# Dmitry Rodenko (Дмитрий Роденко)

#entity #person

## Summary

Speaker (with co-host Nathan) of the video [[2026-06-15-rodenko-selling-development-expensively]], associated with "SaaS Founders." He is the single most-cited source behind this vault's sales methodology — the origin of the guarantee test, the Zendesk canonical offer, the commodity test, and the Solution-vs-Staff-Aug framing.

## Current Understanding

Rodenko's core methodology (see the source page for detail):

- **Hourly development is ending; sell result + accountability.** A ~$200/mo AI alternative makes rate wars a path to zero margin.
- **"Expensive" doesn't exist — "I don't see what for" does**, tested by the guarantee question. → [[pricing-from-value]].
- **Commodity test:** remove "development" and the stack name; if nothing meaningful remains, you compete on rate. **Category = pain + result.** → [[productized-service]], [[niche-selection]].
- **The Zendesk motion:** ask real spend on a concrete operational action, promise a 10× cut. → [[pain-discovery]].
- **Sell to leadership, not implementers; 80% of sales is WHO.** → [[niche-selection]].
- **Business buys a proven method, not uniqueness.** → [[methodology-as-moat]].
- **Founder = head of sales; "a year of repackaging is for people afraid to pick up the phone."** → [[sales-discipline]].
- **Squad-model** repositioning example (~19 squads × $15–18k/mo ≈ $7M/yr). → [[solution-vs-staff-augmentation]].

## Evidence

- All of the above — [[2026-06-15-rodenko-selling-development-expensively]] and its terse companion [[2026-06-15-konspekt-aphorisms]]
- His claims propagate through the derived [[2026-06-15-selling-development-services-in-the-ai-era]] and [[2026-06-15-meta-analysis-selling-dev-in-ai-era]]

## Related Pages

- [[pricing-from-value]] · [[outcome-based-selling]] · [[pain-discovery]] · [[niche-selection]] · [[methodology-as-moat]] · [[solution-vs-staff-augmentation]] · [[sales-discipline]]

## Contradictions / Uncertainty

- His anecdotes (a $100k close from 10 calls; the $7M squad shop) are self-reported in a talk — plausible, uncorroborated.
- The distillation attributes some cross-cutting statistics to "Роденко" that actually belong to other notes (e.g. follow-up rates trace to [[2026-06-15-17-ways-first-client]]); attributions in second-order notes are imperfect.

## Next Questions

- What is "SaaS Founders" and how does Rodenko's own business validate the methodology?
- How does Nathan's contribution differ from Rodenko's? The notes don't separate them.
