How and When to Hire a VP

of Customer Success

January 15, 2015

Housekeeping

• Q&A panel on your right

• Recording for colleagues who can’t make it

• All attendees will receive slides

• Twitter hashtag #customersuccess

Our Speakers

Nick MehtaCEO

@nrmehta

Tomasz TunguzPartner

@ttunguz

Monica AdractasVP, Customer Success and Retention

On Your Mind?

• Timing• Why do I need to invest in Customer Success this year?

• When should I bring in a leader of Customer Success?

• What do my CEO and board think?

• Hiring• How does Customer Success fit into my organization?

• What does Customer Success own?

• Where do I find a leader with the skills my company needs?

• Preparing• What do I need to know about Customer Success?

• What do I have to keep in mind about transitioning?

• How do I evaluate roles and employers?

Timing

Advocacy Reduces CAC

Customer Success is a

powerful growth

mechanism

Customer Success Reduces CAC

Retention Affects The Top Line

Hypothetical SaaS Co

$50k in MRR

50 customers at $1k ARR

each

$1250 in CAC, Sales

Efficiency of 0.8

Growing 15% m/m

Retention Lowers Costs

CSM Drives Greater Share-of-Revenue

• Customers use more of a

product over time

• CSM teams help customers

adopt and expand

The Whole Company Benefits

Product feedback Marketing relationships

Economics For Your Investment

• Compare CLTV to

your growth trajectory

• Is it less expensive to

retain or replace your

typical customer?

CSM Improves CLTV

• Model expected

benefits

• Include organization

change needed for full

effects

Protect Against Bad Outcomes

• Don’t just invest in

technology

• Hire a leader

Hiring

Revenue

Su

cc

es

s M

atu

rity

Adoption

Retention

Expansion

Optimization

Transformation

$1 - $5 MM

$5 - $20 MM

$20 - $100 MM

$100 MM - $1 B

$1 B+

Gainsight CSM Maturity Model

Revenue

Su

cc

es

s M

atu

rity

Manager or

Director of

Customer

Success

VP of

Customer

Success

SVP of

Customer

Success or

CRO

CCO

CCO Reporting

to President or

COO

Who Owns Customer Success?

Revenue

Su

cc

es

s M

atu

rity

CSM

Onboarding

Operations

Support

Renewals?

Customer

Marketing?

Training

Advisory

Pre-sales?

PMO

Managed

Services

Domain

Experts

Architects

Who Falls Into CSM?

Sales-oriented

Support-oriented

Services-oriented

Product-oriented

• Low ACV OR

• High cross-sell / up-sell

• Complex deployment OR

• Naturally sticky

• Low ACV OR

• Non-tech user

• Low ACV OR

• Tech savvy user

What Background Fits?

People Analysis

ActionThought

What Personality Fits?

How Do I Find A Unicorn?

Enlist A Recruiter

What Should I Ask My Candidates?

• How do you define Customer Success?

• Whom do you admire in Customer Success?

• How should I measure you in this job?

• How will you track your team’s performance?

• What do you look for in team members?

• What will you do with the 25th hour of the day?

• Tell me about your toughest customer situation

How Can I Test?

• Mock board meeting

• Mock QBR presentation

• Call one of their clients

What Should My Job Description Look Like?

www.gainsight.com/job-description

How Can I Sell?

• Importance to business model

• Customer commitment

• Org-wide customer culture

• Support from product

• Support from sales

• Investment (systems, training, comp)

• Career growth

Preparing

Background

Strategy

Operations

Prior Experience

What I looked for in an opportunity

Company vision, future prospects, and leadership

A customer-back mindset

Ability to have impact (company readiness to invest / change)

Culture

Specifics: role, comp, career trajectory

Recommendations for Future VPs

1 2

3 4

Define the company stage and complexity

that is right for you

Make sure you *love* the people and culture Spend a *ton* of time listening

Find companies with evidence of a cross-

functional, customer-back mindset

Thank You!

January 15, 2015