SaaStr 024: Nick Mehta, CEO @ Gainsight on Why Customer Success Is The New Sales

This week on SaaStr we are celebrating the rise of GainSight with a special feature week dedicated to Gainsight and joining me today we have Gainsight CEO, Nick Mehta. Since Nick has been at the helm of Gainsight, it has experienced a meteoric rise to the top of the world of SaaS having practically created the category of customer success and revolutionising business work processes in doing so. Due to this, Gainsight has raised funding from the likes of Battery Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners.

In today's show with Nick we discuss:

• What were the solutions before Gainsight? Why were these inefficient and what the market opportunity for Gainsight?
• Why has the power shifted from the hands of the vendor to the hands of the customer? What can vendors to do optimise this shift?
• Is the proliferation of available tools and the resulting competition not dangerous as there is only so low prices can go?
• To what extent does Gainsight have a monopoly over the customer success market?
• How much should startups spend on customer success in the early days? How can one measure that success and return on investment?
• What does the hiring of a customer success officer look like for Nick? How can we optimise this process?

In a round we call the 60 Second Saastr, we also hear:

• ACV is everything: Explain?
• Being a specialised CEO: Right or wrong?
• On again, off again hiring in sales?

If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented you can follow us on Twitter here:

• Jason Lemkin
• Harry Stebbings
• Saastr
• Nick Mehta