Build versus buy
Build, Buy, or Improve What You Already Have?
A framework for deciding between buying a Customer Success platform, building a lightweight internal tool, improving your existing stack, or delaying the decision entirely.
2 min read
The practice's writing
Insights on post-sale strategy and Customer Success architecture
Original frameworks for diagnosing retention problems, designing the operating model, and deciding between building, buying, and improving what you already have. Written for executives, not for search engines.
All articles
Post-sale metrics
How Long Should Customer Success Improvements Take to Affect GRR?
GRR and NRR are lagging metrics. Here's a realistic timeline for when operational changes, leading indicators, and retention metrics should each move - and why treating them the same causes bad decisions.
2 min read
Retention diagnosis
How to Diagnose a SaaS Retention Problem
A structured method for finding the real cause of a B2B SaaS retention problem before committing budget to a hire, a platform, or a reorganization.
3 min read
Build versus buy
Do You Actually Need Gainsight?
A vendor-neutral look at when a dedicated Customer Success platform like Gainsight, ChurnZero, or Vitally is the right call - and when it isn't.
3 min read
Capacity and organizational design
Why CSMs Cannot Be Strategic When They Own Everything
When CSMs own onboarding, support escalation, renewals, and expansion with no prioritization framework, strategic account work is always the first casualty. Here's the capacity math and how to fix it.
3 min read
Retention diagnosis
Your Retention Problem May Not Be a Customer Success Problem
Retention problems get assigned to Customer Success by default. Here's how to test whether the real constraint sits somewhere else - ICP, sales, product, or onboarding.
3 min read
Notes on post-sale operating strategy
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