2. Rai se your hand
How many of your empl oyees
t al k t o cust omers every day?
a. 0- 5%
b. 5%- 20%
c. 20%- 50%
d. 50- 100%
How many shoul d?
3. Two compani es, di f f erent
approaches
2004-2010 (current board member)
2011-present
4. A f ami l i ar model
Pre- f undi ng f ounders f i el ded
al l cust omer i nbounds.
Transi t i oned t o t radi t i onal
support model post f undi ng.
Invest ed i n cust omer
f eedback,
success, and ot her programs.
Measured usi ng NPS.
5. A recent emai l f rom a wel l - known
st art up
“Thanks for writing in. You're right in
reporting this, so thanks so much for
doing so. I have let the bugs team know
about this. The bugs team is
responsible for responding to
bugs/inconsistencies on the product. In
future, please feel free to e-mail
bugs@-----.com.”
YOU SUCK!
6. A di f f erent approach ( WIP)
Pre- f undi ng, pre- revenue al l
empl oyees f i el ded cust omer
i nbounds.
Post f undi ng: same.
Though we have dozens of
ent erpri se cust omers and
2. 5M+ end- users we have yet
t o hi re a si ngl e cust omer
7. Support part i es!
Al ways t he same part i ci pant s:
t he ( current and f ut ure)
busi ness l eaders.
8. Obvi ous l earni ngs
Product - market f i t
accel erat i on ( nuf f sai d) .
Market s change f ast .
Not everyone l i ves i n
Si l i con Val l ey.
9. More subt l e, however
Cust omers ( and part ners) hat e
your compet i t ors.
You’ l l shi p f ast er when
const ant l y i nt errupt ed by
cust omers.
Aut hent i ci t y t ransl at es t o LTV* .
10. Cash money
Your sal es process st art s
bef ore you know i t .
Forgi ng cust omer
rel at i onshi ps earl y short cut s
sal es cycl es dramat i cal l y.
Upsel l , ret ent i on, and
di spl acement of compet i t ors
come nat ural l y.
11. How t o
St art earl y and set t he
precedent .
Put t he t ool s i n pl ace,
t hey’ re cheap:
• l i ve chat
• emai l ( di rect )
• phone
Wal k t he t al k.
