The Rebels Of SaaS

Frank Murphy: Embracing the Suck – What to Do When Grief Comes for You and Your Team

In the Season 4 premiere of Rebels of SaaS, Cisco leader Frank Murphy shares his profound journey from public service to tech leadership, intertwining his career path with his deeply personal experience of raising and losing a child with severe medical needs. He candidly discusses how navigating unimaginable grief reshaped his approach to empathy, high-impact leadership, and building resilient teams. The conversation explores the critical need to normalize accessibility in product design and the workplace, illustrating this with hands-on exercises like using Braille Legos. By blending raw vulnerability with professional insight, this limited-edition episode delivers a powerful message on supporting your team's humanity while still operating a successful revenue engine. Ultimately, Frank's story challenges listeners across your growing global audience to lead with authentic connection, purposeful curiosity, and a healthy dose of resilience. Courtesy of Frank - Find resources to help with grief + dealing with it here: http://bit.ly/4v4SgyM

Season 3 Finale - Kate Neal on AI Proofing your CS Career

In the Season 3 finale of Rebels of SaaS, Dannah welcomes Kate Neal from Gainsight to explore how to effectively operationalize AI across the customer journey. Kate shares her unique career evolution and reveals how AI-native platforms can uncover "human-to-human" signals that traditional health scores often miss. Discover how to transition from reactive troubleshooting to proactive scaling by identifying risk signals months before a renewal. The conversation dives deep into the shifting skill sets required for the next generation of AI-literate CS professionals. Tune in to learn why the future of SaaS belongs to those who embrace AI as a digital teammate rather than just a tool.

Jared Cook - A Rebel Story of a CS Leader Scaling a Side Hustle with AI

In this episode, SaaS veteran Jared Cook joins Dannah Barnett Vaughan to discuss his journey through giants like Adobe and Domo to founding Crush Churn Consulting. Jared reveals how his passion for problem-solving led him to build a thriving, automated Turo car-sharing business that leverages AI and strategic delegation for true time freedom. The conversation dives into the "human element" of customer success, the pitfalls of chasing vanity metrics like NPS, and why "positive rebellion" requires a balance of challenging the status quo with disciplined, data-driven strategy.

Jeff Cann - A Rebel Story of Using AI as your Strategic Value Engineer

Stop settling for "AI hype" and start building actual ROI by bridging the massive gap between executive expectations and team execution. In this episode, Top 100 CS Strategist Jeff Cann reveals why the secret to mastering AI at work actually starts with automating your life at home. We dismantle the "shadow economy" of AI and discuss why 95% of organizations are currently failing to see results from their investments. From custom-built meal planning agents to the future of "agentic assistants" that join meetings for you, Jeff explains how to transform from a "human help center" into a strategic value engineer. Tune in to learn how to lead your Customer Success team through the 2026 AI evolution before the skills gap leaves your organization behind.

Kim Ayala - A Rebel's Tale of Dismantling the Sales Stigma in CS

In this episode of Rebels of SaaS, I’m joined by Kim Ayala, Director of Customer Success (Americas & APAC) at Akeneo, to challenge the common misconception that "sales" is a dirty word in Customer Success. Kim shares her "rebellious" approach to post-sales leadership, explaining why offering paid solutions is actually a form of deep customer advocacy when it solves a genuine pain point. We dive into the mindset shift required to move from a reactive support role to a proactive revenue driver, highlighting how expansion is the key to breaking through value ceilings. Kim also discusses her strategies for fostering collaborative relationships with Sales leaders and operationalizing forecasting within CS teams to ensure shared accountability. Tune in to learn how to master the art of consultative advising and why "CPR" for your QBRs might be exactly what your organization needs.