Emma Lo

Customer Success & RevOps Leader | Podcast host of CS In Focus | Help businesses accelerate in customer-led growth

Results-driven Customer Success executive and SaaS startup founder with 13+ years of experience in tech and e-commerce. Passionate about leveraging data-driven strategies to boost customer satisfaction, retention, and revenue growth.

💼 Career Highlights:

- Founded and scaled customer success teams, increasing NPS from 79% to 89%
- Drove $35M+ in revenue, achieving 40% increase in retention
- Built and led high-performing remote teams across customer success, marketing, and operations
- Developed strategies resulting in $7MM ARR from enterprise B2B accounts
- Maintained 119% Net Revenue Retention with zero logo churn

🚀 Expertise:

- Customer Success Strategy & Operations
- Revenue Growth & Retention Optimization
- SaaS Startup Leadership & Scaling
- Cross-functional Team Management
- Data-Driven Decision Making


🔧 Tech Stack:

ChurnZero, Gong, Salesforce, Zendesk, HubSpot, Atlassian, and more

Combining a unique background in healthcare research with tech leadership, I bring an analytical approach to solving complex business challenges. 

--------------

🤝 Let's connect if you're interested in:

- Customer-centric growth strategies
- SaaS scaling and operations
- Revenue optimization in tech startups

Always open to discussing new opportunities and sharing insights on customer success and revenue growth in the tech industry.

#CustomerSuccess #SaaS #RevenueGrowth #StartupLeadership

Manager, Customer Success

- Organize Quarterly Customer Advisory Board
- Implement digital customer success strategies to provide scalable support.
- Utilize data analytics to understand customer behaviour and needs.
- Ensure effective onboarding and adoption of Noibu's platform by customers.
- Proactively identify risks and reduce churn.
- Enhance customer satisfaction and retention through targeted digital interactions.

Emma Lo 🧩

My first Thanksgiving memory is not the turkey. 🦃

It is a teacher.



I was 5.
New to New Jersey.
New to English.

Mrs. Johnson asked us to cut out paper turkeys.
She talked about harvest and pilgrims.


A local newspaper came that day.

They took a picture of me dressed as a pilgrim,
sitting at a tiny table, eating pumpkin pie.

I do not remember how the pie tasted.
I remember her kindness.


After school, she would sit with me one on one.

Point to an apple.
Say “Apple.” 🍎
Wait for me to repeat it back.

Day after day, she gave me something my grades could not show yet.

Belonging.

——————————-


Life moved on.

I grew up, built a career, moved countries.

But I never forgot her.


Years later, as an adult, I wrote a letter to thank her.

The school forwarded it to her family. 

A few weeks later, a reply arrived from her retirement home in Florida. 

She still remembered me.
Almost 40 years later.

——————————-

When people talk about opportunity, this is who I think of.

Yes, my parents worked hard.
Yes, I worked hard.


But before all of that, there was a teacher who made room for a quiet five-year-old immigrant at the table.

Who slowed down.

Who showed me, in a new country, that I was not an outsider.



This Thanksgiving, I am grateful for the Mrs. Johnsons of the world.

The people who:

→ Explain the simple things without making you feel small

→ Notice who is struggling and stay a little longer

→ Remember you, even decades later



If someone did that for you, this is your reminder.

Write the letter.

Send the message.

Say thank you while you still can.


#thankful #gratitude 

P.S. do you still remember the cords  📞

Emma Lo🧋

CS & RevOps Leader | Driving Scalable Customer-Led Growth Across GTM | Top 100 CS Strategist 2025 & CS In Focus Podcast and Owner

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Meet James Alarcon 


We first met at the ChurnZero event 

Since then, he has been the friend who checks in, calls when you are in town, and makes time to connect.

I watched him move from team lead to director. 

He built with what he had.

Tested, iterated, and defended his team when it mattered.


Everyone can talk strategy.

Few can influence a vision and get people aligned.

Even fewer roll up their sleeves and do the hard work. 💪


Now he is in a new role, with his playbook tested and the land mapped.

He is hiring for CSMs🔥


If you want to work for a leader who grows both people and revenue, talk to James Alarcon. 

#hiring #gta #customersuccess

Took my kids to see Wicked 2 this weekend.

I walked out thinking about all the themes

Living in a bubble.
No place like home.
Finding something worth fighting for.


My kids? 

Flying monkeys.
A green girl finally learning to use her powers.
And a lot of very loud singing. 🙉

P.S. Have you seen the movie?

AI in CS is stuck in the messy middle. 


At NY Success Week, I asked Brent Grimes from Reef.ai a simple question:
Where are GTM teams really with AI adoption?

His answer: 
Plenty of AI projects.
Very few signals strong enough to change a forecast, renewal plan, or board slide.

For GTM orgs, that is the real execution gap
→ Fewer signals, higher conviction.


What we should look into with AI: 

1️⃣  Revenue signal

Churn, down sell, and expansion probabilities 6 to 12 months out 
that influence your commit, not just a health score.


2️⃣ Value signal

Proof that customers are achieving outcomes 
that tie directly to renewal and expansion, not just logins or activity.

3️⃣ Coverage signal

Clear visibility into which champions, buyers, and users are engaged with those outcomes, and how recently.


If AI cannot help you see risk and expansion early enough to change the number, it stays in the experiment bucket.

Are you growning in dashboards and still guessing on renewals?

#reef #ai #GTM #renewals #cs

What happens when Tamagotchi grows wheels and runs on GPT?



As a kid, my “robot” was a Tamagotchi. 🐣

A few pixels on a keychain, and you had to remember to feed it.


Now we have Loona. 🐶 

A robot pet that follows your kid, remembers their face, reacts to emotions, chats with GPT, and helps with homework.


Cool, yes.

However, it subtly changes the meanings of “friend,” “play,” and “help.”


I’m excited about robots like Loona in kids’ lives. 

I’m just not sure I want them replacing relationships and learning. 

P.S. Would you let your kid have a GPT robot best friend?

The truth behind “healthy” accounts that still churn


Your post-sales pipeline is not a calendar.
It is proof that you are solving real business problems.

On CS in Focus Live, Roland Griesmayer and Anthony DeShazor said the quiet part out loud about forecasting:


Money follows problems.
Predictability follows clarity.


Roland’s bar for a real deal was simple:

If a rep cannot clearly explain the business issue the customer is paying to fix, the deal is not predictable.

“Making someone’s job easier” is not a business issue.
“More intuitive” is not a business issue.

You need answers like:

This fixes X.
This prevents Y.
This unlocks Z in revenue or removes Z in cost.


Anthony pushed the harder truth. 

Most teams don’t fail at delivering value.
They fail at telling the story of that value in a way a CFO will repeat in a budget meeting.

With just over five weeks left in Q4, post-sales pipeline reviews need to tighten up:

1/ Start with the business problem

For every renewal and expansion, ask:
What problem did we solve and how does the customer describe it?


2/ Tie the forecast to a real sponsor

Has the person with budget and authority engaged on that problem in the last 90 days?


3/ Require a written value story

One short paragraph per account: problem, impact, and why it matters now.

If your CSM cannot write it, you cannot forecast it.


4/ Use signals, not sentiment

Swap “they love us” for proof: outcomes achieved, milestones completed, risk removed, executive alignment.

5/ End every review with ownership

Each renewal and expansion needs an owner, a next action, and a date.
No “we will keep an eye on it.”

-------------------
That was the through line from the live:

Real problems make deals real.
Clear stories make revenue predictable.

P.S. What's your non-negotiable when reviewing a deal? 

#gtm #pipeline review

Forecast this in 30 seconds. 


DAUs are up 18%.
Your champion just left.
Procurement took control.
A second product POC is live.

What’s your renewal probability now...and why?


Most teams default to pipeline. 

However, operators weigh three things first: 
relationship health, user outcomes, buyer control. 

Which one would change your forecast today?

-------------------------

This Friday Eleanor (Ella) Eng and I will interview Anthony DeShazor and Roland Griesmayer on how they build forecasts that survive board inspection. 

We’ll dig into signals, weights, and the inspection cadence that keeps accuracy high.

Join us on CS in Focus LinkedIn Live

📆 Friday, Nov 21 · 12:00–12:45 ET

🔗 https://lnkd.in/gthvhXX5

P.S. What’s your non-negotiable metric in a 2026 forecast, and why?

#gtm #forecast #linkedinlive #cs

Feeling overwhelmed by Black Friday deals?

Same.


Yesterday, I was browsing the Apple website like a lost child in a corn maze.

So many models. So many chips. So many display options.

And then I met Cierra over the phone.

The best Apple Sales Rep a confused customer could ask for.



I told her all my fears:

What if I pick the wrong chip?
What if I regret the memory?
What if I’m stuck with a machine that hates me by January?

She didn’t rush me.
She didn’t push a promo.

She listened.
She broke down the decision.
She made sense of my chaos.

With the kind of calm only seasoned retail heroes have during BFCM.

But the part that stayed with me?

She shared my excitement.

I told her I’m starting a new chapter. A new season of life. 

She lit up and cheered me on like I was Dorothy stepping onto the yellow brick road, with a brand-new MacBook and ready to click my red heels. 👠 

Somewhere in that call, I realized something simple:

You don’t need the most expensive laptop to get the best outcome.
You need the one that actually fits your work, your life, and your next chapter.


It reminded me that good customer service isn’t about the product.

It’s about the person who helps you believe you’re making the right choice.


Cheers to you, Cierra. 🎩 

You turned Black Friday chaos into a little moment of courage.
And I’m grateful for it.

#blackfriday #apple 

P.S. The best email I got from BFCM.

Sam Jacobs

Founder & CEO

I build elite, modern GTM operators - CROs, CMOs, CCOs, and Revenue Operations leaders - who drive growth at the world’s fastest-growing B2B companies, including Salesforce, Hubspot, Stripe, Oracle, Snowflake, Clay, Klaviyo, Xero, Upside, Owner.com, Otter.ai, and Square

That’s the mission behind Pavilion, the leading global community of over 10,000 high-performance go-to-market executives. We exist to help ambitious professionals unlock and realize their full potential—not just as employees, but as leaders, thinkers, and builders.  

Pavilion is a paid membership for GTM leaders at every level. We provide tactical support, advanced education - incorporating financial literacy, advanced AI-powered GTM motions, and modern leadership tools - career acceleration, and a powerful peer network to help Members perform better in their roles and grow into the next. We operate in every major global hub and represent a new way of thinking about career development—community-powered, principle-led, and relentlessly practical.

This all started with a belief: that greatness exists within all of us. Sometimes it just needs the right mechanism to bring it forth.

To learn more, visit: www.joinpavilion.com

I also co-host the Topline Podcast with AJ Bruno and Asad Zaman.

And I wrote a bestselling book, Kind Folks Finish First, about building with kindness at the center.

Host, Sales Hacker Podcast

Host of The Sales Hacker Podcast featuring interviews and discussion with leading sales practitioners from high growth companies around the world.  

Learn more here: https://www.saleshacker.com/podcast-announcement/

Topline Media now reaches 100K people each week.  Our newsletter gets 50% open rates within the first 24 hours.  Meaning 50K people read it immediately upon receiving it.  Our Youtube channel has generated 55K views in the last month since we launched.  

Why?

Because we feature the best and smartest minds in GTM.  Because we have unique and interesting perspectives on what's happening in the market.  Because we have a POINT OF VIEW.

If you're looking to get started, check out:

Latané Conant (she/her)'s article yesterday on the drive for efficiency in the board room OR

Cassie Young's prophetic take that we're about to hit a retention apocalypse and witness the rebirth of the customer success function (although some cheeky people like Asad will insist it's not called CS anymore).  

Click here and subscribe:

https://lnkd.in/eq_JhPZ2

And thanks to our amazing contributors including Mark Roberge, Peter Walker, AJ Bruno, Amy Konary, and many more!

CEO @ Pavilion | Co-Host of Topline Podcast | WSJ Best Selling Author of "Kind Folks Finish First"

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