First In

You're the first customer success hire. There's no playbook, no CS software, and the founders still answer half the customer emails. Within weeks you'll be asked to cover support, chase invoices and fill in a security questionnaire, because you talk to customers and nobody else owns those things.

The usual advice is true and general: listen first, get quick wins, build process. First In is for the specific moments: the founder who replies to your customer over your head, the fifth "one more thing" this week, the spreadsheet growing its fortieth column, the renewal nobody saw coming.

It's 24 plays for one person working alone. Start on the Find your situation page, pick the line that sounds like your week, and go straight to the play. Each one gives you:

• The situation and the signs, so you know you've picked the right play
• The move, step by step
• Say it like this: words to say to founders, sales and customers, or send as is
• Decision rules for the judgment calls
• A template to copy and fill in
• Watch for: the ways the play can go wrong
• The usual advice next to what to do instead, plus one worked judgement call with the test to use
• A check step: how you'll know it worked, and when to look
• Starting defaults: the numbers I'd begin with, each with its reason
• How it played out: a short made-up example of the play in action
• A walk-away line: when the play has done its job and you should stop or switch
• An AI draft prompt that turns your notes and exports into a first draft. It drafts; you decide.

Nothing here needs a team, a budget or a CS platform. Where a play touches contracts, security commitments or employment terms, it tells you to follow your company's policy and involve the right person. It gives no legal, HR or contract advice.

What's inside

• Your first month: the listening tour, a lost-account file built from your own records, picking one problem, writing your scope down
• The minimum system: spreadsheet before software, the five columns that matter, a first health signal instead of a score, tiers by need as well as size
• Taking over from founders and sales: the founder handoff call, a five-question sales handoff, finding what was promised, the founder who keeps replying
• Your first repeatable processes: onboarding checklist, renewal calendar, check-in rhythm, feedback loop to product, first help content
• Reporting and protecting the role: the monthly founder note, honest retention reporting, the second-hire case, saying no to founders, security questionnaires with no security team, your first escalation path, your 90-day story
• A page for telling similar situations apart, a first-90-days map, a templates index, a renewal measurement worksheet and a standing rules block for your AI assistant
• Weak versions next to better ones: the scope ask, the founder's handoff email, the second-hire job post
• PDF, 48 pages

Who it's for

• The first CSM, account manager or head of customer success at an early-stage software company
• Anyone building CS from nothing while founders still hold the customer relationships
• Founders hiring that person, who want to know what they're asking for

It assumes you know how to talk to customers. It doesn't assume you've built a function before.

Who it isn't for

If you lead an established CS team with tools and process in place, or want a big template library, this isn't it.

Try it first

The free sample has three complete plays: writing your scope down, the five columns that matter, and the founder who keeps replying.

The small print

By Draft First, written by a customer success and support lead. Examples use made-up companies and figures. Not legal, HR or contract advice. Questions: hello@draftfirstcs.com.

All sales are final. Please read the free sample before you buy.

Get First In

Questions before you buy? Email hello@draftfirstcs.com.