Download - unSEXY Conf 2013: Darian Shirazi, Radius
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Customers, Culture and Cash
@ranjithkumaran
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Raise your hand
How many of your employees talk to customers every day?
a. 0-5%b. 5%-20%c. 20%-50%d. 50-100%
How many should?
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Two companies, different approaches
2004-2010 (current board member)
2011-present
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A familiar model
Pre-funding founders fielded all customer inbounds.
Transitioned to traditional support model post funding.
Invested in customer feedback, success, and other programs. Measured using NPS.
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A recent email from a well-known startup
“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 [email protected].”
YOU SUCK!
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A different approach (WIP)
Pre-funding, pre-revenue all employees fielded customer inbounds.
Post funding: same.
Though we have dozens of enterprise customers and 2.5M+ end-users we have yet to hire a single customer support head.
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Support parties!
Always the same participants: the (current and future) business
leaders.
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Obvious learnings
Product-market fit acceleration (nuff said).
Markets change fast.
Not everyone lives in Silicon Valley.
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More subtle, however
Customers (and partners) hate your competitors.
You’ll ship faster when constantly interrupted by customers.
Authenticity translates to LTV*.
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Cash money
Your sales process starts before you know it.
Forging customer relationships early shortcuts sales cycles dramatically.
Upsell, retention, and displacement of competitors come naturally.
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How to
Start early and set the precedent.
Put the tools in place, they’re cheap:
• live chat • email (direct)• phone
Walk the talk.
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@ranjithkumaran