Beyond The Support Queue
Beyond The Support Queue by Zight explores how customer support and success are shaping the future of SaaS. Hosted by Sam, each episode dives into candid conversations with CX leaders, support pros, and post-sale strategists from companies like CleverTap and Sprinklr. Learn how to scale customer teams, leverage AI, and build revenue-driving experiences. Whether you're in support, success, or product—this is where CX gets real.
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She Makes $1M/Year with AI-Powered Writing (NYT & Vanity Fair Alum Reveals All)
05/27/2025
She Makes $1M/Year with AI-Powered Writing (NYT & Vanity Fair Alum Reveals All)
Ready to transform your communication and boost productivity with AI? In this episode of Inside the Workflow, we chat with Erica, Chief Customer Officer at Storytell.ai, about how her writing expertise and AI vision are helping create more authentic workplace communications. 🔥 Join Erica's Humane Tech meetup in Silicon Valley and explore how technology can support humanity. Learn more at storytell.ai Erica shares her journey from teaching writing at NYU and publishing in The New York Times and Vanity Fair to becoming the visionary behind "clean communication," a framework that fosters authentic connections through feedback. Discover how AI can make you a superhero at work without sacrificing human connection. 🔑 Key Insights from This Episode: 🧠 Mindset matters - "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" in startup success 🤖 Making AI human - How to balance technology with authentic human connection 💬 Clean communication - Creating a framework for meaningful feedback in remote teams 📈 Code switching with AI - How AI helps level the playing field for underrepresented founders 🌟 Becoming a work superhero - Using AI to handle tedious tasks so you can focus on meaningful work 📚 Resources & Links: 🔗 Learn more about Storytell.ai: storytell.ai 📚 Book recommendation: "Radical Candor" by Kim Scott 🔄 The "This is Water" speech by David Foster Wallace 📱 Center for Humane Technology: humanetech.com
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How He Built a $3M/Year Revenue Machine with Data Insights ($20M Exit Playbook)
05/27/2025
How He Built a $3M/Year Revenue Machine with Data Insights ($20M Exit Playbook)
In this episode, we dive deep with Akhil Agarwal, SVP of Customer Success at InfoCepts, who shares how he transforms raw data into actionable business intelligence that drives real revenue growth. With 20+ years of experience leading global teams and advising C-suite executives, Akhil reveals his proven framework for turning data analytics into measurable business outcomes. 🔗 Ready to maximize the value of your business data? Book a free consultation with Akhil Akhil shares his journey from technical roles to leading 1,500+ professionals across three continents, and how he developed his unique "player-coach" leadership style that consistently delivers results. You'll learn his practical approach to building customer relationships that last, and how his RevOps initiative transformed internal operations by breaking down silos between sales, CS, and product teams. 🔑 Key Insights from This Episode: 📊 From data to dollars - How to translate analytics into measurable business outcomes 🌐 Global team leadership - The "think global, act local" framework that builds trust worldwide 💼 Customer success evolution - Why being a "customer agent" not a "sales agent" drives growth 🔄 The RevOps revolution - How cross-functional alignment optimizes revenue generation 🤖 AI's real business impact - Separating hype from reality in data analytics transformation Subscribe for more insights from top tech leaders transforming business through data!
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How He Built a $30M+ Donor Platform from Scratch (Nonprofit Tech CEO's Playbook)
05/27/2025
How He Built a $30M+ Donor Platform from Scratch (Nonprofit Tech CEO's Playbook)
In this episode, we dive deep with Todd Baylis, Chief Customer Officer at Bloomerang and founder of QGIV, who reveals how he transformed his "do anything anyone would pay for" college side hustle into a leading nonprofit fundraising platform that ultimately merged with Bloomerang to create a comprehensive donor management solution. Todd shares his journey from nonprofit volunteer to tech founder, and how he's building a unified platform that solves the fragmented technology challenges nonprofits face when managing donor relationships. 🔗 Ready to transform your nonprofit's fundraising strategy? Connect with Todd and the Bloomerang team Todd takes us behind the scenes of the Bloomerang culture built around three core values - act, simplify, and care - and how these values drive decision-making throughout the organization. You'll learn his practical approach to "failing forward," finding micro-wins to build momentum, and why focusing on root customer problems rather than surface-level requests leads to better product decisions. 🔑 Key Insights from This Episode: 🎯 Root problem focus - Why understanding the deeper customer need creates better solutions than feature requests 🏆 The "micro-win" momentum strategy - How small steps lead to breakthroughs when facing major challenges 🌐 Remote culture building - Creating accountability through clearly defined values and behaviors 💼 Nonprofit tech challenges - Solving the disconnect between events, donor management and fundraising 🤝 Competitive intelligence balance - When to pay attention to competitors and when to focus on execution Subscribe for more insights from founders building mission-driven technology companies!
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How He Built a $5M SaaS Company in the Customer Success Space (12-Year Growth Strategy)
05/27/2025
How He Built a $5M SaaS Company in the Customer Success Space (12-Year Growth Strategy)
In this episode, we sit down with Dave Blanke, Founder and CEO of ClientSuccess, who reveals how he transformed his experience at Adobe and Omniture into a thriving SaaS platform that's revolutionizing customer retention. Dave shares his journey from managing strategic accounts for tech giants like Apple and Microsoft to building a customer success platform that's driving acquisitions and leading the AI revolution in the CS space. 🔗 Ready to transform your customer success strategy? Connect with Dave and the ClientSuccess team Dave takes us behind the scenes of his company's bold M&A strategy during the economic downturn, resulting in three strategic acquisitions that accelerated their product vision. You'll learn his practical approach to balancing work and family life as a founder, and why he believes companies that don't embrace AI "will be run over" in the coming years. 🔑 Key Insights from This Episode: 🚀 M&A growth strategy - How ClientSuccess acquired 3 companies during an economic downturn 🤖 Customer Success 5.0 - Why AI is transforming the CS landscape and how to lead the change 🔄 Product-market alignment - Dave's method for building products customers actually want 👨👩👧👧 Work-life integration - How a "dad first" CEO balances family and running a growing SaaS company 🏆 Competitive advantage - Being "competitor aware but customer focused" to drive innovation Subscribe for more insights from SaaS founders building category-defining companies!
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How He Scaled Customer Success to $6M Per Head (Global CS Leader's Playbook)
05/27/2025
How He Scaled Customer Success to $6M Per Head (Global CS Leader's Playbook)
In this episode, we dive deep with Luke Ferrell, Global Head of Customer Success at Deel, who reveals how he transformed his military intelligence background into a customer success career that's driving measurable revenue growth. Luke shares his journey from Qualtrics to Outreach to Deel, and how he's built scalable CS programs that directly impact both retention and expansion. 🔗 Looking to optimize your customer success strategy? Connect with Luke and the Deel team Luke takes us behind the scenes of his unique "Golden Deel" framework that incentivizes CSMs to drive specific customer behaviors and outcomes. You'll learn his practical approach to managing remote teams effectively, and why he believes most companies scale customer success too early - often with disastrous results. 🔑 Key Insights from This Episode: 💰 Revenue-focused CS - Why Luke believes CS teams must measure their impact on the bottom line 🏆 The "Golden Deel" framework - A point-based system that aligns CSMs with business outcomes 🌐 Remote team leadership - Communication strategies that work in a fully distributed environment ⚙️ Scale with caution - Why rushing to scale CS operations leads to poor customer experiences 🤖 AI-powered customer success - How AI is transforming customer communications and feedback loops Subscribe for more insights from customer success leaders driving measurable business growth!
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How He Built an 8-Figure SaaS Customer Experience Empire (40-Point NPS Increase)
05/27/2025
How He Built an 8-Figure SaaS Customer Experience Empire (40-Point NPS Increase)
In this episode, we dive deep with Philippe Mesritz, Fractional Chief Customer Officer and 2-time CX Leader of the Year finalist, who reveals his proven framework for transforming customer experience and boosting retention in SaaS organizations. Philippe shares his unique journey from running text-based game servers to leading global customer success teams, and how his "transparency, clarity, and vision" triumvirate has helped him build high-performing teams that consistently exceed customer expectations. 🔗 Ready to transform your customer experience strategy? Connect with Philippe on LinkedIn for a consultation Philippe takes us behind the scenes of how he approaches difficult customer situations - including when he made the bold decision to "fire" a half-million-dollar customer because he couldn't serve them properly. You'll learn his practical approach to balancing commercial outcomes with authentic relationships, and why he believes companies need to stop comparing themselves to competitors and instead focus on solving their customers' real pain points. 🔑 Key Insights from This Episode: 🏆 The "triumvirate approach" - How transparency, clarity and vision create high-performing teams 🌐 Global team leadership - Strategies for managing remote teams across multiple time zones 💼 When to fire a customer - The counterintuitive approach that can protect your reputation ⚖️ Finding work-life balance - Why "balance" means different things to different people 🔄 Product evolution - Why chasing competitors creates followers instead of industry leaders Subscribe for more insights from customer experience leaders transforming SaaS organizations!
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How He Built a $100M+ Customer Success Empire (The Gainsight CEO's Playbook)
05/27/2025
How He Built a $100M+ Customer Success Empire (The Gainsight CEO's Playbook)
In this episode, we sit down with Nick Mehta, CEO of Gainsight for 12+ years and the undisputed pioneer of the customer success movement. Nick shares his journey from Harvard grad to building the leading customer success platform that's transformed how SaaS companies retain and grow their customers. With a background as a former Symantec executive and LiveOffice CEO, Nick reveals the leadership principles that have guided his entrepreneurial journey for over 26 years. 🔗 Ready to transform your customer success strategy? Connect with Nick and the Gainsight team Nick takes us behind the scenes of how Gainsight is leveraging AI to revolutionize customer success through their recent acquisition of Staircase AI. You'll learn his practical approach to leadership transitions, why his approach to remote work has evolved, and why he believes we're living in the most transformative technological moment in human history. 🔑 Key Insights from This Episode: 📈 The evolution of customer success - What's changed since Nick co-wrote the definitive book on CS 🤖 AI's impact on customer success - How AI is transforming CSM roles and creating virtual CSMs 🌐 Remote work realities - Finding the right balance between flexibility and in-person collaboration 🔄 CEO leadership transitions - Nick's four-step framework for taking over any leadership role 💼 The future of work - Why AI literacy will soon be essential for every professional's career Subscribe for more insights from the pioneers of the customer success movement!
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How She Built a Revenue-Focused CS Team That Drives 40% Growth ($1B+ Company Playbook)
05/27/2025
How She Built a Revenue-Focused CS Team That Drives 40% Growth ($1B+ Company Playbook)
In this episode, we dive deep with Maranda Dziekonsk, VP of Customer Success at ID.me, who reveals her proven framework for building high-performing customer success teams that directly impact revenue. With over 20 years of experience across 10+ tech companies, Miranda shares how she transformed CS from a support function into a strategic revenue driver that's essential in today's economic climate. 🔗 Ready to transform your customer success strategy? Connect with Miranda on LinkedIn for insights Miranda takes us behind the scenes of her "relationship cheat sheet" approach to customer management and her first 60 days at ID.me, where she conducted a comprehensive listening tour to develop the organization's new strategic direction. You'll learn her practical approach to balancing process creation with organizational agility, and why she believes revenue ownership is the most significant evolution in customer success over the past decade. 🔑 Key Insights from This Episode: 💰 Revenue ownership - Why CS must be directly tied to revenue to survive economic downturns 🏆 The balanced team approach - Building CS teams with complementary skillsets to eliminate gaps 🌐 Process right-sizing - Creating just enough process for your current stage, not your aspirational size ⚙️ Tool selection wisdom - Avoiding overly complex systems that require dedicated headcount 🤖 AI in customer success - Using AI to analyze earnings reports and create strategic account plans Subscribe for more insights from customer success leaders driving measurable business growth!
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How He Built a 5-Star Customer Support Team with Zero Burnout (ChurnZero Leader's Framework)
05/27/2025
How He Built a 5-Star Customer Support Team with Zero Burnout (ChurnZero Leader's Framework)
In this episode, we dive deep with Ben Rosenberg, Senior Director of Customer Support, Enablement, and Community at ChurnZero, who reveals his proven framework for building high-performing customer experience teams in a fully remote environment. Ben shares his journey from the hospitality industry to leading complex B2B SaaS support operations, and how his "competency-based" approach to team development creates clear career progression paths while delivering exceptional customer experiences. 🔗 Ready to transform your customer support strategy? Connect with Ben and the ChurnZero team for best practices Ben takes us behind the scenes of how ChurnZero approaches remote team culture, including their daily standups and end-of-week virtual hangouts that recreate the office experience. You'll learn his practical approach to measuring support effectiveness through metrics like "total agent working time per case," and why he believes human-led support will become a competitive advantage in an AI-dominated future. 🔑 Key Insights from This Episode: 🏆 The competency-based framework - How to build tailored growth paths for every support agent 🌐 Remote team culture - Tactical approaches to building connection in distributed support teams 📊 Support metrics that matter - Why "agent working time" reveals both team and leadership effectiveness 🤖 AI in customer support - Why AI tools still struggle with complex B2B product support scenarios 🔄 The CS pendulum - How customer success roles swing between revenue focus and adoption focus Subscribe for more insights from customer experience leaders transforming SaaS organizations!
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From Facebook to Box: How Dan O'Leary Built $100M+ Partnerships at Tech Giants
05/27/2025
From Facebook to Box: How Dan O'Leary Built $100M+ Partnerships at Tech Giants
In this episode, Scott interviews Dan O'Leary, Senior Director of Partnerships at Box and former Facebook/Meta executive who helped build Workplace from the ground up. Dan shares his journey boomeranging back to Box after four years away and reveals how partnerships are a strategy, not just a team - driving millions in revenue while creating customer success. Dan shares his experience building Facebook at Work (now Workplace), scaling enterprise software inside a consumer company, and why authentic communication is the foundation of successful leadership. You'll discover how Box is seamlessly integrating AI to meet customers where they are - and why translation has emerged as their stickiest AI use case. Key Insights: Partners work when you don't, selling and delivering for you 24/7 Boomerang employees bring established networks but return to fundamentally different companies The speed at which you communicate and collaborate determines how fast your company can grow AI adoption requires meeting customers where they are - focus on what it can do for them, not the technology Best leaders communicate with clarity, transparency and authenticity Translation has emerged as the #1 stickiest use case for Box AI among knowledge workers
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From Developer to $1M/Year Revenue: How He Built a Global Team & Saved Lives with Software
05/27/2025
From Developer to $1M/Year Revenue: How He Built a Global Team & Saved Lives with Software
How do you scale a tech team across multiple time zones while maintaining high reliability when lives are on the line? In this episode, we sit down with Arturo Suarez-Martin, Senior Director of Customer Success and GM at PagerDuty Chile, who reveals how he transformed his career from developer to customer success leader. 🔥 Looking to optimize your customer support operations? Connect with Arturo for expert guidance Arturo shares his journey from building critical telecommunications infrastructure that powered 911 systems to leading global customer success teams. He offers invaluable insights on creating diverse teams, adapting to different communication styles, and leveraging AI to eliminate repetitive tasks. 🔑 Key Insights from This Episode: 🌍 Building high-performing global teams through diversity of thought, age, and background 🚨 The mindset shift that happens when you realize your software literally saves lives 🔄 How curiosity and understanding "how things work" creates career versatility 📱 Adapting to different communication styles across generations and cultures ⚖️ Creating work-life boundaries when working remotely to prevent burnout 🤖 How AI is transforming customer support by eliminating repetitive tasks Like, comment, and subscribe for more insights from tech leaders building world-class teams! 🚀
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How She Built a World-Class Remote Support Team from Scratch (The Vitally.io Playbook)
05/21/2025
How She Built a World-Class Remote Support Team from Scratch (The Vitally.io Playbook)
In this episode, we dive deep with Laura Bedoya, Senior Technical Support Manager at Vitally.io, who reveals how she built the company's first-ever technical support team and transformed it into a customer experience powerhouse. As an early hire at a fast-growing SaaS startup, Laura shares her journey from being the sole support specialist to leading a global team across the US and UK, all while maintaining exceptional customer satisfaction. 🔗 Ready to transform your technical support strategy? Connect with Laura on LinkedIn for mentorship and insights Laura takes us behind the scenes of her documentation-first approach to scaling support operations and why she believes focusing on quality over quantity leads to better customer outcomes. You'll learn her practical approach to implementing AI support tools responsibly, and why she measures success through team metrics rather than individual performance indicators. 🔑 Key Insights from This Episode: 🏆 Documentation mastery - Why comprehensive, multi-format documentation is the foundation of support excellence 🌐 Remote team culture - Building genuine human connections across global support teams 📊 Metrics that matter - Why CSAT should be a team metric, not an individual performance indicator 🤖 AI implementation - Using tools like Intercom's Fin to handle routine questions while elevating human support 💼 Career development - How technical support serves as a launchpad for various tech career paths Subscribe for more insights from customer experience leaders transforming SaaS organizations!
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