The Rebels Of SaaS

In this episode we sit down with Rob Zambito (CEO of Success-Scaled Consulting) and we dial in to explore the undeniable power of human connection in Customer Success. We dive into the "Service Recovery Paradox," killer discovery questions, the Five-Star Taco Bell effect, and why it matters as we navigate toward the future of customer success.

In the Season 4 premiere of Rebels of SaaS, Cisco leader Frank Murphy shares his profound journey from public service to tech leadership, intertwining his career path with his deeply personal experience of raising and losing a child with severe medical needs. He candidly discusses how navigating unimaginable grief reshaped his approach to empathy, high-impact leadership, and building resilient tea...

In the Season 3 finale of Rebels of SaaS, Dannah welcomes Kate Neal from Gainsight to explore how to effectively operationalize AI across the customer journey. Kate shares her unique career evolution and reveals how AI-native platforms can uncover "human-to-human" signals that traditional health scores often miss. Discover how to transition from reactive troubleshooting to proactive scal...

In this episode, SaaS veteran Jared Cook joins Dannah Barnett Vaughan to discuss his journey through giants like Adobe and Domo to founding Crush Churn Consulting . Jared reveals how his passion for problem-solving led him to build a thriving, automated Turo car-sharing business that leverages AI and strategic delegation for true time freedom. The conversation dives into the "human element&qu...

Stop settling for "AI hype" and start building actual ROI by bridging the massive gap between executive expectations and team execution. In this episode, Top 100 CS Strategist Jeff Cann reveals why the secret to mastering AI at work actually starts with automating your life at home. We dismantle the "shadow economy" of AI and discuss why 95% of organizations are currently faili...

In this episode of Rebels of SaaS , I’m joined by Kim Ayala, Director of Customer Success (Americas & APAC) at Akeneo, to challenge the common misconception that "sales" is a dirty word in Customer Success. Kim shares her "rebellious" approach to post-sales leadership, explaining why offering paid solutions is actually a form of deep customer advocacy when it solves a genui...

In this episode, host Dannah Vaughan sits down with Julie Fox — CS leader, career changer, and co-author of the Customer Success Talent Playbook — to talk about the journey that brought her to customer success and what keeps her fired up about the space. Julie shares the story behind the highly anticipated book, including how a group of six strong-willed women collaborated to create a dual-perspec...

In this episode Dannah Vaughan sits down with Eleni Vorvis, a Top 100 CS Thought Leader, to explore the rapidly growing world of fractional leadership. Eleni shares her 20-year journey from accidental customer support to strategic consulting, offering "real-talk" on how founders can leverage senior expertise to build scalable frameworks. The conversation dives deep into the discipline re...

Join Carl Lenocker—entrepreneur, author, and Customer Success Executive Leader at Splunk—as he shares why human relationships are your competitive advantage in the AI era. Carl discusses the future of CS, dynamic dining techniques, and how to command $250K+ salaries by investing in skills AI can't replicate.

On this all-new episode of the Rebels of SaaS Podcast, Dannah Vaughan sits down with customer success leader Seán Reid to explore why the future of CS is still deeply human in an AI-driven world. Seán shares his unconventional journey from journalism, marketing, and stand-up comedy into executive customer success leadership. Together, they unpack what it really takes to earn—and keep—a seat at the...

Here’s a clean, clear 5-sentence Spotify episode summary you can paste directly: In this episode of Rebels of SaaS , we sit down with Chad Horenfeldt , VP of Customer Success at SienaAI and author of The Strategic Customer Success Manager . Chad shares the personal journey behind writing his book and how his background in history, consulting, and SaaS shaped his approach to modern customer success...

Join us for an innovative conversation with Parul Bhandari, co-author of the Customer Success Talent Playbook and founder of Customer X Success consultancy. Parul shares the incredible 22-month journey of collaborating with six CS leaders to create a groundbreaking book focused on hiring, growing, and retaining talent in customer success. We dive into why intentional talent strategy is more critic...

Alexandra Sagaydak, boutique consulting founder and former Chief Customer Officer, is back with a perspective shift on competition in B2B SaaS. With 10+ years in customer success, she now helps startup CEOs identify revenue growth gaps and navigate fundraising. In this episode, Alexandra challenges the stigma around competitive analysis—arguing that studying your competitors accelerates learning r...

In this action packed episode we sit down with Sriharsha (Sai) Guduguntla, Co-Founder of Hyperbound AI, who went from meeting his co-founder in high school chorus to building viral AI technology that's transforming sales training at scale. Sai shares how solving their own problem led to a product that went viral across every platform. We explore why the "iPhone generation" needs to r...

Join us this week as we welcome Boaz Maor, CCO at Redirect Health. He turned the most controversial SaaS metric into a churn-fighting machine with 23% response rates. His rebel philosophy: "That's how we do things" is banned - yesterday's approach is just a data point, not tomorrow's blueprint. From intentionally switching industries to stay curious, to democratizing data ins...

Customer Enablement expert James Sonderegger joins Rebels of SaaS to discuss revolutionizing post-sales through AI-powered training, his "Augmented Leadership" model that combines the Eisenhower Matrix with intelligent delegation, and why leading with empathy is the ultimate rebellion in tech. From drummer to enablement leader, James shares how customer education directly impacts ARR and...

Join us this week as we welcome Lídia Gallardo from, Co-Founder of GenCS and Founder of CSM Table. Lídia shares her journey from teacher to coder to customer success leader and why she hates the phrase "we have always done it that way." Discover how she's building community spaces where Spanish-speaking CS professionals can connect and grow together. Learn why she believes in coopera...

Customer Success executive Andrea Bumstead shares her game-changing approach that went viral on LinkedIn - the 15-minute Quarterly Business Review that actually gets executives to show up. After being rejected for four VP roles, she pivoted to fractional consulting and discovered that companies desperately need immediate help but aren't ready for long-term commitments. Andrea reveals how custo...

In this season opener, host Dannah Barnett Vaughan interviews Bob London, a former corporate marketing executive turned consultant who specializes in customer discovery and listening. The conversation covers London's journey from corporate layoffs to building a successful consulting practice around what he calls "Radically Authentic Discovery" (RAD).

In this engaging conversation, Dannah Barnett Vaughan and Melissa Peters explore the themes of rebellion and innovation within the B2B SaaS industry. They discuss Melissa's journey through customer success, the importance of collaboration and alignment in teams, and the challenges of navigating change in the workplace. The conversation emphasizes the need for community, understanding, and the...

Join host Dannah Barnett Vaughan and guest Clare Knight, founder of The Onboarding Lab, as they explore the psychology and strategy behind exceptional customer onboarding. Clare reveals how positioning onboarding specialists as trusted technical experts (like Apple Geniuses) creates immediate customer trust, shares Pixar's "brain trust" approach to combat groupthink, and explains why...

Ejieme Eromosele dishes the unfiltered truth about customer success leadership in today's SaaS wilderness. From compensation plans that actually make sense to why your sales and CS teams need to stop living on different planets, this episode serves up the reality check you didn't know you needed. Ejieme and Dannah bond over food (because who doesn't?) before diving into why traditional...

In this unfiltered episode of Rebels of SaaS, Jeff Kushmerek, CEO of Infinite Renewals, serves up the real-world tea on customer success without the sugar coating. Jeff pulls no punches as he dismantles industry buzzwords, advocates for charging for what your post-sales is worth, and reveals why proactivity—not endless feature debates—is what actually saves your customers. Join us for a "real...

In this episode, we dive into the world of tech networking with special guest Kristi Faltorusso, Chief Customer Officer of ClientSuccess. While networking can significantly boost your career, we explore common pitfalls to watch for. We discuss how to identify and avoid the "virtual coffee" schedulers who consistently no-show, strategies for dealing with business card collectors who never...

Success Panda founder Brad Davis challenges conventional wisdom in this must-listen episode. Learn how creating genuine fans—without expecting anything in return— authentically helps others while simultaneously creating the ultimate business strategy. Davis offers a refreshing message to job seekers: stop worrying about the "perfect path" and start building meaningful connections. Discov...