Whispered Hiring with Paul Staelin @ 3 Time CCO

Описание: Former Vercel CCO Paul Staelin reveals why treating customer success like a product drove 40 percentage point NDR improvements at Birst. He shares his "chili approach" to CS team composition, the behavioral interview question that exposes resume inflation, and how Vercel scaled AI support from 30% to 70% resolution rates in nine months.
In this episode of Whispered Hiring, Andy Mowat speaks with Paul Staelin, Fractional Chief Customer Officer at CornerstoneX and former CCO at Vercel, Trifacta, and Birst (co-founder). Drawing from his product management background at Siebel Systems, Paul breaks down how to build customer success organizations that actually move retention metrics, why forward deployed engineering is just rebranded professional services, and the mental flexibility boundary that matters more than age when evaluating executives.

CHAPTERS:
00:00 Introduction
02:07 How Product Management Background Shapes Customer Success
03:23 Evaluating Product Team Strength and Collaboration
05:10 Customer Advisory Board Scarcity Exercise
06:13 The Three DNA Profiles Required for CS Teams
09:10 Importance of Data and Operations Muscle in CS
10:42 Forward Deployed Engineering vs Professional Services
15:21 How to Design Executive Roles for Success
15:29 Finding Talent Through Networks and Recruiters
18:59 Behavioral Interview Methodology from Siebel
20:27 The "Time Machine" Question That Reveals Growth Mindset
22:06 Mental Flexibility vs Ageism in Executive Hiring
26:06 Assessing AI Fluency in Candidates
27:02 Vercel's AI Support Scaling Process (30% to 70%)
30:29 AI Use Cases Beyond Support: Coding, SDR, CSM
33:10 Questions Candidates Should Ask (and Avoid)
34:05 Making New Hires Successful Through Team Buy-In
36:18 Best Hire Story: Internal Transfer from Sales to CSM

ABOUT ANDY

Andy Mowat has built GTM engines for top companies throughout his career. He led Revenue Operations and Demand Gen at four unicorns, including scaling from $10M to $100M ARR at both Upwork and Culture Amp, and helping guide Box and Carta through IPO scale. With a passion for connecting people, Andy has advised executives on their careers for years and launched Whispered to make searching for executive roles less intimidating.

CONNECT WITH ANDY
  / amowat  

ABOUT Whispered Hiring

Whispered Hiring is a podcast in partnership with Whispered and Front Lines where Andy Mowat talks with senior GTM leaders about how they find, vet, attract, and grow exceptional talent.

Subscribe for more insights from GTM leaders on building high-performing teams!