Today on the show, we have Dan Burkhart, CEO and co-founder of Recurly, a subscription billing management service. In this episode, we discussed the importance of language-specific content for global companies, the inspiration behind Recurly, and the shift towards focusing on retention and churn in the subscription economy. We dove into various strategies that companies can use to improve their customer retention, including understanding customer behavior and preferences, offering the option to ...
Jul 19, 2023•45 min•Ep. 204
Today on the show, we have Evgenia Mkrtychian, Head of Customer Success and Corporate Communication Strategy at Loyalty Plant. In this episode, Evgenia shares Loyalty Plant's journey and we explore how they are managing their rapid growth. Evgenia shares insights into the significance of customer success and marketing strategies within their mobile marketing and e-commerce platform for quick-service restaurants. Evgenia then talks about the importance of a streamlined onboarding process and how ...
Jul 12, 2023•34 min•Ep. 203
Today on the show we have John Gleeson, founder of Success Venture Partners. In this episode, John shares his journey from being a VP of Customer Success to embracing a role as a dedicated investor. John reveals how his fund aids startups at various phases, serving as a valuable resource for early-stage founders. By offering customer success insights and assistance with recruitment, Success Venture Partners nurtures the growth of these startups. We then dove into how John evaluates the startups ...
Jul 05, 2023•32 min•Ep. 202
Today on the show, we have Tom Carnewal, founder of Customer Cross Company. In this episode, Tom discusses his role as a Director of Digital Transformation and introduces Carnewal Consult's new brand, the Customer Cross Company. He outlines how they help mid-sized companies with recurring revenue models to set up or evolve their customer success teams. Tom presents key findings of their research, which highlights the importance of tracking usage data and the ineffectiveness of CSAT as a KPI for ...
Jun 28, 2023•34 min•Ep. 201
Today on the show we have Enzo Avigo, CEO and Founder of June. In this episode, we discussed Enzo's journey in entrepreneurship, from his initial startup experiences to his tenure at Zalando and Intercom, exploring valuable insights he gleaned from both companies. Enzo shared how his time at Zalando helped him refine his skills in influencing people, and how Intercom imparted the importance of first principles and the 'job to be done' framework in product development. We then dove into the inspi...
Jun 21, 2023•36 min•Ep. 200
Today on the show we have John Chen, partner at Fika Ventures. In this episode, we discussed the operations of Fika Ventures, a pre-Series A fund focused on B2B software, FinTech, and marketplaces. John emphasized the importance of building close relationships with founders and shares his views on the crucial role of culture and alignment in building a successful company. We also examined the common misconception that the Product Led Growth (PLG) approach applies to all products, which often res...
Jun 14, 2023•33 min•Ep. 199
Today on the show, we have Vanessa Neurohr, VP of Customer Success at Muck Rack. In this episode, we discussed Vanessa's unique perspective on how comedy shows can help improve public speaking skills, and why understanding the product intimately is crucial for success. Vanessa delves into her journey with Muck Rack, offering insights on company growth and how clear lines of ownership enhance each stage of the customer journey. We then dove into Vanessa's approach to building the customer success...
Jun 07, 2023•39 min•Ep. 198
Today on the show we have Vic Davis, SVP Customer Experience at Inflection.io. In this episode, we discussed Vic's drive to ensure customers are at the heart of every business decision and the innovative capabilities of small businesses that can still make a significant impact at scale. We also touched on how Inflection.io leverages product activity data to create a uniquely engaging customer experience, breaking away from traditional marketing automation models. We then dove into the concept of...
May 31, 2023•32 min•Ep. 197
Today on the show we have Chris Dishman, Sr. VP of Customer Success at Totango. In this episode, we discussed Chris's unique transition from being a customer of Totango to becoming a crucial part of its team. We explored how his past experiences as a customer offered invaluable insights to shape the company's approach to customer success. We then dove into an overview of Totango and its innovative customer success platform. Chris shed light on the concept of composable customer success and the i...
May 24, 2023•36 min•Ep. 196
Today on the show we have Alison Prator, Director of Customer Success at Float. In this episode, Alison shared her experience transitioning from leading a sales team to leading a whole department across sales, account management, and support. She walked us through the natural evolution these teams make as they grow into areas of specialization. We then discussed how feedback loops between customer success and product teams are challenging to close, and ultimately solving the problem is a cultura...
May 03, 2023•31 min•Ep. 195
Today on the show we have Tony Sternberg, co-founder and CEO of Prosper Stack. In this episode, Tony shared the challenges of selling a business and the importance of churn and retention in the review process, and the final valuation they got. We then discussed how you can use tailored user experiences to reduce voluntary churn and leverage your company's data more effectively. As usual, I'm excited to hear what you think of this episode and if you have any feedback, I would love to hear from yo...
Apr 26, 2023•27 min•Ep. 194
Today on the show we have Maria Blakeway, Senior Vice President of Customer Success at Pushpay. In this episode, we discussed the reactive nature of customer success teams in hyper-growth startups and how Pushpay evolved its customer success approach from reactive to predictive. We also discussed the importance of a cultural shift and mindset change within the organization, grounding the customer success team on a mission and vision for success that is shared widely with the entire team. As usua...
Apr 20, 2023•29 min•Ep. 193
Today on the show we have Nik Mijic, Co-founder and CEO of Matik. In this episode, we discussed the importance of effectively communicating the value you deliver to customers and how to build an ROI calculator. We also ran through an example of setting up a monthly review with your customers, the data sources to include, and how to set it all up. As usual, I'm excited you think of this episode and if you have any feedback, I would love to hear from you. Churn FM is sponsored by Vitally , the all...
Apr 12, 2023•27 min•Ep. 192
Today on the show we have Eric Melchor, head of Partnerships and Personalization Ambassador at OptiMonk. In this episode, we discuss the increasing demand for personalized end-user experiences and best practices observed in the market by Eric. We then dove into why focusing on pre-purchase experiences and insights is far more valuable for improving retention than focusing on churned customers. As usual, I'm excited to hear what you think of this episode and if you have any feedback, I would love...
Apr 05, 2023•28 min•Ep. 191
Today on the show we have Robin Singhvi, founder, and CEO of SmartCue, a platform that allows sales teams to create personalized product demos. In this episode, Robin shares his experience in building a startup and the challenges he has faced along the way. Robin emphasizes the importance of having champions inside organizations to help navigate and validate the product roadmap. These champions provide valuable feedback and insights that help improve the product and increase usage, word of mouth...
Mar 16, 2023•34 min•Ep. 190
Today on the show we have Foti Panagiotakopoulos, co-founder and CEO at Growth Mentor. In this episode, we talked about the origin story of Growth Mentor and his struggle trying to learn without a mentor which ultimately led to the idea of Growth Mentor. We also discussed how their biggest channel for growth is their mentors themselves, the high-touch human model they use, and the importance of doing things that don’t scale. We wrapped up by discussing the challenge of sorting through data to cr...
Feb 08, 2023•34 min•Ep. 189
Today on the show we have Eleanor Dorfman, Sales Leader at Retool. In this episode, Eleanor shares her experience in balancing priorities in her roles sitting at the intersection of sales and success. We then ran through how Segment and Retool approach tackling churn in a downturn along with the 5 questions sales and success teams should always be able to answer about their customers at any point in their lifecycle and we wrapped up by discussing how adding friction to onboarding can be a great ...
Dec 07, 2022•34 min•Ep. 188
Today on the show we have Steve Hazelton, Founder and CEO of Sturdy. In this episode, Steve shares his experience with the varying levels of acceptable churn as your company grows and how to decrease it over time. We then discussed how pricing can be leveraged to increase retention and how you can reduce onboarding fall-off rates in enterprise deals by charging your customers upfront and we wrapped up by discussing the pros and cons of predicting vs preventing churn. As usual, I'm excited to hea...
Nov 23, 2022•51 min•Ep. 187
Today on the show we have Hubert Palan, Founder, and CEO of Productboard. In this episode, Hubert shares his experience as an early hire at GoodData through their rapid expansion and how it ultimately led him to discover the pain that Productboard now solves. We then ran through how Productboard prioritizes their product backlog and defines their product strategy. Why understanding your ideal customer profile is critical in building a retention-driving product, and we wrapped up by discussing ho...
Nov 03, 2022•42 min•Ep. 186
Today on the show we have John Collins, former Content Director at Intercom, startup consultant, and advisor. In this episode, John shares an overview of the early days at Intercom and how they laid down the foundations for their content team with the primary focus on delivering value. We then ran through Intercom’s content team structure. How they used events and content to drive adoption and expansion within their user base and we discussed how the same principles were applied to a different b...
Oct 14, 2022•44 min•Ep. 185
Today on the show we have Valentin Radu, Founder and CEO of Omniconvert. In this episode, Valentin shares an overview of Omniconvert pre and post-pivot along with the moment they realized they needed to change directions. We then ran through the power of the competitive muscle that competitors with deeper pockets and stronger retention can impose forcing you out of acquisition channels and we wrapped up by discussing the research methodology Valentin used to evaluate the opportunity and set the ...
Oct 05, 2022•40 min•Ep. 184
Today on the show we have Geoffrey Moore, the best-selling author, investor, and advisor. In this episode, Geoffrey shares the biggest takeaway from working with Regis Mckenna in the late 80s. We then ran through an overview of the ‘crossing the chasm’ framework and how it was developed during a time of great innovation. We then dove into how the different stage of growth can impact churn and retention and we wrapped up by discussing the importance of focusing on power metrics over performance m...
Sep 28, 2022•42 min•Ep. 183
Today on the show we have Daniel McCarthy, Director & Co-founder of Theta. In this episode, Daniel shares how he founded two companies all while doing his master’s degree and teaching at a university. We then discussed the key metrics companies should start tracking to build their evaluation scorecard And how investors use it to set a company’s valuation and we wrapped up by discussing the relationship between customer acquisition costs and organic acquisition and it’s impact on valuation. A...
Sep 21, 2022•36 min•Ep. 182
Today on the show we have Dominic Constandi, Chief Customer Officer of ZoomInfo. In this episode, Dominic shares his favourite country he has visited and how the experience has influenced his work in customer success. We then discussed what separates Disney from all other theme parks and we wrapped up by discussing how ZoomInfo unifies the customer experience across the various touch points and stops their customers from feeling like they are going through a generic process. As usual, I'm excite...
Sep 15, 2022•38 min•Ep. 181
Today on the show we have Darius Contractor, Angel Investor & Advisor. In this episode, Darius shares how he evaluates and selects companies to work at and invest in with his incredible track record at companies like Airtable, Dropbox, and Facebook. We then discussed the psych framework he developed to help evaluate websites and onboarding experience. Why adding friction to onboarding can be a good thing in B2B SaaS and we wrapped up by discussing activation lessons that Darius has learned t...
Sep 02, 2022•38 min•Ep. 180
Today on the show we have Rupesh Rao, Founder, and CEO of CogniSaaS. In this episode, Rupesh shares how he managed his career to optimize learnings before taking the leap over to entrepreneurship. We then discussed how you can switch your customer onboarding focus from a task-based to an outcomes-based approach and the impact it has on retention and we wrapped up by discussing how to manage priorities between departments and remove communication silos while onboarding new customers. As usual, I'...
Aug 24, 2022•30 min•Ep. 179
Today on the show we have Fio Dossetto, Editorial Lead at Postmark and Founder of Content Folks. In this episode, Fio shares the origin story behind her team's comic “Dun Dun Dunning” and the learnings and best practices she came across while producing the comic. We then discussed the early content mistakes at Hotjar and how the team made a major turnaround with product-led content and we wrapped up by discussing how to repurpose content generated for acquisition to drive retention. As usual, I'...
Aug 17, 2022•42 min•Ep. 178
Today on the show we have Matt Young, CEO of UserVoice In this episode, Matt shares how he has navigated the shift from CTO to CEO with his biggest learning along the way. We then discussed how UserVoice uses its product to collect user feedback, why user interviews are the most impactful form of customer feedback, and how you can maximize the time invested while doing them and we wrapped up by discussing how to avoid confirmation bias while conducting your research. As usual, I'm excited to hea...
Aug 10, 2022•45 min•Ep. 177
Today on the show we have Dileepan Siva, CEO and Founder of Upscribe. In this episode, Dileepan shares how Upscribe helps direct-to-consumer e-commerce brands build recurring revenue, reduce churn, and increase acquisition. We then discussed why the most significant drop-off happens within the first 90 days for B2B & B2C subscription businesses and we wrapped up by discussing the consumption challenges of building a subscription e-commerce business As usual, I'm excited to hear what you thin...
Aug 03, 2022•35 min•Ep. 176
Today on the show we have Paul Harwood, a Co-founder of Useristics In this episode, Paul shares why dealing with churn in different markets can vary wildly whilst the blended metric may look the same across them. We then discussed how to define user segments for your research and we wrapped up by talking through the differences between behaviour vs attitudinal reasons for churn. As usual, I'm excited to hear what you think of this episode, and if you have any feedback, I would love to hear from ...
Jul 27, 2022•42 min•Ep. 175
