Trim Size: 6in x 9in  Mehta572763 c01.tex V1-04/03/2020 11:45pm Page 6 6 WhyCustomerSuccessBecameStandard back to my roots of trying to “do good,” I recruited a friend to help build a tech product with the aspiration of helping industrial workers—often underdogs in our economy—showcase their skills to get jobs more easily. But the market wasn’t ripe. I was back to the drawing board and told myself I was too naive to think that business could be anything but that—business. Soonafter, I met Nick after my old investment firm led an early funding round,whenGainsighthadabout30customersinanewmarketcalledCus- tomerSuccess.AsIlearnedabouttheindustry,Isoonrealizedthatthiswasa newgroupofunderdogs.Herewasafledglingcommunityofpeople—many of them women—who knew they had greater value than their companies and investors recognized. Tectonic shifts in the market were in their favor. They just needed some support. I soon joined their ranks as I took on the Customer Success team at Gainsight. We incubated ideas for how to make our own customers success- ful and shared the results of our experiments—the good and the bad—with the CS community in hundreds of blog posts and podcasts. (In one experi- ment, we accidentally sent a “welcome email” to all of our clients, even the  tenured ones. Whoops.) We also learned a great deal from our clients and  other friends in the field, who conducted their own experiments and gave feedback on our ideas as well. The biggest learning—to my happy surprise—was that doing good didn’t have to be at odds with building a great business. In fact, it could be a differentiator. Genuinely helping your clients propels stronger revenue growth, market leadership, profitability, consistency, employee retention, andvaluationmultiples—aswewitnessedacrosstheCustomerSuccesscom- munity.Nowtheunderdogs(CSprofessionals)werehelpingotherhistorical underdogs (clients) and generating incredible business results. So back to the question: What really matters in business? Doing good for the human beings who are your clients. Thatmightsoundsoft.Butactually,it’sthehardrealityofbusinesstoday. This book is about how to compete and win in an ever-more-challenging business environment. Notably, it’s not about “making your clients happy.” It’s about making them successful so that you can succeed. Let’s discuss what wemeanbythat.