From Radio Host to CPO: Why Should You Always Work Backwards from Renewals? ft. Venk Chandran (PathFactory)

The best product leaders don't start in product—they start in customer success.

Nick Mehta, former Gainsight CEO, sits down with PathFactory’s CPO & CCO, Venk Chandran, who built his product career from the ground up in CS. Venk reveals why working backwards from renewals changes everything, how CS teams can drive AI adoption with their customers, and why websites are dying in the age of AI agents. Plus: the art of asking better questions, the emotional differences between CS and product roles, and what we owe our customers in the era of AI.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

- Why starting your career in renewals teaches you to work backwards from value

- How customer success is fundamentally a financial business (and why that matters)

- Why AI agents are replacing websites as the primary B2B buying experience

- How to help customers adopt AI when they're used to manual workflows

- The difference between outbound and inbound product managers (and why you need both)

- Why is delayed gratification in product harder than the instant wins of CS

- How to retrain yourself (and your customers) to ask better questions of AI

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Check out the Key Takeaways & Transcripts: https://www.gainsight.com/presents/series/unchurned/

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Where to Find Venk:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/venkchandran/

Where to Find Nick:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickmehta/

Where to Find Josh:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jschachter/

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In this episode, we cover:

0:00 - Preview & Introduction

1:10 - Venk's Journey From Radio Waves to Product Leadership

7:37 - How Venk Jumped From HR Tech → Sales → CS → Product (and Made It Work)

10:32 - Learning at Salesforce: The Surprising Lesson Venk Learned From Renewals

12:05 - Why CS Is a Financial Business First — The Real Definition of Customer Value

15:19 - CS to CPO: 3 Game-Changing Skills That Make the Transition Possible

17:05 - CS vs. Product: The Emotional Shift No One Talks About

19:51 - PathFactory’s Big Vision — Connecting Content Directly to Revenue (With AI!)

22:28 - Why Websites Are Dying — And What’s Replacing Them

25:35 - Truth, Transparency & Trust: What We Owe Each Other in the AI Era

26:51 - The AI Adoption Problem: Why CS Teams Struggle With Change Management

31:35 - The Art of Asking Better Questions

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Referenced:

Salesforce - https://www.salesforce.com/

Perplexity - https://www.perplexity.ai/

ChatGPT - https://chat.openai.com/