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Coast

A leading maintenance management software, designed to help the deskless workforce succeed. Our all-in-one, adaptable software makes it easy for companies to set up maintenance management their way.

Role
Customer Support Associate → Head of Customer Success
Company
Coast (SaaS, Late-Stage Startup)
Customers
SMBs and Enterprises
Tenure
February 2023 – Present

Overview

When I joined Coast in February 2023, the company had no dedicated Customer Support or Customer Success function. Two years later, I lead a team of 7-10 people supporting over 1,000 customers and an ARR that has grown from $234K to $4.6M. That growth was a company-wide effort -- but the retention, expansion, and customer experience infrastructure that helped sustain it was built by my team and me, from scratch.

The Challenge

Coast was growing, but its customer operations hadn't kept pace. When I arrived, the company had roughly 170 customers and no formal structure for supporting them. Specifically:

  • Customer inquiries were handled informally across multiple channels with no ownership or prioritization
  • There was no onboarding or implementation process -- new customers were largely left to figure things out on their own
  • Support was entirely reactive, with no documentation, escalation paths, or feedback loops
  • Customer insights were not being captured or shared with Product and Engineering

The risk was clear: without a scalable support and success foundation, churn would accelerate as the customer base grew, and the company's ability to retain and expand revenue would be limited.

My Approach

I was hired as a Customer Support Associate, but quickly identified that the role required building an entire function -- not just answering tickets. Within my first year, I designed and implemented the core systems that would become Coast's Customer Success operation. Within 1-2 years, I was promoted to Head of Customer Success and began scaling the team.

My approach centered on three priorities: stabilize support operations, systematize onboarding, and create visibility into the customer base.

What I Built

1. Coast's First Customer Support Framework

I established structured workflows for handling incoming customer requests -- including prioritization guidelines, escalation paths, and communication standards. This replaced the informal, inconsistent handling that had existed before and gave the team a repeatable system to work from as volume grew.

2. A Scalable Onboarding & Implementation Process

I designed an end-to-end onboarding process that guided new customers through product setup and early adoption. By documenting implementation steps and creating clear milestones, we reduced confusion in the early customer journey and improved time-to-value -- directly contributing to better retention in the critical first 90 days.

3. A Self-Service Documentation Library

To reduce repetitive inquiries and empower customers, I built out a library of help guides, FAQs, and internal troubleshooting documentation. This allowed customers to resolve common issues independently and freed the support team to focus on higher-complexity cases.

4. Customer Feedback Loops with Product & Engineering

I introduced a process for capturing, categorizing, and escalating customer feedback internally. Recurring issues and feature requests were regularly shared with Product and Engineering teams, ensuring the customer voice had a seat at the table in development decisions.

Results & Impact

Coast's growth from 170 to 1,018 customers and from $234K to $4.6M ARR between February 2023 and today reflects a cross-functional effort across CS, Sales, and Product. Within that, the systems my team built directly supported:

  • Retention & churn reduction -- Structured onboarding and proactive success processes helped ensure customers reached value faster and stayed longer
  • Revenue expansion -- By maintaining strong customer relationships and visibility into account health, the CS team was positioned to identify and support upsell and expansion opportunities
  • Referrals & NPS -- A more consistent, high-quality customer experience contributed to positive word-of-mouth and customer satisfaction
  • Operational scale -- Growing from a solo function to a team of 7-10 people while maintaining service quality required building processes that could scale with headcount
170Customers at Start
1,018Customers Today
$234KARR at Start
$4.6MARR Today

What This Demonstrates

This experience reflects my ability to operate as both a builder and a leader -- stepping into ambiguity, designing systems from zero, and then scaling a team to run them. I'm most effective in environments where customer success is still being defined, and where there's an opportunity to make it a true driver of retention and growth -- not just a reactive support function.

Skills

Customer Success StrategyCS OperationsOnboarding & ImplementationProcess DesignCross-functional CollaborationTeam LeadershipCustomer RetentionRevenue Expansion