Episode 002 • January 15, 2026 • 40:41
Jay Nathan, Jeff Breunsbach
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube
About This Episode
Jay and Jeff challenge the traditional coverage-based customer success model—where CSMs are assigned fixed books of business and measured on activity metrics like QBR completion.
Drawing on Justin Chappelle's work, they make the case for a predictive model that uses product telemetry, engagement signals, and AI to route the right resources to the right accounts at the right time.
Plus: Jeff shares his three-motion framework (renewals, onboarding, value), Jay recaps his weekend vibe-coding a community tool, and both discuss why every CS leader needs to be hands-on with AI tools—not delegating the learning.
Key Takeaways
The coverage model is dying. Assigning CSMs fixed books of 50 accounts and measuring activity (QBRs completed, emails sent) is wasteful. Many accounts don't need that outreach—and 25% of your team turns over annually anyway, resetting relationships constantly.
Predictive beats reactive. Use product telemetry, support interactions, marketing engagement, and community activity to identify what accounts need—then route the right person at the right time. This is Justin Chappelle's vision.
Focus on three motions. Jeff's framework: renewals (lifeblood), onboarding (prevents first-year churn), and value (the connective tissue between). That's it. Resist the urge to map the entire customer journey.
Hire ops before CSMs. To scale CS with AI and automation, you need systems people building the infrastructure—not more humans covering accounts manually.
Leaders must be hands-on with AI. You cannot delegate the learning. If you're a manager, director, VP, or C-level, you need to be playing with these tools daily to understand their power and apply strategic thinking to them.
QBRs need a rethink. Instead of hour-long data readouts, try a 5-7 minute personalized Loom video summarizing outcomes, followed by a focused 30-minute strategy conversation. Executives will watch a short video; they won't attend your QBR.
Chapters
00:00 – Intro and feedback from Episode 1
02:53 – The three motions: renewals, onboarding, value
04:49 – Why hire ops before CSMs
08:22 – Leaders must be hands-on with AI
10:49 – Death of the coverage model explained
14:24 – What CSMs should actually be doing
17:44 – The evangelism role and expansion
21:57 – Rethinking QBRs: video updates vs. meetings
24:51 – The single point of contact myth
27:42 – Jay's vibe-coded community tool
33:25 – Building websites with AI (Beehiiv)
38:44 – Build vs. buy: internal tools in the AI era
Mentioned in This Episode
Justin Chappelle – coverage model vs. predictive model framework
Brett Taylor – CEO of Sierra AI (former Salesforce, Google)
Claire Vo – ChatPRD.AI founder (former CPO at LaunchDarkly)
Logan Bartlett Show – venture podcast (Redpoint Ventures)
Hacker News – news.ycombinator.com
Claude Code – Anthropic's AI coding tool
Claude Cowork – Anthropic's new co-pilot product
About Your Hosts
Jay Nathan – CEO of Balboa Solutions and co-founder of ChiefCustomerOfficer.io
Jeff Breunsbach – Head of Customer Success at Junction and co-founder of ChiefCustomerOfficer.io
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