In the last few webinars we've discussed what metrics matter for customer success (NRR in CS), and how to drive them for business and career growth (The CCO role).
On that journey you'll likely come across venture capital (VC) investment, so we at Planhat wanted to prepare you for that as well. To do so we've brought in one of the world's leading customer success focused investors, Rav Dhaliwal, as well as two CS leaders that have been through the investor journey themselves on the CS side: Trevor Ticehurst and Teri Bayrock.
They discuss: What VCs expect from companies at each round of investment (Series A, B, C…) and what other factors play a role, how you can be prepared, and how you can prepare your team to scale post-investment, how an investment round affects the CS organisation, the importance of demonstrating the value CS generates and how you can accomplish this.
Christian Jakenfelds
Senior Account Executive
Senior Account Executive
Forecastable
Christian is a customer success and revenue leader with a flair for community-led growth. He currently serves as Senior Account Executive at Forecastable and Go-To-Network Evangelist at Commsor, helping companies drive revenue through trusted networks over traditional outreach. Previously, he spent nearly three years at Planhat, where he earned Top 25 CS Thought Leader recognition and played a key role in product-led research and GTM. Christian began his career at Tessian, rising from CSE to Customer Operations Manager while leading major U.S. accounts and building internal CS tooling. He brings a unique blend of operational depth, storytelling, and strategic thinking.
Rav Dhaliwal
Partner
Partner
Crane Venture Partners
Rav is a veteran investor, advisor, and executive with over 25 years of experience spanning enterprise software, customer success, and infrastructure. Now an Investor, Venture & Limited Partner at Crane Venture Partners, he draws on a deep operating track record at companies including Salesforce, Slack, Zendesk, IBM, Yammer, and Accenture. He built and led Slack’s global CS function as its first London hire, and was twice named a Top 25 Customer Success Influencer. Rav also serves as a board member and strategic advisor across leading SaaS and venture firms.
Teri Bayrock
Head of Customer Operations
Head of Customer Operations
WeGift
Teri Bayrock has spent over 10 years building client facing teams within quickly growing tech companies. Her experience spans multiple industries across B2B, B2C, B2B2C. As a founding member of Hootsuite CS, she helped navigate the team through funding rounds and hyper growth, establishing a high calibre global support presence. Since then, she’s been growing world class client teams in the UK and has joined WeGift as Head of Customer Operations.
Customers
© 2025 Planhat AB
Customers
© 2025 Planhat AB
Customers
© 2025 Planhat AB
Customers
© 2025 Planhat AB