Jason Cohen
Four-time founder; two unicorns: SmartBear (bootstrapped SaaS developer tools; exited) and WP Engine (WordPress hosting platform; founded 2010, $1B+ valuation). Investor in approximately 60 startups. Author of Hidden Multipliers (2025, pre-order at hiddenmultipliers.com). Long-running independent blogger at asmartbear.com (~300 posts over nearly 20 years; self-described rule: only publish if it is the best he can do).
Known for: the five-question stalled-growth diagnostic (logo churn → pricing → NRR → channel saturation → do you need to grow?); the elephant curve (S-curve channels that sag into decline); the logo churn ceiling formula (new customers / churn rate = max customers); the ‘Double Down’ pricing story (8× revenue via re-positioning from cost savings to growth); scepticism of A/B testing for most organisations; and the ‘late joining co-founder’ concept (attributing co-founder status to CEO Heather Brunner at WP Engine, 4 years in).
Episodes in this wiki
- Jason Cohen on Diagnosing Stalled Growth, the Hidden Multipliers Framework, and the Elephant Curve — Lenny’s Podcast
Key ideas
- Elephant Curve — marketing channels rise like an S-curve then sag into decline; you cannot flog a saturated channel forever.
- Churn ceiling — max customers = new per period ÷ cancellation rate; cancellations scale with size, marketing does not.
- Stalled-growth diagnostic — logo churn → pricing → NRR → channel saturation → do you need to grow?, asked strictly in order.
- Sell growth, not savings — positioning the same product as ‘double your leads’ rather than ‘cut costs in half’ can command ~8× the price.