E12: Why Deep Understanding Wins: John Gleeson on the Power of Customer Success

This week, we’re joined by John Gleeson, Founder and General Partner of Success Venture Partners (SuccessVP), a $10M fund investing in founders with customer success at their core, from pre-seed to seed. SuccessVP stands out with its extensive base of 87+ Limited Partners, many of whom are Chief Customer Officers from industry giants like Toast, Slack, GitHub, Braze, MuleSoft, Notion, Aurora Solar, and more.

Before founding SuccessVP, John moved from Canada to NYC, where he scaled Customer Success at Motive (now valued at $3 billion) from $1M to $300M in ARR. During this time, he also made strategic investments as a scout for Index Ventures. In our conversation, John reflected on how this pivotal experience gave him the foundation to view companies from an investor’s lens. Prior to this, his expertise was sought after by top VCs to guide founders in mastering customer success.

John’s journey into venture was shaped by his leadership in building the world's largest Customer Success professional communities through SF and NYC Customer Success Meetups. These meetups connected him with industry professionals, founders seeking Chief Customer Officers, and eventually VCs—becoming his natural entry point into the venture capital world.

On being invited to scout for Index, Craft, and CRV John shared:

“It was really because I was passing along strong deal flow and quickly becoming the person they turned to when portfolio companies needed support with customer success.”

The highlight of this episode is our discussion on why customer success is more critical than ever in today’s rapidly evolving world, particularly in the context of vertical AI. John summarized it best in his post-interview substack blog (linked here), but the TL;DR is this: horizontal solutions can’t match the depth of understanding that vertical-focused products bring to their customers. In a world where technology enables faster software development than ever before, understanding and prioritizing customers has become the true competitive advantage.

This perspective solidified our belief in John’s vision and why he’s poised to succeed. His expertise in recognizing the importance of keeping customers happy and deeply understanding their needs exemplifies the adaptability required for businesses to thrive amidst rapid technological advancements and global innovation.

We’ve already shared too much about this episode, but John’s insights into the future of innovation—with founder-led customer success at its core—have us excited about building the next generation of businesses. Knowing what to build, rather than just how to build it, will be the key to success.

If you learned a thing or two from this episode with John, please share this episode on LinkedIn or pass it along to a founder, investor, or customer success expert in your network. Let’s amplify the voices of GPs driving groundbreaking ideas forward!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit slicefund.substack.com