Co-CEO of Accoil Analytics. We help CS teams and support AI (like Fin) actually use product data.

Recent client 2x'd revenue, then got acquired. Not bad.

Most B2B SaaS companies have product analytics. Mixpanel, PostHog, Amplitude - the data's all there. But CS teams can't get to it (or it's just too damn complicated to make sense of). 

And your support AI? It has no idea that your customer just used your product 47 times this week before opening a ticket.

Accoil fixes that. We connect the product signals to Intercom so Fin knows what's actually happening, and your team knows who needs attention today.

You don't need to know SQL. It doesn't take a 6-month implementation. And you don't end up with health scores that still miss churn.

Before Accoil, I worked with my co-founders on a startup that sold to Atlassian. We grew it using product data the same way Accoil helps others do it now.

I write about: product signals vs sentiment (here's a take: NPS is a polite lie), why the tool won't save you, and building Accoil in public.

DM me if you're running Intercom and want Fin to actually know your customers.

Peter Preston

There's a growing narrative in SaaS right now: AI will replace your CS team 

I think that's wrong. What I see happening is a mix of human replacement and human augmentation. 

CS teams will get smaller. I think most teams will get smaller but the people still left there will be incredibly valuable to your company. 

CROs, Chief Customer Officers, CEOs are asking their teams to manage bigger and bigger books of business. Millions in revenue per CSM, Account Manager, etc. 

You can't do that with spreadsheets, 15 tabs open, and gut feel.

But you also can't do it with a chatbot -- no matter how many signals it takes in.

The people left. The CSM is still in the room. They don't need a replacement. They need better signals. 

Signals can be helped by AI and automation of course:

- Which accounts are slipping well before renewal talks? 
- Who's activated? Who's ready for expansion? 
- What actually changed in an account this week? (What most CS teams don't have is the ability to know if their work is having an impact on real product usage.)

AI is wicked exciting. I don't think the tools that win will be the ones trying to eliminate the humans entirely. 

The tools that win are the ones that make every remaining CSM/account manager/support person dramatically more effective.

By effective I mean knowing where to look, what to do, and when to do it. Instead of bouncing between tabs hoping to find the right bit of information at the right time.

We're in early days in AI. It can already summarize activity, it can already flag risk, it can surface the right accounts at the right time.

So maybe in the long long run, I'll be wrong (like when business is just agent:agent and the humans are all at the beach drinking daiquiris 🍹) 

There's no agent I've seen yet that can build a relationship that saves a $500k  account.

Sentiment analysis does mean that maybe it can read the room in a QBR,  but I don't have a whole lot of faith that it's going to navigate the politics of a multi-stakeholder expansion deal.

We've heard quite a few times now that CSMs feel under threat. Their whole role might go away.

What comes next isn't human vs. AI. It's human + AI*.

The people sticking around doing the hard work, getting on the plane to shake hands with people, show people that they care, they won't go away, and they will only get more and more important.

*AI matters heaps and roles will be reduced because of it. As much as every job feels under threat, builders will look to outcomes as their promise and buyers will look to efficiency.

B2B SaaS CEOs: see NRR risk before the board asks | Co-founder, Accoil & Accoil Advisors

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