CELab: The Customer Education Lab

In this episode of the Customer Education Lab, Georg Gottschalk , VP of Global Education at Acumatica , to unpack what it really takes to build a skill infrastructure around a highly complex ERP platform. Georg traces his journey from early work with SAP and manufacturing optimization, through leadership roles at IBM, Salesforce, and MuleSoft, to his current mandate: Enabling a fast-growing, partn...

In this episode of CELab, Dave Derington sits down with Tim Devine , who built Optro's (formerly AuditBoard) live training program from a solo effort in 2021 into a three-person team running roughly 250 custom training engagements a year. Tim's thesis is deceptively simple and a little provocative: you don't need to hire subject-matter experts to deliver expert training . You need people who are e...

In this episode of the Customer Education Lab,  Adam Avramescu sits down with  Kelly Mullaney , Head of  AI Guild  at  Juniper Square , to unpack how AI is  actually  changing Customer Education. Kelly traces his journey from tax tech writer at Microsoft, to leading Customer Education at Envestnet, to building AI Guild—an internal enablement function focused on helping teams 10x their productivity...

In this episode of the Customer Education Lab we sit down with longtime friend and customer education leader Lila Krutel at Skilljar by Gainsight to unpack how MCP (Model Context Protocol) and modern AI tools like Claude are reshaping the role of Customer Education in B2B SaaS. Together they explore how MCP acts like “arms” for your AI assistant—connecting it to systems like your LMS and Customer...

In this episode of the Customer Education Lab, we sit down with Jess Katz , Senior Customer Education Manager at Forter , to unpack how she built an AI‑powered customer education function as a team of one . Jess walks us through her journey from joining Forter with a blank slate and an aggressive launch timeline, to orchestrating a “swarm” of more than 20 specialized AI agents that now support eve...

In this episode of the Customer Education Lab, we sit down with Jess Katz , Senior Customer Education Manager at Forter , to unpack how she built an AI‑powered customer education function as a team of one . Jess walks us through her journey from joining Forter with a blank slate and an aggressive launch timeline, to orchestrating a “swarm” of more than 20 specialized AI agents that now support eve...

In this episode, we are joined by Ashley DeKerlegand , Director of Customer Education and CX Enablement at Quickbase , to unpack how she transformed Quickbase University from “optional training” into a core driver of expansion and reduced churn. Ashley shares her journey from manufacturing and product training into SaaS, how she built and now leads a 12-person global team, and why Quickbase’s cust...

In this episode of  CELab , we welcome content creator Kevin Lee  to unpack how “scrappy” social-style video can transform Customer Education and scaled Customer Success. Kevin shares his journey from running a Rubik’s Cube meme account and a 200K-subscriber YouTube channel to launching  Atlassian Answered , a video series that has generated over 2 million organic impressions and hundreds of thous...

Customer education has outgrown the LMS era. In this episode of CELab we down with Zayd Badwan , Chief Revenue & Customer Officer at Uplimit , and Yash Tekriwal , who leads education and cohort programs at Clay , to ask a hard question: if your main metric is still course completion , are you already behind? Together, they unpack how AI, cohort-based learning, and practice-first design are tra...

In this episode of the Customer Education Lab,  Adam Avramescu  sits down with his Personio teammate and Senior Learning Experience Designer  Roberto Aiello  for a deep dive into what modern customer education really looks like in 2026. They unpack how an international company with an English working language and a massive German market grapples with  localization, terminology, and tone —including...

Customer education is outgrowing the idea of “just an LMS.” In this episode, Dave Derington sits down with Mia Čomić , Product Marketing Manager at LearnWorlds , to unpack how the platform is evolving from a traditional course host into a true learning operating system for modern SaaS. Mia shares how her background in Comparative Literature, localization, and academy building shaped her perspectiv...

In this end-of-year special, Adam Avramescu and Dave Derington look back at 2025 through the lens of the things they love most outside of work: video games and live music. They unpack how titles like Helldivers 2 , Peak , and Megabonk model great onboarding, community-based learning, and continuous engagement—and what Customer Education and Customer Success teams can steal from modern game design....

In this episode of CELab – The Customer Education Lab, host Adam Avramescu sits down with Bessie Weiss , Senior Director of Customer Education at Webflow , to unpack what it really takes to evolve a beloved PLG education motion into an enterprise-ready engine. Bessie shares how she inherited the iconic Webflow University , the “don’t mess it up” mandate from leadership, and the practical tradeoffs...

What happens when you stop thinking about “training” and start designing a revenue architecture? In this episode, we down with Sean Reay - a seasoned revenue enablement leader with experience at companies like Outreach and Canva, and now leading enablement for an AI-first CX company, Intercom. We unpack how AI, enablement, customer education, and customer success are converging into one continuous...

Are you ready to rethink the way your team delivers customer education? In this episode of CELab, host Dave Derington welcomes Sarah Sedgman , CEO and founder of LearnExperts, for an inspiring discussion about the power of AI in instructional design and customer training. Sarah shares her decades of experience transitioning from instructional designer to entrepreneur, and how LearnExperts ’ LEAi p...

In the last episode of the CELab podcast , co-host Dave Derington explored the profound shifts redefining the learning landscape—from the legacy of transactional, revenue-generating education services to agile, outcome-driven customer enablement. Customer Education and Education Services are converging, and Dave continues sharing his thoughts on how B2B SaaS organizations are reimagining what lear...

What does the future hold for Customer Education in the ever-evolving world of B2B SaaS? In this solo episode, CELab co-founder and host  Dave Derington  explores the profound shifts redefining the learning landscape—from the legacy of transactional, revenue-generating education services to agile, outcome-driven customer enablement. Drawing on industry experience and personal insights, Dave examin...

In this episode of the Customer Education Lab, host Dave Derington welcomes Dan Braithwaite , Senior Director of Product Training at Mediaocean , for a deep dive on modern Instructor-Led Training (ILT) and its powerful impact in B2B SaaS customer education. Dan shares real-world stories, practical frameworks, and a human-centered approach to ILT that has helped shape Mediaocean’s global learning s...

In this episode of CELab, host Dave Derington sits down with April Trask , a leader in partner enablement and enterprise AI at Writer . April unpacks the evolving landscape of partner enablement, exploring how AI and generative tools are reshaping the way organizations educate both partners and customers. April shares her unique journey from academia to tech, offering candid insights into building...

Launching a customer education program is never easy—especially when you’re racing against the clock. In this episode, CELab’s Dave Derington sits down with Clea Mahoney , Head of Customer Education at Rewst , to unpack how her team rolled out Skilljar’s LMS in just 55 days. Clea shares her unconventional journey from instructor-led training to scalable online learning, and how playfulness, experi...

In this episode of CELab, we welcome Nick Mehta and Erica Kuhl to talk about Skilljar by Gainsight! We discuss the integration of their platforms and the future of Customer Education. We explore the importance of community in customer success, the vision behind the Customer OS, and how learning and community can work together to enhance customer experiences. Erica shares her journey from Salesforc...

What do we call what we do? Is it Customer Education, Customer Enablement, Scaled CX, Digital CS, or something else entirely? This episode features the return of serial guest and friend, Samantha Murray and both of our co-hosts - Adam and Dave - to spar about nomenclature (word of the day - the devising or choosing of names for things, especially in a science or other discipline). In this ever-evo...

In this episode of CELab, Eric Mistry joins us for a deep conversation into the evolving landscape of customer education, exploring how AI and automation are reshaping the field. We discuss the critical need for breaking down organizational silos and fostering a true community of practice, where educators, customer success professionals, and marketers collaborate to drive better outcomes for learn...

In this episode of CELab, co-host Adam Avramescu and special guest star Beaker Tincher from Personio sit down with Andrew Matsiavin , co-founder of Parta.io , to share the story of how their partnership transformed their approach to Customer Education. We dive deep into the challenges of legacy e-learning tools, the need for branded and differentiated learning experiences, and how Parta’s collabor...

What does it take to build a world-class customer education program in today’s fast-paced, global SaaS landscape? In this episode, Dave Derington sits down with Randon Ruggles , Director of Customer Education at Jamf , to unpack the journey from classroom teacher to industry leader. Randon shares how his team scaled from a handful of educators to a global force, leveraging modular content, short-f...