First CSM Hire - Seniority and Experience Level

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I was hired as employee number 12, first ever c s person, at a te company in tronto. I had no experience and they took a gamble on me. You don't have to go for my first c s m, i need to have someone who's got five years of experience. If you're going to hire someone with a little bit more experience, it's important that they know what they're getting themselves into.

Today’s episode is with Sydney Strader, VP of Customer Success at Catalyst. Prior to joining Catalyst, Sydney was the VP of Customer Success at InVision.

In our conversation we focus on founder-led customer success, an area of early company building that’s often overlooked. Here’s a preview of her tactical advice:

How to structure early customer check-ins, plus a framework to help surface more specific feedback.
The most impactful questions that founders and customer success managers should ask all their customers.
Why everyone at the company owns the net revenue retention metric — not just the customer success function.
How to make your first customer success hire, from the ideal profile to structuring the interview process and setting comp.

You can follow Sydney on Twitter at @sydneystrader. You can email us questions directly at review@firstround.com or follow us on Twitter @firstround and @brettberson.