top of page
Welcome to
After the Close
the Blog
Thoughtful insights and honest perspectives on Customer Success and leadership, focused on the work that happens after the deal is done.
After the Close is a space for reflection, insight, and the conversations that don’t always happen in the meeting or the deck. This blog is here to share real stories, practical lessons, and honest perspectives on Customer Success and leadership.
Whether you’re a CSM, a CS leader, or an executive, you’ll find insight on what happens after the deal is signed. From navigating adoption and retention to leading teams and driving impact, the goal is simple: help you think more clearly, act more intentionally, and build work that lasts.
All Posts
“Figure It Out” Is Not Leadership: Why founders accidentally set their first leaders up to fail
“Figure it out.” It’s a phrase that sounds empowering on the surface. But most of the time, it’s not empowerment. It’s leadership abandonment. And founders and CEOs need to hear this. I’ve seen this happen over and over again in early-stage companies. In fact, it happened to me more than once earlier in my Customer Success career. A founder or CEO pulls you aside and says something like: "Kristi, this is a big opportunity. You've never done this before, but I believe in you.
Kristi Faltorusso
7 hours ago3 min read
Stop Sweating the Small Stuff: The Career Lesson That Changed Everything
The fastest way to stall your career is to sweat the small stuff. It sounds simple. Almost cliché. But figuring this out completely changed my career trajectory and my overall happiness at work. Early in my career, everything seemed to bother me. Not the big things. The small, daily annoyances. Someone talking over me in meetings Being asked to do something I had already completed Not being given opportunities, I clearly believed I deserved Coworkers not understanding why we
Kristi Faltorusso
7 hours ago3 min read
You Promoted Your Best CSM to Head of CS. Now What?
Most Series A & B founders believe they’re “investing in Customer Success” when they promote a strong individual contributor into a leadership role. On paper, it makes sense. They know the product. They know the customers. They’ve proven themselves. They’re gritty. They execute. So you elevate them to Head of CS and tell them to build. And then you step back and say, “Go figure it out.” Here’s the problem. Building a Customer Success function is not the same as being great at
Kristi Faltorusso
3 days ago4 min read
The Journey: #61 Be Ready, Or Not
There is something I tell every CSM I've ever led or coached, and I say it often enough that they can probably hear it in their sleep. Be prepared. Be prepared for your customer to tell you they’re evaluating competitive solutions. Be prepared for your customer to tell you the product isn't meeting their needs. Be prepared for your champion to share that they’ve been promoted and are moving into a different role. Be prepared to learn about a recent acquisition that could pres
Kristi Faltorusso
3 days ago4 min read
Not All Money Is Good Money
I wish more founders and CEOs would remember that not all money is good money. Some revenue brings opportunity. Other revenue brings sacrifice. And if you’ve ever led Customer Success, you know exactly what I mean. For 14 years in CS leadership, I often had to live with business decisions that were made in the name of growth. My team and I were the ones who had to “make it work.” We were the ones told to “figure it out.” And when things went sideways, we were often the ones a
Kristi Faltorusso
6 days ago3 min read
When a New Executive Joins Your Customer’s Team: What Great CSMs Do First
Executive turnover inside your customer’s organization can feel like a threat. A new leader shows up, priorities shift, budgets get scrutinized, and suddenly the relationship you’ve spent months (or years) building feels less secure. But here’s the reality: new stakeholders enter accounts all the time. This isn’t a rare event. It’s part of doing business. What is rare is a Customer Success Manager who treats executive change as a strategic moment instead of a disruption. When
Kristi Faltorusso
Feb 253 min read
There’s No Hill to Die On in Customer Success
Do you ever just want to scream at someone, “Get off that hill, you’re gonna hurt yourself!” Or is that just me? That’s how I feel every time I hear someone say, “I’ll die on that hill.” Why? Because it’s embarrassing. Truly. The only hill I’d ever die on is the “there’s no hill to die on” hill. I’ve built Customer Success five different times at five different companies. Early stage, late stage, VC-backed, PE-backed, private. SMB focus. Enterprise focus. From $3M in ARR to n
Kristi Faltorusso
Feb 233 min read
The Journey: #60 Efficient but Ineffective
I remember starting at a company a few years back and being told that we needed to “dial in” our processes. They were not as efficient as they could be, and customers were not hitting milestones in a timely manner. I was handed a stack of things that needed to be fixed. So I got to work. I made a list of each of the processes and programs that needed to be revisited, starting with the Sales to CS handoff, then onboarding, followed by our adoption framework and enablement gu
Kristi Faltorusso
Feb 232 min read
If You’ve Never Experienced Your Own Customer Journey, It Shows
There’s something I say to leadership teams all the time, and it usually lands a little uncomfortably: Not enough companies go through their own customer processes. And it shows. You can see it in the messy onboarding. You can feel it in the clunky handoffs. You can hear it in the awkward renewal conversations. Most of the time, customers are polite about it. But they notice. They always notice. When I work with companies on Customer Success strategy and operations, one of th
Kristi Faltorusso
Feb 224 min read
Customer Success vs. Revenue Retention: Why They’re Not the Same Thing
Most Series A and B founders don’t actually want Customer Success. They want revenue retention. And those two things are not the same. That might sound provocative, but it’s a pattern I see constantly when I come into early- and growth-stage organizations. Early on, when you’re growing fast, closing new deals is the priority. Revenue now feels urgent. Retention later feels manageable. And for a while, it is. New logos are coming in, the pipeline is moving, and the focus is on
Kristi Faltorusso
Feb 183 min read
Follow On Social
Stay inspired and connected. Follow along for insights, real talk, and behind-the-scenes moments from my work in Customer Success and leadership.
TikTok
YouTube
bottom of page