CHURN FM

Today on the show, we have Alex Raymond, founder of AMplify and author of The Growth Department, a book reframing how post-sales teams think about their role inside B2B companies.
In this episode, we dig into why customer success and account management are in an identity crisis — and why the answer lies in orienting the entire function around one core purpose: helping the company win. 
We explore the “keep, grow, no surprises” framework, how NRR as a North Star metric can align sales and CS around shared incentives, and why consolidating all revenue under a true CRO is becoming a more common org design move.
We discuss the confidence gap in CS teams when it comes to commercial conversations, why over-indexing on relationships is one of the most common mistakes in post-sales, and why parachuting an AE back in at renewal is a poor experience for the customer — and for the team.
Finally, we tackle the economics hiding in plain sight: why 100% of a company’s profits come from existing customers, how resource allocation between new business and existing accounts is wildly mismatched, and why the language CS and account management professionals use to describe their work has a direct impact on their standing inside the business.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
Churn FM is sponsored by Vitally, the all-in-one Customer Success Platform.

Today on the show, we have Priya Lakshminarayanan, CPO of Recurly, a subscription management platform empowering brands like Twitch, PupBox, Sprout Social, and Pipedrive to launch, scale, and optimize subscription experiences.
In this episode, we dive deep into Recurly's 2026 State of Subscriptions report, uncovering surprising trends that challenge conventional wisdom about churn. 
We explore why "selective churn" might actually reflect stronger consumer intent rather than fatigue, and why the pause button has evolved from a red flag into a strategic retention tool.
We discuss the dramatic shift in subscriber behavior, including why 51% of consumers cancelled at least one subscription in the last 12 months, how micro-subscriptions are becoming the new trial experience in an AI-driven world, and why traditional free trials are becoming cost-prohibitive as LLM costs rise.
Finally, we tackle the loyalty paradox: why transparency and easy cancellation actually drive long-term retention, how annual subscription renewals have become critical inflection points, and why the best retention strategy might be proactively canceling customers who aren't using your service.
Churn FM is sponsored by Vitally, the all-in-one Customer Success Platform.

Today on the show, we have Charles Rosenblatt, CEO of Butter Payments, providing ML AI-driven payment recovery for subscription merchants and recurring payments. Previously, Charles was CSO of Payoneer, CRO at Velo Payments, and ran treasury at D.E. Shaw during the late 90s—where managing a financial crisis taught him that outside factors can derail even the best strategies and smartest teams. 
In this episode, we uncover why the 14-day dunning period is an arbitrary standard that shouldn't exist—and how decoupling dunning strategy from product access unlocks smarter business decisions. Charles shares how Butter analyzes 128 variables across billions of transactions to predict payment recovery within 10 seconds, allowing companies to shut off high-cost AI users immediately when recovery is unlikely, while keeping loyal customers active when payments will clear. 
We explore why involuntary churn creates dangerous false signals: 30% of customers leaving might actually want to stay but have expired cards or temporary payment issues. This can lead product teams to catastrophic decisions—like Coca-Cola changing their formula when the real problem was payment infrastructure, not product-market fit. The lesson: understand what's within your control versus what's not before making strategic pivots. 
We also discuss how Capital One shifted their best people from acquisition to retention after realizing they were churning the equivalent of the 7th largest credit card company every year—because spending $20 to save a $500 NPV customer beats spending $300 to acquire a new one who might churn anyway. 
Finally, we dig into payment recovery ethics and strategy: why Butter refuses "forced payments" that drive customer accounts negative, how different card types (Amex vs. debit vs. prepaid) require completely different retry logic, and why competitors who inflate recovery promises by 100% damage trust across the industry.
As always, I’d love to hear from you. You can email me directly at [email protected], and don’t forget to follow us on X.
Churn FM is sponsored by Vitally, the all-in-one Customer Success Platform.

Today on the show, we have Matthew Tharp, CEO of Hunter.io, the all-in-one email outreach platform used by over 4 million people to identify prospects and run cold email campaigns. Previously, Matthew was VP of Worldwide Retention at LogMeIn, where he owned NRR across nine products—giving him a rare masterclass in retention challenges at different stages and scales.
In this episode, we uncover why retention isn't a problem you solve when growth stalls—it's DNA you build from day one. Matthew shares the paradox of his career: building a company with 95%+ annual retention that got acquired, versus joining a high-growth PLG business with churn issues that needed solving before scaling further.
We explore why over-indexing on either growth or retention creates problems, how to identify the usage patterns that predict churn in the first three weeks, and why every company that tries to fix retention late struggles. The lesson: balance from the beginning beats transformation later.
We also discuss how Hunter achieved 3X growth this year by going back to basics—running a rigorous ICP analysis, choosing battles they could win instead of markets where competitors were spending $100M, and layering new customer segments without creating product bloat.
Finally, we dig into cold outreach data: why email lists under 100 people dramatically outperform larger ones, why shorter emails force the clarity that drives replies, and how constraints—not scale—are the real performance lever in outbound.
As always, I’d love to hear from you. You can email me directly at [email protected], and don’t forget to follow us on X.
Churn FM is sponsored by Vitally, the all-in-one Customer Success Platform.

Today on the show, we have Susan Keplinger, CEO of Force of Nature, a boutique performance marketing shop behind the growth of brands like Ring, Oofos, and other category leaders. With experience building data-driven growth engines across e-commerce and DTC, Suzanne has helped companies shift from chaotic marketing to orchestrated, scalable systems.
In this episode, we uncover why the future of performance marketing isn’t about hacking audiences or chasing the “one winning creative”—but building portfolio-driven creative systems, trusting your data, and showing up clearly for both humans and algorithms.
We explore why Google and Meta still dominate the ecosystem, why clean data is the new competitive edge, and how brands should think about programmatic everything—from ads to email to retargeting.
We also discuss how Suzanne built the original performance infrastructure at Ring, how brands like Oofos leverage their “growth signal system,” and why the best-performing companies today treat robots as part of their audience.
Finally, we dig deep into retention: why 10 customers leaving is the same as your 11th leaving, why the “leaky bucket” kills great brands, and how to know when it's time to stop relying on founder intuition — and start trusting the data.
As always, I’d love to hear from you. You can email me directly at [email protected], and don’t forget to follow us on X.
Churn FM is sponsored by Vitally, the all-in-one Customer Success Platform.