segments for a brand new product (6:17)
• Where do “freemium” products work, and where are they a bad idea? (8:36)
• Understanding “Product-Led” strategy (11:32)
• How pricing and your margins relate to going to IPO or being acquired (13:44)
•  How to lead a team in pricing implementation, and influence the CEO (17:06)
• The alignment hack Helpshift used to 10X revenue from a key account (21:27)
• Using value metrics to optimize pricing and revenue (22:31)
• Why your cost to produce has nothing to do with what the customer will pay (24:55)

Price to Scale book: AjitGhuman.com
The Product Launch & Marketing Agency: GraphosProduct.com

As a 3-time startup founder and 5-time entrepreneur, Étienne has worked in the trenches of building tech companies and introducing innovative products. In “Solving Product,” he has created a reference book to help product creators through the many complex puzzles from ideation to startup, growth, expansion and retrospective. Feeling stuck with solving product-market fit, evaluating your product's true value, finding leaks in your funnel, or targeting new segments? It’s in “Solving Product.” 

The book is crammed with advice and diagnostics, peppered with hundreds of powerful quotes from many of the greatest minds in product — and tethered to reality by more than two dozen highly relevant case studies. 

Throughout our discussion, Étienne shares actionable advice on how to reveal gaps in your own product, using research and proven processes to become more profitable, faster.

In this episode, you will learn: 

• Why every product is a succession of problems to be solved (1:45)
• How it can give clarity to envision your product as a service business (5:23)
• What is the greatest predictor of whether your product will truly be needed (7:42)
• Why your product must be at least 10x as good as what customers are using now (10:06)
• The biggest competition to your product — and it's not another product (12:30)
• The hidden, growing danger of the subscription model (13:55)
• Why a majority of businesses do little or no research (18:15)
• Using research to answer the most important questions for your product (21:30)
• Setting your product up for success by identifying where it adds the most value (24:10)
• The single biggest certainty when creating any new product (26:40)

Étienne Garbugli’s Solving Product website: https://www.solvingproduct.com (Get the first 3 chapters free!)
Graphos Product Product Marketing Agency website: https://www.GraphosProduct.com

If you’ve been involved in creating and marketing a new product, you know all too well the danger of having your ideas stolen or copied. In fact, it probably keeps you up at night—just as it did for innovators like Steve Jobs. Patenting the features that make your product unique is a common approach, but is having a patent worth the hefty initial and ongoing costs? Registering one or more patents is an expensive legal process, and the maintenance bills can be burdensome for any startup struggling with cash flow. Yet those standard expenses can be dwarfed by the costs of litigation. To top it off, the majority of patent infringement suits ultimately get thrown out of court!

So is getting a patent really worth it?

In Episode 23 of Product: Knowledge, Intellectual Property strategist Trevor Prentice joins host Laurier Mandin to discuss the costs and some less-known benefits of having a patent—and advice to develop your product patent strategy. Even if you own multiple patents already, what you come away with from Trevor’s answers will likely be surprising:

In this episode, you will learn: 

• The types of patents and what can be patented (2:45)
• Is it worth including multiple claims? (3:20)
• What is “prior art” and why the way you describe it matters to your patent application (4:51)
• Why all patents are not created equally (6:51)
• Why so many patent infringement cases are dismissed (7:15)
• How to identify in advance the value you need to extract from having a patent (8:00)
• The most valuable (but less-known) benefits of having your IP patented (9:30-11:00)
• Patents and your business’ credibility (11:40)
• How much to budget for getting and maintaining a patent (13:00)
• When it's time to call an IP consultant (15:50)
• What most lawyers don’t do for their clients—and why it’s a major gap (17:10)
• How an IP portfolio can increase the overall value of your business (18:30)

IP Strategist Trevor Prentice at The IP Link: TheIPlink.com
Graphos Product Product Marketing Agency website: GraphosProduct.com

Product positioning is essential to sales, and you simply can’t scale without getting it right. Yet most marketers and executives can’t even tell you what positioning means, much less how to do it.
April Dunford is on a mission to change that. As an internationally recognized product positioning expert, April helps startups get their positioning straight. She has written a bestselling book on the subject: "Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It."
According to April Dunford, positioning defines how a product is the absolute best at delivering specific kind of value for which a well-defined set of customers deeply cares. Only by conveying THAT value to THOSE customers can you achieve product success.
It's a process best guided by analytics, research and market intelligence. Software product brands typically achieve it by studying sales figures, surveying customers and learning what value is sought by true best-fit customers.
It makes a lot of sense. But what about new and innovative physical products, for which best-fit customers don't yet exist, let alone gigabytes of customer data? How can you perfect positioning for a product the world has never seen, and de-risk gambling a fortune on a massive launch?
In this episode, April explains her 10-step process for perfect positioning she has taught to over 100 business leaders and used to lead numerous product businesses to acquisition.
April tells how she has used multi-layered launch techniques to reduce the risk of physical products, a technique she even leveraged for her own bestselling book, in defiance of conventional publishing advice.
There is no more respected mind in product positioning than April Dunford, and you'll find this an engaging and richly informative interview.

Buy "Obviously Awesome" at Amazon in Kindle, audio book or paperback formats
Learn more and schedule a hands-on workshop at April Dunford's website
Graphos Product official website

What if science could prove that marketers are doing EVERYTHING wrong?

Patrick Renvoisé is a brain scientist who has co-authored two books claiming that is exactly the case. At SalesBrain, the consultancy where he is Chief Persuasion Officer, Patrick has helped over 100,000 CEOs identify and target the secret Buy Button inside their customer's brain.

The co-author of "Neuromarketing" and "The Persuasion Code," Patrick shares his simple, proven scientific methodology to create desire and entice people to buy your product. Using sophisticated physiological measurements, measuring brainwaves and tracking eye movements, Patrick’s team discovered that what people say does not reflect what they truly want.

Patrick has identified that decision-making is governed not by the rational neocortex (known as System Two), but by the ancient primal brain, or System One. The primal brain only recognizes six stimuli—which Patrick tells you how to trigger using four specific steps.

If you’re a product marketer and want to start leveraging brain science to sell MUCH more, you don't want to miss this episode.

Graphos Product:
https://www.graphosproduct.com
Read the episode transcript, our blog and learn about our unique product marketing services

SalesBrain:
https://www.salesbrain.com

Buy "Neuromarketing: Understanding the Buy Buttons in Your Customer's Brain" at Amazon
Buy "The Persuasion Code" at Amazon