The team needed a trusted line to power users, and none existed. I founded a customer advisory community in EMEA, sequenced its expansion to two more regions, and ran the research practice off it.
In one minute
SituationFeedback was ad hoc, and the most valuable customers, often the most at risk, had no relationship with the people building the product.
What I didDesigned the program, hand-selected the founding cohort, built a scoring model for expansion, and wired the cohort into the product process as a standing research pool.
Outcome7 of 8 founding accounts are still in the program a year in, and one renewed citing the program as a big reason.
Result7 of 8Founding accounts still in the program a year in; the only loss was a layoff
Result2Founding accounts renewed, one citing the program as a big reason
Result8Roadmap items validated or influenced by the cohort, 3 since shipped
Decisions
Decision 01 / 04
Weight membership toward power users and at-risk accounts
I hand-selected a founding cohort across travel, food, fintech, retail, and tech, and designed a year-long cadence: an in-person kickoff, monthly virtual sessions, quarterly events, and a dedicated channel. Within 48 hours, 85.7% of founding members had joined the channel.
Fig. A hand-selected cohort across five verticals, with a year-long cadence from day oneDecision 02 / 04
Expand by score, not enthusiasm
I built a model ranking 15 cities by churn risk, account size, renewal timing, and growth potential, then sequenced the rollout across EMEA, North America, and Asia-Pacific through a nomination process the account teams owned.
Fig. Expansion sequenced across three regions by scoreDecision 03 / 04
Make the program change the product
A community only earns its keep if it changes the product. I wired the cohort into the product process as a standing recruitment pool, and it ran 7 concurrent studies across product areas, each framed as a hypothesis it could disprove.
Member input has to show up in what ships. Otherwise the whole program is just theater.Program-to-product principle
Fig. Community input traced to roadmap influence, 3 of 8 items since shippedDecision 04 / 04
Treat at-risk accounts as the proof
The accounts most worth investing in were often weighing competitors mid-contract. A member evaluating a direct competitor fought internally to keep their company on the platform, and the company renewed, citing the program as a big reason.
Fig. An at-risk account turned internal advocate through sustained engagement