The CS Architect
For First-Time Customer Success Leaders Building From Scratch.
A live 10-week build program for newly promoted and founding Customer Success leaders responsible for designing segmentation, onboarding, strategy, metrics, and team structure, often without internal guidance.
What This Program Actually Is
The CS Architect is a live, 10-week cohort designed for first-time Customer Success leaders who are actively building the function inside their company.
The CS Architect Opens New Doors
This is not a tactical training.
This is not a content library.
This is not passive learning.
You will design your actual Customer Success operating model in real time.
Each week focuses on a core component of the infrastructure:
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Segmentation and coverage strategy
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Customer journey architecture
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Onboarding as a revenue lever
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Adoption and value realization
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Commercial expansion design
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KPIs and retention forecasting
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Capacity planning and hiring
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Voice of Customer and cross-functional alignment
You will apply each framework directly to your business.
By the end of the program, you will have a documented Customer Success Blueprint tailored to your company.
Customer Success
debt is real.
If you delay building structure:
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Onboarding becomes inconsistent
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Customers churn quietly
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Sales keeps selling into the wrong ICP
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Renewals turn into 90-day panic cycles
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Your team burns out
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Executives lose confidence
If you build the wrong system:
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You optimize for activity instead of outcomes
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You hire before you have a model
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You track lagging metrics and misleading signals
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You create complexity you’ll spend years undoing
The longer you wait, the harder it becomes to fix.
Most first-time CS leaders don’t fail because they lack drive.
They struggle because no one ever taught them how to architect the system.
You only get one chance to design Customer Success at the beginning.
The CS Architect exists so you don’t spend the next two years repairing what you rushed to build.
Who This Course is For
The 5P AI Framework is designed for leaders who believe AI should improve how Customer Success works, not just how fast it moves, but how clearly teams think, how consistently they execute, and how effectively they drive outcomes for customers and the business.
You were the top performer and earned the title. Now you’re expected to define strategy, structure, and results without a clear blueprint to follow.
You’re the first true CS owner, building processes, defining retention strategy, and creating infrastructure while the company is still finding its footing.
You know how to manage accounts. Now you must manage systems, metrics, hiring decisions, and executive conversations you’ve never owned before.
You know retention drives valuation, but you’re unsure how to design the right Customer Success infrastructure without overhiring, overspending, or building the wrong model.
The CS Architect
Program Breakdown
This is the space to introduce the Services section. Briefly describe the types of services offered and highlight any special benefits or features.
Clarify your mandate, define your success criteria, and establish the leadership lens required to architect Customer Success intentionally.
You will define your CS vision and align it to company goals.
Week 1 — Orientation & Strategic Foundation
Clarify renewal ownership, expansion philosophy, and forecast discipline.
You will design your renewal motion and expansion playbook.
Week 6 — Commercial Strategy & Design
Design who you serve, how you serve them, and where to focus.
You will build your segmentation model and define your coverage approach across high-touch, tech-touch, or hybrid motions.
Week 2 — Segmentation & Coverage Strategy
Move beyond activity tracking to strategic visibility.
You will build your KPI scorecard, health model, and executive reporting structure.
Week 7 — Metrics, KPIs & Forecasting
Map the full lifecycle from kickoff to renewal.
You will define stage ownership, risk moments, expansion triggers, and exit criteria for each phase.
Week 3 — Customer Journey Architecture
Prevent burnout and overhiring.
You will model workload capacity, define role clarity, and map your hiring roadmap.
Week 8 — Capacity Planning & Org Design
Redesign onboarding around time-to-value, not task completion.
You will create a value-driven onboarding framework tied to measurable outcomes.
Week 4 — Onboarding as a Revenue Lever
Create feedback loops that influence Product, Sales, and leadership.
You will build your VOC framework and internal operating rhythm.
Week 9 — VOC & Cross-Functional Alignment
Shift from feature usage to business outcomes.
You will define value milestones, executive alignment checkpoints, and leading indicators of churn or expansion.
Week 5 — Adoption & Value Realization
Present your Customer Success Blueprint, receive peer feedback, and refine your model before implementation.
You will leave with clarity and a documented operating plan.
Week 10 — Strategy Lab & Blueprint Review
Who Qualifies
This program is designed for leaders with real ownership.
You must be directly responsible for Customer Success strategy, retention, expansion, or structure within your organization.
Ideal candidates are:
• Newly promoted Heads of Customer Success
• Founding CS leaders at early-stage companies
• Senior CSMs stepping into leadership
• Founders or CEOs building their first CS function
If you are not accountable for outcomes, this is not the right room.
What Makes This Selective
This is a working cohort, not a passive classroom.
Admission is based on:
• Scope of responsibility
• Stage of company
• Strategic ownership
• Readiness to implement
• Alignment with program outcomes
Participants are expected to engage, apply frameworks weekly, and contribute meaningfully to peer discussion.
The strength of the room depends on the caliber of leaders inside it.
The Application Process
All applicants complete a short application outlining:
• Current role and scope
• Company stage and CS structure
• Retention challenges
• What they are actively building
• How this course will help transform their business
Select applicants may be invited to a brief alignment call to confirm fit.
Enrollment is capped at 50 participants.
When the cohort is full, admissions close.
Your Investment
Tuition: $4,000
Payment is due in full.
Enrollment must be completed no later than 5 business days prior to the program start date.
This is not passive learning.
It is structured design, peer accountability, and real-time guidance while you build your Customer Success operating model.
10 live weekly build sessions
Interactive strategy labs and hot seats
A curated cohort Slack channel
Access to all CS Architect frameworks
Full access to Kristi Faltorusso’s template and guide library
Session recordings
A Certificate of Completion
A private 30-minute 1:1 Blueprint Review with Kristi (to be scheduled within 30 days of program completion)
You Only Get One Chance to Be the Architect
Customer Success compounds.
The structure you design today determines the renewals you defend two years from now.
The segmentation you define shapes the customers you prioritize. The metrics you choose influence the behavior your team adopts. The operating model you build becomes the standard everyone follows. You can spend the next 18 months reacting. Or you can design it intentionally now.
The CS Architect is for leaders who understand that getting this right early changes everything.
If you are responsible for building Customer Success, the standard starts with you.