Julie Raeder, Customer Success Coach at Dooly discusses landing your first customer success role without any SaaS experience.
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Everyone has to start their Customer Success career somewhere. But how do you apply for your first customer success role without having any SaaS experience? And what are some of the transferrable skills you can bring from your previous role?
In this episode, our host Anika Zubair chats with Julie Raeder, Customer Success Coach at Dooly about landing your first role as customer success manager without any SaaS experience.
Julie Raeder is a Customer Success Coach at Dooly, but before entering the CS world, she was a basketball coach and special education school teacher for over five years. Without any SaaS experience, she managed to transfer her skills from teaching children to helping customers. So, what are some of the first things you did when you decided to break into a completely new industry and role?
“I made a list of ten companies that I wanted to work for and started following them. I read a ton of books...attended webinars...networked with people in the space. I started understanding how it’s all connected and also relates back to teaching.”
Julie Raeder
Customer Success Manager
SendSafely
Everyone has to start their Customer Success career somewhere. But how do you apply for your first customer success role without having any SaaS experience? And what are some of the transferrable skills you can bring from your previous role?
In this episode, our host Anika Zubair chats with Julie Raeder, Customer Success Coach at Dooly about landing your first role as customer success manager without any SaaS experience.
Julie Raeder is a Customer Success Coach at Dooly, but before entering the CS world, she was a basketball coach and special education school teacher for over five years. Without any SaaS experience, she managed to transfer her skills from teaching children to helping customers. So, what are some of the first things you did when you decided to break into a completely new industry and role?
“I made a list of ten companies that I wanted to work for and started following them. I read a ton of books...attended webinars...networked with people in the space. I started understanding how it’s all connected and also relates back to teaching.”
Julie Raeder
Customer Success Manager
SendSafely
Everyone has to start their Customer Success career somewhere. But how do you apply for your first customer success role without having any SaaS experience? And what are some of the transferrable skills you can bring from your previous role?
In this episode, our host Anika Zubair chats with Julie Raeder, Customer Success Coach at Dooly about landing your first role as customer success manager without any SaaS experience.
Julie Raeder is a Customer Success Coach at Dooly, but before entering the CS world, she was a basketball coach and special education school teacher for over five years. Without any SaaS experience, she managed to transfer her skills from teaching children to helping customers. So, what are some of the first things you did when you decided to break into a completely new industry and role?
“I made a list of ten companies that I wanted to work for and started following them. I read a ton of books...attended webinars...networked with people in the space. I started understanding how it’s all connected and also relates back to teaching.”
Julie Raeder
Customer Success Manager
SendSafely
There are a lot of people looking for jobs right now… What is your biggest piece of advice to someone transitioning into CS?
“Think about what everyone else is doing and think about how you can do the opposite and stand out.”
Julie Raeder
Customer Success Manager
SendSafely
There are a lot of people looking for jobs right now… What is your biggest piece of advice to someone transitioning into CS?
“Think about what everyone else is doing and think about how you can do the opposite and stand out.”
Julie Raeder
Customer Success Manager
SendSafely
There are a lot of people looking for jobs right now… What is your biggest piece of advice to someone transitioning into CS?
“Think about what everyone else is doing and think about how you can do the opposite and stand out.”
Julie Raeder
Customer Success Manager
SendSafely
Listen now to the full conversation with Julie and Anika to learn more about landing your first CS role without any SaaS experience.
Listen now to the full conversation with Julie and Anika to learn more about landing your first CS role without any SaaS experience.
Julie Raeder
Customer Success Manager
SendSafely
Julie is a Customer Success Manager at SendSafely, with a background spanning education, coaching, and SaaS. She brings over 8 years of experience in steering change, most recently supporting revenue teams and enterprise users at Dooly through onboarding, training, and enablement. Prior to tech, she worked in public education and collegiate athletics, building a strong foundation in communication and leadership. Julie blends deep empathy with a tactical mindset, helping customers unlock long-term value through tailored, hands-on support.
Anika Zubair
Founder & CEO
The Customer Success Pro
Anika is a customer success executive and founder with over 10 years of experience helping SaaS teams drive retention, revenue, and confidence at scale. She is the Founder & CEO of The Customer Success Pro, a coaching consultancy for CS professionals, and most recently served as Head of Customer Success at Griffin. Anika has held CS leadership roles at Karbon, inSided, and ZAP, and is known for her practical approach to commercial impact, strategic storytelling, and community-driven growth.
