A few predictable inflections break customer success and cost a software company its customers. Carter Douglas catches them early, rebuilds what broke, and runs it until it holds.
A few predictable inflections break customer success and cost a software company its customers. Carter Douglas catches them early, rebuilds what broke, and runs it until it holds.
Fractional Customer
Success Leadership
◼
our practice
$0B
$0B
ARR Led
Founder experience building, operating, and fixing Customer Success at global scale
0X
0X
Global CS Leader
Led global CS teams across Microsoft, Splunk, Cisco, and Dell.
Fractional Customer Success leadership for every inflection
Customer Success is a system, not a department, and a misaligned system turns existential at an inflection. Most teams discover it at renewal instead of diagnosing it early. Carter Douglas steps in as fractional leadership to diagnose the inflection, rebuild the operating model, and run it through the moment to protect and grow recurring revenue.
This is Customer Success run as a revenue discipline.
◼
find your risk
Every company hits these. Which is yours?
Choose the inflection that Carter Douglas can help you solve. Each is a predictable turn that breaks the Customer Success system when the business changes, discovered at renewal instead of diagnosed early. Our work focuses on the segmentation, coverage, operating models, and renewal-risk systems that decide whether it survives the turn and scales with confidence.
Choose the inflection that Carter Douglas can help you solve. Each is a predictable turn that breaks the Customer Success system when the business changes, discovered at renewal instead of diagnosed early. Our work focuses on the segmentation, coverage, operating models, and renewal-risk systems that decide whether it survives the turn and scales with confidence.
THE RISK
Built to win new logos, not expand the base
New logos are getting harder to win, and growth now comes from the base. We shift customer success from a land-and-onboard motion to an expansion motion that owns net revenue retention.
LEARN MORE
THE RISK
Built to win new logos, not expand the base
New logos are getting harder to win, and growth now comes from the base. We shift customer success from a land-and-onboard motion to an expansion motion that owns net revenue retention.
LEARN MORE
THE RISK
CS Built for SMB, Selling to Enterprise
You're winning SMB on a tech-touch motion, but enterprise deals bring more stakeholders and longer cycles, and that motion can't carry them. We rebuild it into a high-touch motion run on success plans and executive alignment.
LEARN MORE
THE RISK
CS Built for SMB, Selling to Enterprise
You're winning SMB on a tech-touch motion, but enterprise deals bring more stakeholders and longer cycles, and that motion can't carry them. We rebuild it into a high-touch motion run on success plans and executive alignment.
LEARN MORE
THE RISK
Growth is hiding a broken CS model
Your leapfrog product is growing logos and revenue in spite of CS, but rivals are catching up, exposing a team focused on implementation and usage. We build the value realization it never had.
LEARN MORE
THE RISK
Growth is hiding a broken CS model
Your leapfrog product is growing logos and revenue in spite of CS, but rivals are catching up, exposing a team focused on implementation and usage. We build the value realization it never had.
LEARN MORE
◼
YOUR WORK, YOUR WAY
A delivery approach
for every need
Pick the engagement style that fits the moment: workshop, assessment, operating partner, or builder-operator.
Pick the engagement style that fits the moment: workshop, assessment, operating partner, or builder-operator.
Workshop
Align it
A facilitated session designed to align stakeholders, clarify decisions, and create practical next steps.
VIEW DETAILS
Assessment
Diagnose it
A structured diagnostic of your current model that shows the gaps and the risk to recurring revenue.
VIEW DETAILS
Operating partner
Guide it
A senior operating partner on call for the decisions that move recurring revenue, without a full-time hire.
VIEW DETAILS
Builder-Operator
Solve It
A proven builder-operator embedded in your business, building and running Customer Success through the inflection.
VIEW DETAILS
Workshop
Align it
A facilitated session designed to align stakeholders, clarify decisions, and create practical next steps.
VIEW DETAILS
Assessment
Diagnose it
A structured diagnostic of your current model that shows the gaps and the risk to recurring revenue.
VIEW DETAILS
Operating partner
Guide it
A senior operating partner on call for the decisions that move recurring revenue, without a full-time hire.
VIEW DETAILS
Builder-Operator
Solve It
A proven builder-operator embedded in your business, building and running Customer Success through the inflection.
VIEW DETAILS
◼
benefits
Aligning
Customer Success
through change
We align your operation so revenue holds steady through the moments that threaten it.
Risk surfaced before it compounds
We move first, with a fast, quantified read of what the inflection puts at recurring revenue, who owns each risk, and how much time you have. You act on the number while it still moves.
Revenue at risk
Early read
Risk ownership
Risk surfaced before it compounds
We move first, with a fast, quantified read of what the inflection puts at recurring revenue, who owns each risk, and how much time you have. You act on the number while it still moves.
Revenue at risk
Early read
Risk ownership
An operator in the seat in weeks
A proven builder-operator on the problem in weeks, fractional by design, so you get senior operating capacity exactly when the moment demands it, with no permanent seat to commit to.
Weeks not months
Fractional
Operator-grade
An operator in the seat in weeks
A proven builder-operator on the problem in weeks, fractional by design, so you get senior operating capacity exactly when the moment demands it, with no permanent seat to commit to.
Weeks not months
Fractional
Operator-grade
A model rebuilt for the inflection
The operating model rebuilt for the specific inflection you are in, new market, acquisition, churn spike, or leadership gap, and run through the moment until it holds on its own.
Rebuilt to fit
Operating model
Inflection-ready
A model rebuilt for the inflection
The operating model rebuilt for the specific inflection you are in, new market, acquisition, churn spike, or leadership gap, and run through the moment until it holds on its own.
Rebuilt to fit
Operating model
Inflection-ready
Revenue protected through the inflection.
You come through the inflection with recurring revenue protected rather than leaking. Renewals hold, stalled expansion gets captured, and net revenue retention moves in the right direction, on a model that keeps running after we hand it back.
Retention
Expansion
NRR
Revenue protected through the inflection.
You come through the inflection with recurring revenue protected rather than leaking. Renewals hold, stalled expansion gets captured, and net revenue retention moves in the right direction, on a model that keeps running after we hand it back.
Retention
Expansion
NRR
◼
FAQ
Got questions?
Start here.
We know choosing a builder-operator is a big decision. These are the answers leaders usually ask first.
We know choosing a builder-operator is a big decision. These are the answers leaders usually ask first.
When is the right time to bring you in?
When something is shifting and recurring revenue is exposed: a new market, an acquisition, rising churn, fast growth, or a gap in leadership. We step in at those moments, see what is at risk quickly, and start protecting revenue while the change is still in motion. Earlier beats waiting until a renewal cycle is already lost.
How is this different from a consultant?
A consultant assesses and hands you a deck. We embed as a fractional operating partner, do the work, and stay accountable for the result. We diagnose, rebuild, and operate through the change, then hand back something that keeps working without us.
What is included in an engagement?
We diagnose where recurring revenue is exposed, rebuild the operation that protects it, and run that operation through the change. You get the assessment, the rebuilt way of working, and a hands-on operator accountable for retention and net revenue, not a set of recommendations to implement yourself.
How do you work with our existing team?
Who should participate?" We work alongside your team, not above it. We bring the operating discipline and senior bandwidth they are stretched for during the change, set clear ownership, and leave the team stronger and the operation running once we step out.
Is there a long-term contract?
No. Engagements are fractional and scoped to the change you are working through. You get senior operating capacity for as long as the moment needs it, with no permanent headcount to carry afterward.
Do you create board-ready materials?
Yes. Part of the work is one clear, defensible story about where recurring revenue is at risk and what is being done about it, in language a board and investors trust.
When is the right time to bring you in?
When something is shifting and recurring revenue is exposed: a new market, an acquisition, rising churn, fast growth, or a gap in leadership. We step in at those moments, see what is at risk quickly, and start protecting revenue while the change is still in motion. Earlier beats waiting until a renewal cycle is already lost.
How is this different from a consultant?
A consultant assesses and hands you a deck. We embed as a fractional operating partner, do the work, and stay accountable for the result. We diagnose, rebuild, and operate through the change, then hand back something that keeps working without us.
What is included in an engagement?
We diagnose where recurring revenue is exposed, rebuild the operation that protects it, and run that operation through the change. You get the assessment, the rebuilt way of working, and a hands-on operator accountable for retention and net revenue, not a set of recommendations to implement yourself.
How do you work with our existing team?
Who should participate?" We work alongside your team, not above it. We bring the operating discipline and senior bandwidth they are stretched for during the change, set clear ownership, and leave the team stronger and the operation running once we step out.
Is there a long-term contract?
No. Engagements are fractional and scoped to the change you are working through. You get senior operating capacity for as long as the moment needs it, with no permanent headcount to carry afterward.
Do you create board-ready materials?
Yes. Part of the work is one clear, defensible story about where recurring revenue is at risk and what is being done about it, in language a board and investors trust.