CHURN FM

Andrew Michael

CHURN FM is the podcast for subscription economy pros. Every Wednesday we hear how the world’s fastest growing companies are tackling churn and using retention & engagement to fuel their growth.

  1. 1d ago

    EP309 | Your AI Employee Needs a Job Description

    Today on the show we have Gabe Larsen, Chief Revenue Officer at Atonom, a company building AI employees for businesses. In this episode, Gabe shares what he has learned managing six AI employees, including why inbound lead qualification has worked well while an AI sales rep struggled with larger, relationship-driven deals. He explains why trying to automate an entire customer success role was too broad, and how breaking the work into smaller jobs changed their approach. We then discuss coaching AI employees, measuring cost savings and revenue impact, and running short pilots before making a bigger commitment. We wrap up by exploring why retention needs to be proactively managed, and why buying another tool won’t fix a process you haven’t understood. As usual, I'm excited to hear what you think of this episode, and if you have any feedback, I would love to hear from you. You can email me directly on andrew@churn.fm. Don't forget to follow us on X.

    EP309 | Your AI Employee Needs a Job Description

  2. Nov 4

    EP308 | AI Makes Building Easier. Differentiation Still Takes Work.

    Today on the show we have April Dunford, positioning expert and author of Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch, returning to Churn.fm after her first appearance in 2019. In this episode, April shares why AI makes building products easier without making differentiation disappear, and why a different approach to a customer’s problem matters more than another feature. We then discuss what customers who buy and renew can teach us, how to run customer advisory boards that go beyond feature requests, and why not every product release deserves a launch. We wrap up by exploring how a gap between marketing and sales can create churn, why understanding the alternatives customers actually consider is the starting point for positioning, and what April has learned since the first edition of Obviously Awesome. As usual, I'm excited to hear what you think of this episode, and if you have any feedback, I would love to hear from you. You can email me directly on andrew@churn.fm. Don't forget to follow us on X.

    EP308 | AI Makes Building Easier. Differentiation Still Takes Work.

  3. Oct 21

    EP307 | Signed, Sealed… Now What? Turning New Customers Into Long-Term Growth

    Today on the show we have Emilia D’Anzica, customer success and GTM coach and founder of Growth Molecules. In this episode, Emilia shares why customer lifecycle management is becoming essential for CROs and why the sale is only the beginning of the revenue journey. She explains how customer success, sales, and marketing need to work together across onboarding, adoption, expansion, renewal, and win-back. We then discuss what strong sales-to-CS handoffs look like across product-led and enterprise models, why customer journey mapping is such a powerful operating tool, and how structured win-back programs can recover meaningful revenue. We wrap up by discussing how customer success is changing under usage-based pricing and why business acumen, emotional intelligence, and confidence are becoming must-have skills for modern CSMs. As usual, I'm excited to hear what you think of this episode, and if you have any feedback, I would love to hear from you. You can email me directly on Andrew@churn.fm. Don't forget to follow us on X.

    EP307 | Signed, Sealed… Now What? Turning New Customers Into Long-Term Growth

  4. Sep 30

    EP306 | Beyond Retries: Why Payments Fail and How to Recover Them | Jack Cregan

    Today on the show we have Jack Cregan, Founder of Paymend, a company helping online businesses turn declined transactions into recovered revenue. In this episode, Jack shares his experience building payment infrastructure and explains the underlying mechanics behind why payments fail, from insufficient funds and fraud detection to cross-border transactions and payment processor limitations. We then discuss how Paymend approaches payment recovery through alternative PSPs, card monitoring, and partial authorizations, and we wrap up by exploring how businesses can reduce churn by making their products and infrastructure more embedded and difficult to replace. As usual, I'm excited to hear what you think of this episode, and if you have any feedback, I would love to hear from you. You can email me directly on andrew@churn.fm. Don't forget to follow us on X.

    EP306 | Beyond Retries: Why Payments Fail and How to Recover Them | Jack Cregan

  5. Sep 22

    EP305 | What Happens When Marketing and CS Share a Leader | Rebecca Stone

    Today on the show we have Rebecca Stone, Chief Customer and Marketing Officer at Plume. In this episode, Rebecca shares how bringing marketing and customer success under one leader can create a stronger understanding of the customer journey, from acquisition and adoption through to retention and expansion. We then discussed how Plume measures marketing influence, why customer success should be accountable for expansion revenue, and how the company uses customer data and AI to improve experiences across the entire customer journey. We also explored why customer advocacy, account-level details, and strong collaboration between sales and CS are critical to building long-term customer relationships. As usual, I'm excited to hear what you think of this episode, and if you have any feedback, I would love to hear from you. You can email me directly on Andrew@churn.fm. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter.

    EP305 | What Happens When Marketing and CS Share a Leader | Rebecca Stone

  6. Jun 17

    E304 | Why Product Delight Is No Longer Optional | Nesrine Changuel (Skype, Google, Spotify)

    Today on the show, we have Dr. Nesrine Changuel, founder of Product Excellence and Product Management Career Lab Director at ESSEC Business School. Prior to Product Excellence, Nesrine held senior product roles at Google, Spotify, and Microsoft.  In this episode, we dig into why the technical barrier to building products has dropped so dramatically that functional quality alone can no longer differentiate — and what that means for teams that haven't yet learned to design for emotion.  We explore the concept of product delight, what it actually means beyond confetti and Easter eggs, and how Nesrine's Delight Model Framework gives teams a step-by-step path to building emotional connection into any product — B2C or B2B.  We discuss the real difference between discovery and delivery, why Nesrine spent her first 18 months as a PM doing the wrong job, and what shifted when she stopped babysitting engineers and started owning the why.  Finally, we get into the AI feature psychosis sweeping the market right now — why shipping velocity without emotional intentionality produces Frankenstein products, and why the companies that were great before AI will be great after it, for the same reasons they always were. As always, I’d love to hear from you. You can email me directly at andrew@churn.fm, and don’t forget to follow us on X.

    E304 | Why Product Delight Is No Longer Optional | Nesrine Changuel (Skype, Google, Spotify)

  7. Apr 8

    E303 | Customer Success Is Dead. Meet the Growth Department.

    Today on the show, we have Alex Raymond, founder of AMplify and author of The Growth Department, a book reframing how post-sales teams think about their role inside B2B companies. In this episode, we dig into why customer success and account management are in an identity crisis — and why the answer lies in orienting the entire function around one core purpose: helping the company win.  We explore the “keep, grow, no surprises” framework, how NRR as a North Star metric can align sales and CS around shared incentives, and why consolidating all revenue under a true CRO is becoming a more common org design move. We discuss the confidence gap in CS teams when it comes to commercial conversations, why over-indexing on relationships is one of the most common mistakes in post-sales, and why parachuting an AE back in at renewal is a poor experience for the customer — and for the team. Finally, we tackle the economics hiding in plain sight: why 100% of a company’s profits come from existing customers, how resource allocation between new business and existing accounts is wildly mismatched, and why the language CS and account management professionals use to describe their work has a direct impact on their standing inside the business.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

    E303 | Customer Success Is Dead. Meet the Growth Department.

  8. Feb 25

    E302 | Why 51% of Subscribers Cancel Each Year—and How to Reduce Voluntary Churn

    Today on the show, we have Priya Lakshminarayanan, CPO of Recurly, a subscription management platform empowering brands like Twitch, PupBox, Sprout Social, and Pipedrive to launch, scale, and optimize subscription experiences. In this episode, we dive deep into Recurly's 2026 State of Subscriptions report, uncovering surprising trends that challenge conventional wisdom about churn.  We explore why "selective churn" might actually reflect stronger consumer intent rather than fatigue, and why the pause button has evolved from a red flag into a strategic retention tool. We discuss the dramatic shift in subscriber behavior, including why 51% of consumers cancelled at least one subscription in the last 12 months, how micro-subscriptions are becoming the new trial experience in an AI-driven world, and why traditional free trials are becoming cost-prohibitive as LLM costs rise. Finally, we tackle the loyalty paradox: why transparency and easy cancellation actually drive long-term retention, how annual subscription renewals have become critical inflection points, and why the best retention strategy might be proactively canceling customers who aren't using your service.

    E302 | Why 51% of Subscribers Cancel Each Year—and How to Reduce Voluntary Churn
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Trailer

5
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About

CHURN FM is the podcast for subscription economy pros. Every Wednesday we hear how the world’s fastest growing companies are tackling churn and using retention & engagement to fuel their growth.

Information

  • Creator
    Andrew Michael
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    310
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 CHURN FM
  • Show Website
    CHURN FM

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