Five SaaS companies went public between April 2024 and August 2025.

All five had strong retention. All five ran land-and-expand plays. All five called customer success a strategic priority.

But their models look nothing alike.

I went through the S-1 filings for Rubrik, OneStream, ServiceTitan, SailPoint, and Netskope. I pulled out what their metrics and strategy language reveal. Look past the polished investor narrative, and you’ll find the structural tells. The numbers show how these companies think about growth.

Rubrik hits 133% NRR. That’s the highest of the group.

Expansion here is architectural. Rubrik expands along three vectors: data growth, new applications, and security products. As customer data grows, spending follows.

Expansion is driven by product design, not relationship management. The CSM focuses on activation. The product handles the growth.

The risk is a lower GRR. Some customers churn before the flywheel kicks in. Concentration on expanding accounts masks the ones that leave.

OneStream represents the opposite approach with 98% GRR. Nobody leaves.

OneStream sells financial operations software directly into the CFO's office. It embeds into the close process. Replacing it requires a full implementation project and months of disruption.

NRR lands at 118% because customers start narrow and expand wide. The product earns trust before it takes the full budget.

CS here is not about preventing churn. The renewal is a given. The job is expanding the surface area.

ServiceTitan is the operating system for trades businesses. It handles scheduling, ERP, and payroll. It’s the center of gravity for the customer.

When software runs the entire workday, churn drops. A 95% GRR for an SMB customer base is proof.

NRR sits at 110%+ due to the SMB mix, but the real signal is upmarket growth. Customer accounts over $100K doubled since 2022. The motion is shifting from operational to enterprise.

CS here is about workflow adoption. If technicians use the platform, you retain the account. Proximity catches risk, not dashboards.

SailPoint relies on a switching-cost model to hit 97% GRR. Contracts average three years. Relationships last a decade.

Identity governance software is painful to replace. The retention is structural, not earned renewal by renewal.

When retention is structural, CS fights a different battle. You justify the expansion investment rather than managing risk. SailPoint focuses on moving accounts from $250K to $1M+. CS exists for enterprise growth, not churn defense.

Netskope led its S-1 strategy language with one metric: 118% NRR.

Cross-sell is the engine. Over 70% of customers use three or more products. Growth comes from getting existing customers to adopt more of the platform.

During one pilot, a federal agency grew from 7,000 users to 300,000 users across eight products. That is a customer success motion, not a standard sales chase.

Over half of Netskope’s growth comes from existing accounts. CS is a revenue function with a clear mandate to increase product breadth.

The mistake most CS leaders make is borrowing a playbook without checking the fit.

Rubrik’s flywheel requires a product designed to scale with data usage. OneStream requires embedded infrastructure. Netskope requires a platform with dozens of modules to sell.

The model follows the business.

What game is your company playing?

If you are usage-led, CS is activation. If you are embedded in a workflow, CS is account development. If you have platform surface area, CS is a revenue function with quota accountability. If switching costs secure your retention, CS should focus entirely on expansion.

Most teams try to do a version of all four. This approach leads to mediocrity across the board.

The companies that reach an S-1 have figured out their specific game. And they build their CS organization to play it.

🤘

We’re grateful you choose to read each week. When you’re ready for more, there are a couple ways we can help:

» Cover Your SaaS is a financial literacy course for go-to-market leaders. Grab your copy here.

» Promote your product and services to over 5,500+ senior SaaS Customer Success pros by sponsoring our weekly newsletter and podcast.

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up at ChiefCustomerOfficer.io.