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Most churn is avoidable. Sales, product and CS still blame each other for it. Peleg Samson is VP of Customer Success & Data at Guidde. He joined when the company was 8 people, went through Series B with it, and scaled CS 10x+ from the first hire. Because he owns the company's data, he sees every churned account from the first sales call to the last ticket. He had AI analyze every churn, and there was never just one guilty team. We also talk about the "unavoidable churn" bucket. We both see it as a way to strip ownership. In this episode: In this episode: - Where churn actually starts, long before CS - The top churn reason he found: losing your champion - Why CS should own the company's data - "If you don't own revenue goals, you're viewed as a cost center" - How to win back a furious customer - From quitting school at 16 for a support job to VP of Customer Success - The promised role that never came, and what it cost him 🔗 Connect with Peleg Samson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pelegs — Customer Success Therapy is hosted by Alexandra Sagaydak. 🔗 Follow Alexandra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrasagaydak/ Join the AI CS Hub: https://aicshub.com/ 1:1 coaching for CSMs and CS leaders + consulting for B2B SaaS: https://calendly.com/ai-cs-hub/coaching-session

Straightforward Customer Success roles are disappearing, and many CSMs still haven't noticed. Arvi Carkanji is the CEO and founder of Elite Talent Recruiting, an agency that hires pre-sales and post-sales talent for SaaS companies. She fills roles in 35 days on average, and 92% of her placements stay 18+ months. Her take on cover letters: "Everybody knows you used AI to write it, so just skip it." We also disagree. Arvi tells job seekers to follow up with the hiring manager after applying. I was a hiring manager, and I hated it. In this episode: - Why CS job descriptions don't match the real job anymore - Task vs. impact: the resume mistake that hides your value - The laid-off CSM who didn't know she was managing enterprise accounts - Interview red flags hiring managers notice first - Do you need a personal brand on LinkedIn to get hired? - Do CS jobs now require AI skills? 🔗 Connect with Arvi Carkanji: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arvi-carkanji — Customer Success Therapy is hosted by Alexandra Sagaydak. 🔗 Follow Alexandra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrasagaydak/ Join the AI CS Hub: https://aicshub.com/ 1:1 coaching for CSMs and CS leaders + consulting for B2B SaaS: https://calendly.com/ai-cs-hub/coaching-session

Customer Success is changing fast — and Dannah Vaughan believes CS leaders need to think far beyond traditional metrics. In this episode, we talk about why hiring great CSMs has become harder, how AI can create blind spots in recruiting, and why Customer Success is still difficult to define even inside leadership teams. Dannah also explains why CS leaders need to understand metrics like cost to serve, CAC, CLTV, and renewal forecasting — not just NRR and GRR — and why executive teams can sometimes turn into their own little “kingdoms” when pressure and fear start shaping decisions. We also get into the personal side of leadership: what layoffs taught Dannah about confidence and identity, whether building a personal brand actually helps you get hired, and why AI still needs a human in the loop. Dannah Vaughan is a Customer Success executive, AI-powered leader, and founder of Rebels of SaaS. 🔗 Connect with Dannah Vaughan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannahvaughan/ — Customer Success Therapy is hosted by Alexandra Sagaydak. 🔗 Follow Alexandra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrasagaydak/ Join the AI CS Hub: https://aicshub.com/ 1:1 coaching for CSMs and CS leaders + consulting for B2B SaaS: https://calendly.com/ai-cs-hub/coaching-session

The CS job search is broken — and Noah Little has spent years figuring out how to help CSMs navigate it. After years working in Customer Success, Noah started helping friends land their next roles. That eventually turned into a business focused specifically on helping CSMs get hired. In this episode, we talk about the harsh reality of the CS job market, why rejection can derail CSMs, why applying consistently matters more than endlessly preparing, and why being a great CSM doesn't automatically mean you'll get hired. Noah also challenges the idea that you need the “right” industry background, explains why hiring processes have become so long, and shares what separates candidates who keep getting rejected from those who eventually get the offer. Plus, we get into the part nobody likes talking about: how much work a serious job search actually requires. Noah Little is an Enterprise Customer Success Manager and career coach helping CSMs navigate the modern job market. 🔗 Connect with Noah Little: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-little — Customer Success Therapy is hosted by Alexandra Sagaydak. 🔗 Follow Alexandra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrasagaydak/ Join the AI CS Hub: https://aicshub.com/ 1:1 coaching for CSMs and CS leaders + consulting for B2B SaaS: https://calendly.com/ai-cs-hub/coaching-session

Andrea Bumstead's LinkedIn makes her career look perfectly linear. It wasn't. When Andrea moved from Director to VP of Customer Success, people told her she wasn't ready. She was told to become a Senior Director first. Instead, she invested in executive coaching, took responsibility for her own development, and made the transition anyway. In this episode, we talk about why CS leaders wait too long to make their next move, why executives tune out traditional QBRs, and how Andrea's 15-Minute QBR gets leadership attention. We also talk about revenue, executive credibility, and the 70% rule she uses to make big career decisions. Andrea Bumstead is the Founder & CEO of CS Impact, a two-time VP of Customer Success, and creator of the 15-Minute QBR. 🔗 Connect with Andrea on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreabumstead — Customer Success Therapy is hosted by Alexandra Sagaydak. 🔗 Follow Alexandra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrasagaydak/ Join the AI CS Hub: https://aicshub.com/ 1:1 coaching for CSMs and CS leaders + consulting for B2B SaaS: https://calendly.com/ai-cs-hub/coaching-session

Jeff Kushmerek quit posting on LinkedIn for two years. He's back on this episode to explain why — and it's not a compliment to the industry. After 25 years running post-sale at companies like Brightcove, Virgin Pulse, and Thought Industries, Jeff founded Infinite Renewals, where he's helped retain $1.8B in ARR. He's also the author of two books on post-sales operations. We talk about why he calls certain CSMs "huggers" who avoid revenue conversations, why onboarding is the wedding and not the honeymoon, the 4 R's framework he built from working with hundreds of CS teams, how he can spot a bad CS leader in under five minutes, and why he thinks the loudest voices in Customer Success online rarely did the actual job. Plus: the car accident that made him rethink how he runs his business, and his blunt advice for anyone too burned out to fix their own team. Jeff is the Founder and CEO of Infinite Renewals. 🔗 Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffkushmerek 🔗 Infinite Renewals: https://infiniterenewals.com/ — Customer Success Therapy is hosted by Alexandra Sagaydak. 🔗 Follow Alexandra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrasagaydak/ Join the AI CS Hub: https://aicshub.com/ 1:1 coaching for CSMs and CS leaders + consulting for B2B SaaS: https://calendly.com/ai-cs-hub/coaching-session

Erica Phelps spent nearly two decades building Customer Success, Sales, and Account Management teams—and she believes the biggest mistake most CSMs make is thinking they're only responsible for the customer. Great Customer Success Managers manage the entire game.** We talk about why "the customer is always right" creates weak Customer Success, what separates good CSMs from great ones, the underrated skill of managing your manager, and the leadership lesson Erica learned after getting cut from her freshman soccer team at fourteen. Plus: why the best CSMs stop checking boxes, start thinking like owners, and treat every customer relationship as part of a bigger team strategy. Erica Phelps is a Customer Success Executive with leadership experience across Customer Success, Sales, and Account Management. 🔗 Connect with Erica on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericalphelps/ — Customer Success Therapy is hosted by Alexandra Sagaydak. 🔗 Follow Alexandra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrasagaydak/ Join the AI CS Hub: https://aicshub.com/ 1:1 coaching for CSMs and CS leaders + consulting for B2B SaaS: https://calendly.com/ai-cs-hub/coaching-session

Oscar Hackett spent years building sales and CS teams from scratch as Head of Sales and Customer Success across VC-backed SaaS companies, before co-founding Kulu, an AI onboarding agent — and he says most CS teams are missing one specific thing: a founder's mindset. We talk about why salespeople are like rivers and always take the path of least resistance around a broken handover, the exact two-rule system that fixed Sales/CS handoffs for good, the one question that fixes almost any cross-team conflict, and why he thinks the CSMs who add real value are about to get paid more than ever — while the ones doing pure tickboxing work will struggle. Plus: the moment that changed his mindset from employee to owner, and the mantra he still runs by — be patient with results, but very impatient with the actions required to get them. Oscar is the Co-Founder and CCO of Kulu. 🔗 Connect with Oscar on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oscarhackett-44007827 — Customer Success Therapy is hosted by Alexandra Sagaydak. 🔗 Follow Alexandra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrasagaydak/ Join the AI CS Hub: https://aicshub.com/ 1:1 coaching for CSMs and CS leaders + consulting for B2B SaaS: https://calendly.com/ai-cs-hub/coaching-session

Markus Rentsch spent five years telling Customer Success the thing it doesn't want to hear: you can't refuse to own revenue AND complain about being called glorified support. You can't have it both ways. We talk about the backlash from salespeople ("I poked the bear"), why the average CS leader survives just 18 months, how the first generation of CS tools trained the whole industry to optimize health scores instead of outcomes, and the exact language for pushing back on your CEO - in revenue, not QBRs. Plus the question every CSM should be scared of: do you KNOW your customers are successful, or are you assuming? Markus is the founder of Remarkable - subscribe to his newsletter for the Customer Success Operating System: https://the-csm-operating-system.beehiiv.com/ Connect with Markus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markus-rentsch-customer-value-led-growth-for-saas/ — Customer Success Therapy is hosted by Alexandra Sagaydak. Follow Alexandra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrasagaydak/ Join the AI CS Hub: https://aicshub.com/ 1:1 coaching for CSMs and CS leaders + consulting for B2B SaaS: https://calendly.com/ai-cs-hub/business-obsessed-csm-strategy-session-clone

Customer success burnout is the thing everyone feels and nobody names. Tom van Os ran CS teams at Criteo through platform migrations, understaffed quarters, and relentless targets — and burned out in 2019. In this episode he breaks down what really caused it: fixing symptoms instead of systems, people heroics over structural change, and an ADHD diagnosis he only received two months ago. Alexandra and Tom get into: • How to challenge your boss without whining — build the business case, bring the data from every team • Why customer success is now expected to own revenue (NRR, GRR, forecasting) when nobody trained the team for it • The AI-readiness questions every CS leader should answer before buying another tool • Turning an ADHD diagnosis from a perceived flaw into professional positioning • Building a team culture where neurodivergent people do their best work • Why following your gut beats staying in a role that's wrong for you Tom van Os is the founder of WHYS Operating Partners — strategic advisor, trainer, and coach for post-sales teams. Hosted by Alexandra Sagaydak.

Roksolana (Roxy) Badun runs product and customer success at PromoRepublic - a CPO and CCO in one seat. We get into the things most CS and SaaS leaders won't say: when you actually need a customer success team (and when to kill it), why "customer success is not a role," why your churn is really a stakeholder problem, and the exact point where AI stops being useful. For CS, product, and GTM leaders in B2B SaaS. (00:00) The seat no one in SaaS sits in (00:49) Welcome + how we met (03:18) CS as the "fixer" for a broken product (04:55) Sitting in the CPO + CCO seat (05:52) Combining product + CS after COVID (06:45) How AI changed marketing (08:58) Roxy's story: business at the dinner table (11:15) A CS job with no customers (11:48) When you actually need a CS team (13:05) "Customer success is not a role" (13:59) One tip to build a business mindset (15:31) Can you grow without customer success? (16:47) Do you still need a CSM with a perfect AI product? (18:01) What should never be automated (20:14) Can AI predict renewals? (21:46) Churn is a stakeholder problem (24:49) Get your CEO talking to their CEO (25:29) Who owns adoption — CS or product? (28:04) The customer belongs to the company (29:02) Are AI customers more demanding? Connect with Roksolana on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/roksolanabadun Hosted by Alexandra Sagaydak, founder of AI CS Hub. I help Customer Success teams stop firefighting and start driving revenue. ▶️ Work with me: 1:1 coaching for CSMs and CS leaders, and consulting / fractional CCO work for B2B SaaS teams. 🔗 aicshub.com | Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrasagaydak/

Everyone's "going all-in on AI." Almost nobody's talking about what happens next: the companies that cut their teams last year are quietly hiring those roles back. In this episode of Customer Success Therapy, I sit down with Sean Reid - the number one Customer Success voice in Ireland and Head of CS (EMEA & JAPAC) at Supermetrics - to talk about what's actually happening to CS in the age of AI, and what to do about it. We get into: • Why "AI layoffs" rhyme with the 2008 recession — and what the survivors did differently • Customer Success 1.0 → 3.0, and the model Sean's building right now • How to use AI so it protects your job instead of replacing it (the "1% systems architect" move) • Leading a team through the fear of change without pretending the fear isn't real • Why his calendar publicly blocks "family time" at 5pm • The improv-comedy workshop he runs for CSMs • Why the renewal is decided in the hallway, not on your renewal call • The personal-brand bet that flooded his inbox with referrals • "We're not brain surgeons" — his case for failing small and going bold If you're a CSM, a CS leader, or anyone in B2B SaaS quietly wondering whether your job is safe, this one's for you. 00:00 — Intro 01:17 — Meet Sean Reid: number one CS voice in Ireland 01:46 — From journalism to customer success (why CS is storytelling) 03:49 — Six years at HubSpot: startup to juggernaut 05:56 — Surviving hypergrowth without burning out 07:18 — Customer Success 1.0 → 2.0 → 3.0 explained 10:23 — The recession parallel to today's "AI layoffs" 12:01 — Salesforce cut teams for AI. Now they're hiring back 13:30 — How to use AI so it protects your job (the 1% move) 15:49 — Leading a team through the fear of change 18:02 — The fear Sean felt himself (an honest moment) 20:35 — Why his calendar publicly says "family time" at 5pm 23:29 — Customer success is a creative profession + improv comedy for CSMs 26:15 — Writing emails that actually get read 28:30 — The renewal is decided in the hallway, not on the call 29:56 — Made redundant twice: the personal-brand bet that paid off 32:37 — One tip to leave with: fail small, grow big 33:24 — Close

Find Eleni Vorvis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eleni-vorvis/ Find Alexandra Sagaydak on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrasagaydak/ Book a 1:1 Coaching with Alexandra: https://calendly.com/ai-cs-hub/ai-cs-hub-coaching-session Eleni Vorvis is one of the Top 100 Customer Success Strategists of 2025. She has 20 years of GTM experience, started her career in sales, and now works fractionally as VP of Customer Success at CoachEm, as a Lead Consultant at Celero Growth, and is co-founder of the Boston Founders Forum. She is also one of the most direct guests this podcast has had. She got laid off in 2023 and did the one thing LinkedIn never tells you to do: she paused. In this episode, we get into: 00:00 — Cold open 01:30 — Greek heritage, Balkan directness, and business style 04:45 — 20 years in GTM: starting in sales, moving to CS 08:10 — Why the sales-to-CS handoff is actually a change management problem 14:30 — Why CSMs are patient with customers and impatient with everyone else 18:20 — AI anxiety, burnout, and what nobody says out loud 24:10 — Why customer success should own revenue 29:50 — Getting laid off in 2023 — the part LinkedIn doesn't show you 35:40 — Workshops, upskilling CSMs, and change management on the inside 39:00 — Final tip: you don't have to do it alone Whether you're a CSM, a CS leader, a SaaS founder, or someone in the middle of a career transition, you'll find something in this conversation that's worth pausing for.

The best customer success managers Noah Hallett has ever worked with weren't CSMs at all. They were founders.People who built the company by hand, talked to every customer themselves, and turned those conversations into product decisions. By the time they hired their first CSM, they'd already done the job better than most ever will.Noah would know. He graduated with a biology degree in 2008 expecting to spend his life in a windowless underground lab. Instead - tour guide, phone fundraiser, molecular technologist testing bone marrow samples, Yelp Community Ambassador, ed-tech CSM, founder. He's now a Fractional CCO running GoBoldr out of Lisbon, and he says the things most people in customer success only post anonymously on Reddit. In this episode: — "Clean your house before AI talks to your customers" — Why your CRM is lying to you — What Noah tells CSMs stuck digging their own trench with a spoon — Why your weird, winding career path is your most underrated asset

What if AI isn't replacing your job — it's just removing the work you never wanted to do in the first place? Jan Young — founder of CX Exchange (4,000+ CS professionals) and Step Up Exchange, with 20+ years in tech — has been through every major shift since the dot-com era. Her take on AI isn't panic. It's relief. In this episode: — Why CS people were "human gap fillers" — and what's actually leaving the job — Why more CS leaders are becoming COOs and CEOs (and why that's good) — The neuroscience of why change feels hard — and the one shift that makes it easier — Jan's biggest career failure: ignoring the toxic colleague (the "moth to the flame" rule) — Why coming to AI from joy vs fear physically changes what your brain does with it — What the dot-com era taught her about how AI is actually playing out If you've been quietly avoiding AI, this episode will give you a different way in. 🎙️ Chapters 0:00 Welcome & meet Jan Young 1:30 20 years in tech & the dot-com era 4:00 AI vs the internet revolution — what's the same, what's faster 6:30 Why everyone's moving to Claude (and what it unlocks for CS) 8:30 The AI panic vs the case for excitement 10:30 How CX Exchange (4,000+ members) started by accident 13:00 Why disagreement is the heart of community 16:00 From education policy to playwriting to tech 17:30 How AI is changing business models, pricing, and CS roles 20:00 Why more CS leaders are becoming COOs and CEOs 22:00 Jan's biggest career failure: the toxic colleague 26:30 EQ in the AI era — the human work gets harder 29:00 "We were human gap fillers" 33:00 Joy vs. fear — the neuroscience of change 36:30 Closing thoughts Connect with Jan Young: LinkedIn:⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-young-cx/⁠⁠ CX Exchange⁠ | Step Up Exchange⁠: https://go.stepupxchange.com/nexgen-cs-leadership #CustomerSuccess #JanYoung #AIinCS #CXExchange #B2BSaaS #SaaS #CustomerSuccessTherapy #FutureOfWork #CSLeadership