Customer Success in the AI Era
Customer Success in the AI Era
Presented by East Bay Founders · Thursday, September 24, 2026 · 4:30 PM – 8:30 PM
[VENUE TBD] · [Street address] · [City, CA]
AI has changed how fast customers expect value, how much they'll tolerate before they leave, and how much of the post-sale motion a small team can actually run. But the fundamental has not changed — customers renew when they get the outcome they bought, and no amount of automation covers for a product that doesn't deliver one.
Following our July session on capital — which investors fit which businesses, and how funding shifts across stage transitions — this gathering turns to the demand side: what customers actually buy, which success motion fits your business, and how the post-sale organization has to change as you scale.
This isn't a one-off event. It's an ecosystem.
One presentation, one panel, one arc. The opening presentation lays out the frame: which customer success model your business actually needs — most founders copy a motion built for a company that looks nothing like theirs. The closing panel pressure-tests that frame against operators who have lived it: how the post-sale motion changes stage to stage, and where AI genuinely carries load versus where it quietly costs you renewals.
THE FRAMEWORK
The 4Cs of the Founder Ecosystem
Enduring companies are built where four forces intersect: Capital, Competencies, Customers, and Cities.
East Bay Founders exists to bring these forces together — creating the conditions for companies to start, scale, and succeed. This event focuses on the third C: Customers.
THE AGENDA
4:30 – 5:00 PM — Registration, Networking & Refreshments Doors open. Meet founders, operators, post-sale leaders, and builders from across the East Bay and Silicon Valley ecosystem.
5:00 – 5:10 PM — East Bay Founders Introduction The East Bay Founders community and the mission behind building a founder ecosystem across cities, capital networks, and technology operators.
5:10 – 5:20 PM — Welcome from [VENUE HOST TBD] Opening remarks by [Host name, title, organization].
5:20 – 6:05 PM — Presentation: Models of Customer Success in the AI Era Every company has customers — but very few need the same success motion. A working walk-through of the full landscape of post-sale models: product-led and self-serve, high-touch enterprise, services- and implementation-led, and partner- or channel-led. When each fits, when each doesn't, what it actually costs to run, and where AI changes the math.
Presenter: [PRESENTER TBD] — [Title, Company]
6:05 – 6:20 PM — User Group Update The six East Bay Founders User Groups — Go to Market, Product, Customer Success, Financial Systems, Business Systems, Engineering Systems — how they run, how to join, and what's ahead.
6:20 – 6:25 PM — Sponsorship Update Our sponsors, and how organizations partner with East Bay Founders.
6:25 – 6:40 PM — Break & Refreshments
6:40 – 7:25 PM — Panel: Scaling the Post-Sale Motion Founder-led support does not survive contact with the fiftieth customer. What are the real inflection points — first CS hire, first churn cohort, first expansion motion, first AI agent in the loop? When does each shift happen, what breaks at each one, and how does it differ across software, services, hardware, and frontier tech?
Moderator: [MODERATOR TBD]
[Panelist 1 TBD] — [Title, Company] · Founder-Led to First CSM
[Panelist 2 TBD] — [Title, Company] · Retention & Net Revenue Retention
[Panelist 3 TBD] — [Title, Company] · AI-Augmented Support at Scale
[Panelist 4 TBD] — [Title, Company] · Enterprise Buyer / Renewal Decision-Maker
7:25 – 7:35 PM — Closing Wrap-up, what's next, and how to plug in.
7:35 – 8:30 PM — Light Dinner & Networking
THE ROOM
Who Should Attend
Founders building companies of every shape — software, services, hardware, frontier tech
Customer success, support, and post-sale leaders
Revenue operations, renewals, and account management teams
Product and engineering leaders who own retention outcomes
Enterprise buyers who renew, expand, or churn vendors
Ecosystem builders and operators
Light dinner and refreshments will be provided.
THE COMMUNITY
About East Bay Founders
East Bay Founders is a community connecting capital, colleagues, customers, and cities to help entrepreneurs learn faster, build smarter, and scale companies that last.
Where Founders Grow. www.eastbayfounders.net