CELab: The Customer Education Lab

CELab
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CELab is the Customer Education Lab for Innovative Customer Success, Enablement, and Marketing Teams. Our mission is to explore how to build Customer Education programs, experiment with new approaches, and exterminate the myths and bad advice that stop growth dead in its tracks.

  1. 1D AGO

    CELab - Ep 181 - Kelly Mullaney - From “Team of One” to 10x Impact: How AI Is Rewiring Customer Education

    In this episode of the Customer Education Lab, Adam Avramescu sits down with Kelly Mullaney, Head of AI Guild at Juniper Square, to unpack how AI is actually changing Customer Education. Kelly traces his journey from tax tech writer at Microsoft, to leading Customer Education at Envestnet, to building AI Guild—an internal enablement function focused on helping teams 10x their productivity with AI. Along the way, he shares concrete builds: an AI‑driven help center that watches code commits and auto‑drafts release notes and docs, a 37‑agent competitive intelligence system feeding Slack, and experiments in “vibe‑coded” e‑learning that challenge what LMSs and SCORM should look like in an AI‑first world. Adam and Kelly go deep on the questions every Customer Education and Customer Success leader is wrestling with: Will AI kill our jobs, or amplify our impact? When does it make sense to build with AI versus buy another SaaS tool? How can small, scrappy teams of one keep up when engineering output increases 10x? You’ll hear a practical breakdown of the Anthropic stack (Claude Chat, Code Desktop, Cowork, Design, Managed Agents), a simple “80% AI / 20% human‑in‑the‑loop” mental model, and a candid look at the future of help centers, LMSs, and documentation. If you’re trying to move past the hype and see what AI‑enabled customer education really looks like, this episode is for you. We talk about: AI as the new “electricity”: why simply bolting AI onto old workflows fails—and what it means to rewire your education stack. Kelly’s path: tech writer → running Customer Education at a $5B company → leading AI Guild at Juniper Square. Human‑in‑the‑loop: using AI to get to 80% done and relying on experts for the final 20% quality bar. AI‑driven help centers: monitoring Git repos for meaningful commits, pulling Jira context, applying style guides, and auto‑drafting release notes and help docs. Fixed docs vs. AI assistants: why Kelly layers AI chat on top of a traditional help center instead of replacing it outright. Discovering content gaps: using AI search and chat logs to identify missing documentation and new questions customers are asking. Build vs. buy math: when building 80% of a SaaS tool in a weekend (with Claude + Supabase + agents) beats paying $30–60K per year. Agentic competitive intel: 37 Claude agents monitor competitors, post daily briefs to Slack, and learn from a feedback loop. Rethinking LMS and SCORM: legacy tools’ reporting limitations vs. what AI‑enabled tracking and analysis can unlock. Demystifying Anthropic’s stack: how Claude Chat, Code, Cowork, Design, MCPs/connectors, and Managed Agents fit together. Tool choice vs. governance: innovating even when your company only “allows” one AI vendor like Copilot. Why CE leaders are primed for AI: curiosity, user empathy, and great questions matter more than coding backgrounds. Getting started advice: don’t just “insert AI into the SDLC”—reimagine your education model for a 10x‑faster product team.

    59 min

  2. MAY 5

    CELab - Ep 180 - Lila Krutel - How MCP + AI Are Shifting Power Back to Customer Education Leaders

    In this episode of the Customer Education Lab we sit down with longtime friend and customer education leader Lila Krutel at Skilljar by Gainsight to unpack how MCP (Model Context Protocol) and modern AI tools like Claude are reshaping the role of Customer Education in B2B SaaS. Together they explore how MCP acts like “arms” for your AI assistant—connecting it to systems like your LMS and Customer Success Platform so you can finally query, explore, and analyze your own data without waiting in the CS Ops queue.   Lila shares concrete, in-the-trenches stories from Gainsight, including how she used Gainsight’s CS MCP plus Claude to identify customers with unused training passes, analyze the business impact of admin certification, and start connecting education programs to ARR and retention - all without writing SQL or begging for a special report. If you’ve ever felt blocked by data access, stuck waiting on BI dashboards, or unsure how to “prove” the value of education, this conversation will show you the art of the possible and give you practical ways to start experimenting—safely, skeptically, and out loud—with AI in your own CE or CS org.

    1h 6m

  3. APR 16

    CELab - Ep 179 - How Jess Katz Built an AI‑Powered Customer Education Org as a Team of One

    In this episode of the Customer Education Lab, we sit down with Jess Katz, Senior Customer Education Manager at Forter, to unpack how she built an AI‑powered customer education function as a team of one. Jess walks us through her journey from joining Forter with a blank slate and an aggressive launch timeline, to orchestrating a “swarm” of more than 20 specialized AI agents that now support everything from research and course design to writing, video scripts, and brand voice. You’ll hear how Jess leveraged an internal AI hackathon to create her first product‑ and brand‑trained agent, then scaled that approach into a full “agentic learning” stack using tools like Claude, Gemini, Glean, and video platforms such as Clueso—plus a next‑gen AI‑native LMS. She explains her step‑by‑step method for designing agents, reverse‑engineering “what good looks like,” and acting as the strategic director of a hybrid team of humans and AI. If you care about Customer Education, Customer Success, or doing more with less through AI, this episode is a practical, down‑to‑earth blueprint for where our field is heading. Click here for our Agentic Learning Survey for Customer Education! Episode Highlights: From zero to launch: How Jess joined Forter with no existing customer education function and set an aggressive timeline to ship a full Help Center and Academy. Team of one → team of many (agents): Why she now operates with 20+ specialized AI agents across research, writing, analysis, and design. Agentic learning in practice: A concrete definition of agentic learning as a network of domain‑trained AI agents supporting both creators and learners. Hackathon origin story: How an internal AI hackathon (open to non‑engineers) became the catalyst for Forter’s first product‑ and brand‑trained agent. Replacing weeks of meetings: Case study where an agent analyzed a product screen recording and drafted a full article outline, saving weeks of PM/PMM + CE collaboration. Multi‑agent workflows: Using Glean to mine 100+ pages of onboarding data, one agent to analyze patterns, and another to convert that into on‑brand course modules. Strategic director mindset: Moving from “content producer” to director of a hybrid human + AI team, focusing on goals, quality, and business impact. and much, much more ...

    1h 17m

  4. APR 16

    CELab - Ep 179 - How Jess Katz Built an AI‑Powered Customer Education Org as a Team of One

    In this episode of the Customer Education Lab, we sit down with Jess Katz, Senior Customer Education Manager at Forter, to unpack how she built an AI‑powered customer education function as a team of one. Jess walks us through her journey from joining Forter with a blank slate and an aggressive launch timeline, to orchestrating a “swarm” of more than 20 specialized AI agents that now support everything from research and course design to writing, video scripts, and brand voice. You’ll hear how Jess leveraged an internal AI hackathon to create her first product‑ and brand‑trained agent, then scaled that approach into a full “agentic learning” stack using tools like Claude, Gemini, Glean, and video platforms such as Clueso—plus a next‑gen AI‑native LMS. She explains her step‑by‑step method for designing agents, reverse‑engineering “what good looks like,” and acting as the strategic director of a hybrid team of humans and AI. If you care about Customer Education, Customer Success, or doing more with less through AI, this episode is a practical, down‑to‑earth blueprint for where our field is heading. Here's the link to Jess's LinkedIn Article, "How I Built a Scalable Customer Education Engine as a Team of One Using AI Agents". We're also very interested to learn from you! Click here for our Agentic Learning Survey for Customer Education! Episode Highlights: From zero to launch: How Jess joined Forter with no existing customer education function and set an aggressive timeline to ship a full Help Center and Academy. Team of one → team of many (agents): Why she now operates with 20+ specialized AI agents across research, writing, analysis, and design. Agentic learning in practice: A concrete definition of agentic learning as a network of domain‑trained AI agents supporting both creators and learners. Hackathon origin story: How an internal AI hackathon (open to non‑engineers) became the catalyst for Forter’s first product‑ and brand‑trained agent. Replacing weeks of meetings: Case study where an agent analyzed a product screen recording and drafted a full article outline, saving weeks of PM/PMM + CE collaboration. Multi‑agent workflows: Using Glean to mine 100+ pages of onboarding data, one agent to analyze patterns, and another to convert that into on‑brand course modules. Strategic director mindset: Moving from “content producer” to director of a hybrid human + AI team, focusing on goals, quality, and business impact. and much, much more ...

    1h 16m

  5. APR 3

    CELab - Ep 178 - From Order Taker to Trusted Consultant: How Action Mapping & Brainstorm Transformed Customer Education at Quickbase

    In this episode, we are joined by Ashley DeKerlegand, Director of Customer Education and CX Enablement at Quickbase, to unpack how she transformed Quickbase University from “optional training” into a core driver of expansion and reduced churn. Ashley shares her journey from manufacturing and product training into SaaS, how she built and now leads a 12-person global team, and why Quickbase’s customer education program is tightly woven into the company’s onboarding and Failure-to-Launch strategy. Ashley and Dave go deep on action mapping as a performance-first design framework, how Ashley evaluated 13+ learning platforms before choosing Brainstorm, and why private, co-branded customer portals have become a game-changer for governance, security, and adoption. You’ll hear how she partners with Sales, CS, and Product, uses customer interviews and Gong calls to shape strategy, and is now reorienting learning paths around AI-powered app building and customer-specific use cases. Episode Highlights: How Ashley repositioned Customer Education from “nice-to-have” to core expansion strategy at Quickbase   Using Failure to Launch (no app built in 60–90 days) as a key churn signal and CE design input   Moving from order-taking (“we need a course”) to strategic problem-solving using action mapping   The four blocker categories in action mapping: environment, knowledge, skill, and motivation   Why traditional frameworks like ADDIE/SAM often break down in fast-moving SaaS environments   The power of private, branded customer portals for governance, security, and co-created content   Turning CSMs, TAMs, and Sales into educators and content contributors (without overwhelming them)   and much, much more ...

    53 min

  6. MAR 4

    CELab - Ep 177 - How Kevin Lee Turned “Scrappy” Video into a Scaled Customer Education Engine

    In this episode of CELab, we welcome content creator Kevin Lee to unpack how “scrappy” social-style video can transform Customer Education and scaled Customer Success. Kevin shares his journey from running a Rubik’s Cube meme account and a 200K-subscriber YouTube channel to launching Atlassian Answered, a video series that has generated over 2 million organic impressions and hundreds of thousands of views—without paid promotion. Along the way, he explains why most B2B content fails to land, how to “earn” attention instead of assuming it, and why simplifying corporate jargon is like teaching calculus to someone who’s still in geometry. Together, we dig into the craft behind effective educational content: from scripting for real humans instead of internal stakeholders, to using video as a scaled “virtual CSM,” to practical production tactics like no-pause editing, intentional cropping, and focusing on audio over fancy visuals. They also explore how employee-generated content (EGC), personal branding, and authentic on-camera presence can amplify product education, drive adoption, and build trust at scale. If you’re in Customer Education, Customer Success, or Product Marketing and you’re serious about using content to move the needle, this conversation will give you a playbook you can start testing this week. Highlights: How to turn complex B2B products into simple, relatable stories your customers actually get Why audio quality, pacing, and presence matter more than cinematic visuals The “geometry vs. calculus” model for simplifying corporate jargon Using employee-generated content (EGC) and personal brands to amplify your product education Practical editing tricks: no-pause audio, crop-in/crop-out, and using text sparingly but strategically How to repurpose video across the journey: onboarding, in-product guidance, help center, and renewal

    51 min

  7. FEB 20

    CELab - Ep 176 - Uplimit - From Hype to Outcomes — AI Enablement That Actually Changes Behavior

    Customer education has outgrown the LMS era. In this episode of CELab we down with Zayd Badwan, Chief Revenue & Customer Officer at Uplimit, and Yash Tekriwal, who leads education and cohort programs at Clay, to ask a hard question: if your main metric is still course completion, are you already behind? Together, they unpack how AI, cohort-based learning, and practice-first design are transforming customer education from “check-the-box training” into a true lever for product adoption and revenue. You’ll hear how Uplimit and Clay are using AI to automate the admin work that slows teams down, generate practice experiences at scale, and actually measure behavior change and skill improvement—not just time spent watching videos. The conversation ranges from cohort-based onboarding for enterprise customers, to AI-powered role plays and rubrics, to tying learning programs directly to product usage and activation metrics. If you care about Customer Education, Customer Success, or Enablement, this episode is a blueprint for moving beyond the hype and building programs your CFO—and your customers—will love. Key Takeways: The “sucker’s choice” in learning: scale with async and get low outcomes, or deliver high-touch experiences that don’t scale—and how AI changes that tradeoff. Why completion rates aren’t enough: shifting from “who finished the course?” to “who can actually do the behavior that drives product value?” Cohort-based customer onboarding: Clay’s enterprise cohorts that get customers to a live, deployed workflow before their first call with a strategist. Using “onboarding complete” as a signal that a customer is ready for strategic work, not just basic setup. AI-powered practice at scale: Role plays, brainstorms, and screen-recording uploads graded by AI against a rubric. GE Healthcare’s example: thousands of SME hours saved by automating role play assessment. From content consumption to competency: Designing exercises that assess how well someone understands and applies concepts, not just whether they watched a video. Moving from binary “activated / not activated” to a spectrum of competency and product proficiency. Admin and operations automation: AI grouping learners, tracking participation, and sending smart nudges in Slack/Teams. AI-assisted course creation from slide decks, product docs, or talks—getting teams 80–90% of the way there. Behavior change as the real goal: Measuring skill improvement (e.g., 12% skill uplift) and tying it to time-to-value, product usage, and revenue. Using product data (activation, feature usage, MAU) together with learning analytics to prove CE/CS impact. Social and community-based learning: Learners coaching each other in Slack, not just relying on CSMs or TAs. Encouraging learners to share their wins publicly (e.g., LinkedIn posts about what they built) to drive advocacy and organic growth. Personalization with AI “tutors”: Tailoring scenarios and role plays to learner role, industry, and use case (e.g., government, specific product surface areas). Cutting down “re-learn what I already know” time and focusing on the delta that actually matters. Strategic implication for CS leaders: Free...

    1h 1m

  8. JAN 29

    CELab Ep 175 - From Click-Paths to Conversations: Roberto Aiello on AI, Localization, and Customer Education

    In this episode of the Customer Education Lab, Adam Avramescu sits down with his Personio teammate and Senior Learning Experience Designer Roberto Aiello for a deep dive into what modern customer education really looks like in 2026. They unpack how an international company with an English working language and a massive German market grapples with localization, terminology, and tone—including why “just translate it” fails, and how to design for truly native experiences instead. Roberto shares concrete stories from Personio’s Voyager Academy, like localizing character names, handling UI screenshots in multiple languages, and deciding what not to translate. From there, the conversation shifts into AI-assisted content creation and distribution. Roberto walks through how he used AI to co-create a compensation course—turning scarce SME time into a solid 60–70% draft—and then scaled that approach into reusable assistants for brainstorming, course design, and promotional comms. Adam and Roberto also dig into how they mapped academy content to activation milestones, setup wizards, and implementation email journeys, so customers see the right learning at exactly the right moment. If you care about Customer Education, Digital CS, or scaled CX, this episode is a masterclass in moving from “more content” to measurable customer outcomes. Episode Highlights: Why localization ≠ translation, and how cultural nuance (e.g., The Simpsons in Italy) changes tone, jokes, and stereotypes. The trap of forcing English tone and structure into other languages—and why native reviewers must have the final say. How Personio decides what terminology to localize vs. leave in English (“Dinglish”), especially in tech and HR products. Practical workflow: producing content in English, then using vendors + native reviewers + AI to localize efficiently. Using AI assistants (via langdock) to: Draft HR skill courses (like compensation) from SME interviews and public domain expertise. Encode style guides, glossaries, and frameworks so drafts are on-brand and consistent. Generate promo copy (emails, posts) as part of a repeatable, scalable workflow. The real benefit of AI: freeing up time for strategic thinking—like distribution, campaigns, and mapping to business outcomes. Why translation memory and maintenance are harder than translation itself, and why integration across tools matters. Leveraging tools like Parta for on-brand, collaborative content creation, and Clueso for scalable, localized video. Personio’s AI Surge Week: workshop design to help non-experts adopt AI for content creation through live examples and iteration. Rebuilding the essentials learning path by mapping: Activation milestones  Academy content  Setup wizard steps  Implementation email journeys Example: surfacing targeted content at the people data upload step to reduce anxiety (GDPR, privacy, data scope). Why “more content” is not the goal—surfacing the right content at the right time is. The future: products that “talk” to custom...

    1h 4m
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CELab is the Customer Education Lab for Innovative Customer Success, Enablement, and Marketing Teams. Our mission is to explore how to build Customer Education programs, experiment with new approaches, and exterminate the myths and bad advice that stop growth dead in its tracks.

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