[Un]Churned – The No. 1 Podcast for Customer Retention

- Ready to churn less and win more? 🏆 Subscribe for a simple, once-a-month rundown of the episodes at gainsight.com/unchurnedThe customer success landscape is about to shift dramatically. Kristi Faltorusso, fresh off her departure from ClientSuccess after five years, reveals the three trends that will define CS in 2026—and the second one might surprise you. From the explosion of CS Ops to the "ERR apocalypse" hitting tech stacks across the industry, Kristi breaks down what's coming and how to prepare. Plus, she shares the uncomfortable truth about why she left a job she loved and how an hour a day of AI learning built four products in 2025.---Timestamps0:00 - Preview & Introduction1:23 - Kristi is back! 2:34 - Why Kristi Left a Perfect Job?5:20 - What She'll Miss Most6:50 - Building Unbreakable Trust with Leadership9:20 - Kristi's Next Chapter10:35 - Kristi's 2026 Predictions for CS13:13 - The ERR Apocalypse & The Consolidation Wave 15:45 - The Rebranding of CS Ops Roles18:15 - Kristi's Vibe Coding Journey 21:30 - Make AI Learning Fun25:00 - Find and Champion Your AI Champions26:10 - Device Addiction & Reading for Fun---What You’ll Learn* Why companies have been accumulating AI tools and what triggers the consolidation* How CS Ops will become critical as AI and automation require system builders* How to identify and champion the AI early adopters in your organization* The trust formula that built an unbreakable 5-year executive partnership* What the "ERR apocalypse" means for your tech stack ---Want the playbook, not just the conversation? Subscribe for deep-dive, actionable breakdowns from every episode at unchurned.substack.com.---Where to Find Kristi:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristifaltorusso/Website: https://www.kristifaltorusso.com/Newsletter: https://www.kristifaltorusso.com/the-journey-cs-newsletter---Where to Find Josh:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jschachter/Unchurned Substack: https://unchurned.substack.com/---Referenced Episodes: - https://www.gainsight.com/episode/why-100m-ai-companies-are-failing-at-renewals-ft-cassie-young-kyle-poyar/- https://www.gainsight.com/episode/how-to-scale-customer-success-with-ai-agents-ft-leeron-yahalomi-aligned/Resources:- ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com/- Claude: https://claude.ai/- Gamma: https://gamma.app/- Zapier: https://zapier.com/- Replit: https://replit.com/- Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Yvette Hill, SVP of Customer Success at F5, has a remarkable 35-year career across tech giants like IBM and Microsoft. In this insightful discussion, she tackles the transformation from traditional customer success to an AI-driven model. Yvette emphasizes the importance of leveraging AI to enhance customer interactions and drive real value. She shares her bold decision to allocate 100% of her budget to AI, unlock data-driven insights with 175 customer signals, and encourages teams to embrace experimentation. Her vision for a curious, AI-enabled workforce is truly inspiring!

Join Cassie Young, a General Partner at Primary Ventures with expertise in customer success, and Kyle Poyar, founder of Growth Unhinged and pricing analyst, as they delve into the alarming trend of churn in AI-powered companies. They reveal shocking stats like nine out of ten customers abandoning products soon after investment. Discover the difference between Experimental Recurring Revenue and true profitability, and how forward-deployed engineering can drastically reduce churn. The discussion also highlights a Customer Success Renaissance aiming to deliver real value.

Alexis Hennessy, a Partner at Heidrick & Struggles and co-founder of their post-sales executive search practice, shares her insights on the evolving role of the Chief Customer Officer. She highlights the necessity of retention, explaining why hiring for CCOs is on the rise again. Alexis emphasizes the importance of listening in the first year and adapting strategies accordingly. The conversation also touches on the traits that successful CCOs possess and the increasing relevance of AI in customer retention strategies, suggesting a promising future for the role.

In this enlightening discussion, Erica Kuhl, EVP at Gainsight and a key architect behind Salesforce's massive customer community, shares her journey from early employee to community innovator. She reveals how she built a peer-driven forum with limited resources, emphasizing community as a vital retention strategy. Erica discusses the significance of creating a unified Digital Customer Success experience and provides actionable insights on pitching community initiatives to boost retention by four times. Prepare to be inspired by her scrappy approach to customer engagement!

Colin Slade, Senior VP of AI Strategy and Customer Success at Cloudbeds, led a nimble team that transformed a struggling post-sales operation into an AI-powered powerhouse. They developed over 150 workflows in just nine months, automating 75% of repetitive tasks and saving 7,000 hours monthly. Colin discusses the initial fears of job loss among staff, the stepwise approach for AI adoption, and the importance of team structure. He emphasizes the impact of embracing constraints for innovation and fostering a culture of fearless experimentation.

Cat Valverde, founder of the Enterprise AI Group, specializes in helping organizations adopt AI effectively. She discusses the common pitfalls of enterprise AI projects and reveals her groundbreaking 15-Minute Rule for enhancing adoption rates. By focusing on human-centered approaches, she outlines a simple four-week framework to engage users and boost buy-in. The conversation highlights the importance of reducing cognitive load, using psychological insights, and leveraging social proof to achieve remarkable increases in AI adoption.

Mark Roberge, co-founder of Stage 2 Capital and former HubSpot CRO, dives into the transformative power of AI in sales and market strategies. He emphasizes the need to replace CAC obsession with a focus on optimizing customer lifetime value. Roberge outlines four phases of AI evolution in go-to-market tactics, predicting blurred departmental lines and the rise of autonomous agents. He also discusses the societal implications of AI, questioning whether capitalism can adapt alongside these advancements. It's a captivating look at the future of work and customer dynamics!

Jacob Bank, the founder and CEO of Relay.app and a former Google product leader, dives deep into the world of AI agents. With over 14 years of experience, he discusses how agents will soon handle nearly all tasks on computers. Jacob distinguishes between workflows and agents, stressing the importance of context over complex prompts. He highlights why small businesses adopt AI faster than larger enterprises and predicts that everyone will need to become an agent manager, focusing on training and supervising these digital teammates.

Omer Rabin, a General Partner at TLA Ventures and former Gainsight chief evangelist, teams up with Chad Horenfeldt, VP of Customer Success at Siena AI and author of The Strategic CSM. They discuss the meteoric rise of customer success from a fledgling idea to a billion-dollar industry. Omer shares his belief that the next wave of CEOs will likely emerge from customer success roles. They emphasize the transformative power of AI in regaining strategic focus and highlight the importance of aligning customer success metrics with organizational goals.