Signals that a company is actually customer-centric and not just good at branding

It’s a dirty little secret of tech that many, if not most, companies are not customer centric, despite what the values statement on their website might say.

It’s weird, right? You’d think that, logically, companies would care more about their source of existing revenue. But that’s just it—you don’t *have* to care about a customer that has already paid you when CAC doesn’t matter. There’s always another new deal to fill the bucket, right?

Well, a lot of companies are now finding out that the churn and burn cycle isn’t sustainable when fundraising dries up and margins start to matter.

So what are the signals that a company is actually customer-centric and not just good at branding?

📈 Measuring customer outcomes as a leading indicator of company success, not just the lagging indicators of retention and expansion

💰 They put money behind the customer experience, e.g. really great self-serve resources, a quick and knowledgeable support team, CSMs with domain expertise, UIs that don’t fight back.

✨ The people who do these jobs are well-treated, well-compensated, and have actual power.

🧙🏼 They don’t over promise just to sign a not-so-great-fit customer that’s going to cost more than they’re worth.

🛣 A product roadmap that reflects not just the needs and wants of their customers, but continues to build on the core offering, i.e. not a sideshow of unformed concepts that are half-hearted attempts at expanding TAM.

🏆 Bonus: if a company has a policy where everyone takes occasional turns in support, run to them. That’s a company where there is going to be alignment as to what reality is, not just everyone's theory of it.