Meet the Team Expertise. Passion. Results. Prequel consultants are senior-level professionals with at least 20 years of experience working with technology organizations and their Private Equity and Venture Capital investors. Our consultants bring strategic, operational, and managerial insight, helping to optimize business operations and realize integration synergies in portfolio companies. Susanne Bowen Founder & CEO Susanne is a veteran CEO, industry leader, and board director in the software industry. She has led five enterprise SaaS companies as CEO and has served on public, private, and professional association boards, contributing expertise in growth strategies, operational effectiveness, and organizational health. Michelle Lanter Smith Go-to-Market Michelle is a go-to-market B2B SaaS Executive with a track record of scaling mid-market software/services firms and emerging startups through innovative product expansion and aggressive market penetration. She is an expert in building and managing GTM strategies for the full customer lifecycle and has led GTM and operations teams globally for PE-backed companies. Robin Vandeveer Customer Operations Robin is a senior operations leader with 30 years of experience in the software industry. She is expert at leading organizational change, mentoring team members, and driving operational excellence. She has effectively led transitions and managed service team transformation in companies of all sizes representing multiple verticals. Roland Tanner Product Strategy Roland is a senior professional with 30+ years of leadership experience in technology companies primarily in CTO and CPO roles, both interim and long-term. He also serves on several boards for software companies, contributing to company efficiency, growth, and value. John Whisner Revenue John is a senior sales and revenue leader with 30 years of experience building high-velocity sales and account management teams in a variety of verticals. For nearly 15 years, John has worked with PE-backed organizations to lead and execute go-to-market strategies that accelerate revenue growth, increase enterprise value, and lead to successful exits. Sara Haynes Product Marketing Sara has 20+ years of experience in B2B SaaS product management. As both an operational leader and a consultant, Sara has helped guide numerous product teams at PE-backed organizations through transition. She helps organizations mature their product management practices, driving growth and scalability through operational efficiency. Ellen Madonia Marketing Ellen has 30 years of executive experience working in technology companies through all stages of the investment lifecycle. She has successfully developed and executed communications and go-to-market strategies that meet the organization’s objectives and align with investment and transformation goals.

Prequel Advisory’s comprehensive Customer Experience Assessment helps identify gaps and the most impactful opportunities for rapidly improving retention and Net Revenue Retention (NRR), ensuring your strategies are aligned for long-term success. BLOG Four Winning Strategies for Boosting Retention and NRR As organizations plan for next year, economic challenges such as inflation and slower growth remain uncertain due to the impact of the incoming administration and potential trade tariff policies. In response, companies are continuing to shift their focus from customer acquisition to maximizing the value of their existing customer base. With acquisition costs rising and returns steadily declining, improving retention and Lifetime Value (LTV) have become essential strategies for driving sustainable, long-term growth. To navigate these challenges and unlock the full potential of existing customers, organizations must adopt the right mindset and approach. In this blog, we’ll explore four winning strategies for boosting retention and Net Revenue Retention (NRR)—must-do approaches that forward-thinking companies use to optimize customer revenue and stay ahead of the curve. 1. Building a Growth-Focused Customer Success Function According to Survey Sparrow’s State of Customer Success Report, 37% of companies do not have a clearly defined customer success strategy. This highlights a crucial gap in the customer experience and creates an opportunity for organizations to develop a more intentional approach to customer success, focused on building relationships that facilitate adoption and drive long-term value. Step 1: Understand Customer Needs and Priorities The foundation of any effective customer success function starts with a deep understanding of your customers’ needs, goals, and priorities at every stage of their journey. Use tools like informal surveys, quarterly business reviews (QBRs), and direct conversations to gain insights into what matters most to your customers. These interactions provide clarity on how your product or service can best support its objectives and create the foundation for building a growth strategy. Step 2: Define Roles and Build the Team With customer needs and priorities clearly defined, the next step is to establish a dedicated Customer Success Management (CSM) function. This team should be comprised of individuals who not only have a deep understanding of your product but are also aligned with your customer's objectives. The CSM function is responsible for guiding customers through the adoption process, ensuring they reach key milestones, and continually helping them find new ways to engage with and benefit from your offerings. The CSM function plays a critical role in customer retention and driving revenue growth by identifying opportunities to expand services within existing accounts. Through proactive upselling, cross-selling, and recommending additional features or solutions, the CSM team can help customers unlock even more value, further solidifying their loyalty and maximizing lifetime value (LTV). By focusing on adoption, retention, and expansion within accounts, the CSM function becomes a key driver of both customer satisfaction and business growth. Mid-market SaaS companies should determine the number of customers a CSM can manage by considering a blend of factors, including the complexity of the product, the level of support required by customers, and the desired outcomes for retention and growth. A high-touch model, where CSMs provide personalized support, typically means fewer accounts per CSM (e.g., 10–50), while a tech-touch model focused on automation allows a higher ratio (e.g., 100–300). Step 3: Continuously Measure Success and Adapt Once the CSM team is established, their role should go beyond ensuring product adoption—they must be agile and proactive in responding to evolving customer needs and market dynamics. A key way to measure adoption is through tracking product usage stats, such as daily or monthly active users, feature adoption rates, and usage frequency, which help identify trends in how customers interact with the product. In addition to usage data, the CSM team should continuously monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) like customer satisfaction (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS), churn rate, and Lifetime Value (LTV) to identify at-risk customers and evaluate the long-term profitability of accounts. Metrics such as Customer Health Scores, which combine usage, engagement, and support data, and Time to Value (TTV), which measures how quickly customers realize benefits, can also provide valuable insights. These metrics help the team stay alert to emerging issues, uncover opportunities for upsells or cross-sells, and ensure alignment with customer needs, fostering retention and growth. A successful adoption-focused customer success function does more than ensure customers are satisfied; it fosters deep, ongoing engagement that drives continuous product use, retention, and expansion, all of which contribute to sustainable, long-term growth. Forrester reports a 5% increase in retention rates can lead to a 25% increase in profitability -- and that a well-designed customer success program can yield a 91% ROI in 3 years. 2. Creating a Customer-First Mindset Through Open Communication Building meaningful relationships with customers involves fostering open lines of communication about their product experience, and service quality. Implementing feedback mechanisms both within your platform and through external opportunities is essential. Integrating feedback options directly into the product—such as in-app surveys and quick feedback buttons—allows users to share their insights in real time. This creates a seamless channel for gathering valuable data that can inform product enhancements. Additionally, establishing opportunities outside the platform, like user focus groups and customer advisory councils, encourages customers to share their experiences in a collaborative environment. These forums not only help gather qualitative insights but also enable customer-facing teams to detect trends in customer needs, such as requests for new functionalities or challenges with existing features. Understanding why customers require specific functionality is crucial for delivering feedback to the product team that addresses broader business needs, not just small issues. Ongoing feedback from teams like sales, support, and customer success is essential for bridging the gap between customer experiences and product development. By looking at trends, understanding the reasons behind customer pain points, and relaying this feedback to the product team, you can ensure that the product evolves in ways that meet the real-world demands of your customers. A structured process for integrating this feedback helps drive product improvements that enhance satisfaction, foster loyalty, and build stronger relationships with your brand. According to Capgemini, companies with a customer-first mindset experience up to 60% higher revenue growth compared to those who do not prioritize customer needs. 3. Leveraging Tech and AI to Elevate the Customer Experience Failing to stay on top of the ever-changing tech landscape can put your organization at risk. By utilizing modern CRMs, advanced customer success platforms, and AI tools, businesses can better understand customer behaviors, preferences, and pain points—enabling them to deliver tailored experiences that foster long-term loyalty and drive growth. Customer success platforms, like Gainsight, consolidate and analyze vast amounts of data, giving organizations valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences. This enables businesses to design personalized communication strategies that resonate with different customer segments. For example, if a customer frequently uses certain features, automated systems can proactively send targeted resources or tips, deepening their engagement. AI tools further elevate the customer experience by automating routine tasks and generating valuable insights. AI-powered chatbots, for instance, can handle common inquiries 24/7, freeing up human agents to tackle more complex issues. These chatbots learn from customer interactions, improving response times and overall satisfaction. Additionally, AI can analyze real-time customer sentiment, alerting companies to dissatisfaction before issues escalate, allowing for quicker resolutions. A great example of how tech can transform customer success is a project we recently worked on with a client. We helped them implement a real-time customer health scorecard, which continuously tracks key engagement metrics like product usage, feature adoption, and sentiment analysis. By pulling data from various systems and touchpoints the scorecard assigns a health score to each customer, helping the client assess the likelihood of renewal or expansion. This proactive approach ensures that at-risk accounts are identified early, allowing the team to intervene before churn occurs. SuperOffice research states that only 7% of companies actively track their customer health scores, creating significant risk and potential for negative revenue impact. 4. Educating, Engaging, and Expanding: the Keys to Adoption and Retention Customer adoption is the cornerstone of retention and growth. By providing customers with the tools and resources they need to succeed, you enhance their experience and build stronger relationships that lead to long-term loyalty. One effective strategy is hosting regular user group meetings and fostering collaborative online communities. These forums enable customers to share insights, troubleshoot challenges, and learn best practices from peers who understand their needs. Because customers often have unique subject matter expertise, their contributions carry credibility and inspire others to take full advantage of your product. Additionally, accessible educational content, like step-by-step user guides, in-app tutorials, and instructional videos, empowers customers to get the most out of your product. These resources drive feature adoption and reduce reliance on support teams by equipping customers to resolve common issues independently. For example, at PeopleAdmin, we tailored content to each client’s specific needs, significantly improving adoption rates and reducing support requests. By focusing on these foundational adoption strategies, businesses can create a more engaged, loyal customer base, paving the way for long-term retention and organic growth. Once a strong adoption foundation is in place, the next step is to drive additional value through upselling and cross-selling. These strategies are essential for growing Net Revenue Retention (NRR) by introducing customers to new features, add-ons, or complementary products that align with their evolving needs. However, success in this area hinges on a seamless collaboration between the customer success (CS) and customer marketing teams. Customer marketing plays a critical role in building awareness and educating customers about the benefits of new offerings. Through targeted campaigns—like email promotions, webinars, or feature highlights—marketing teams can generate initial interest and nurture leads. But this is only part of the equation. The customer success team must take the baton, incorporating these insights into their regular customer calls and QBRs to have more personalized, value-driven conversations about the new offerings. For instance, if customer marketing rolls out a campaign about a new analytics dashboard, the CS team should leverage that momentum by discussing how the feature fits into the customer’s goals during their next touchpoint. Together, these teams can craft a cohesive strategy that ensures customers are not only aware of the new opportunities but also understand how they add value to their specific workflows. When executed collaboratively, these efforts not only increase the adoption of new features but also strengthen customer relationships by reinforcing your brand's commitment to delivering continuous value. This alignment ultimately drives higher retention and accelerates revenue growth. Take the Next Steps to Drive Customer Growth In today’s economic climate, focusing on customer retention and LTV is the key to resilient growth. Acquiring new customers will always be important, but retaining and growing existing customers is what separates sustainable companies from those struggling to maintain profitability. By investing in long-term relationships, organizations can weather the storm and emerge stronger. What actions can you take to elevate your customer experience strategy? Prequel Advisory’s comprehensive Customer Experience Assessment helps identify gaps and the most impactful opportunities for rapidly improving retention and Net Revenue Retention (NRR), ensuring your strategies are aligned for long-term success. Take our Online Assessment or Contact us to schedule a discovery call.

Launch Services Prequel Advisory delivers through a proven integration approach tailored to support unique investment goals. By aligning with the pivotal points of the investment thesis, we expertly oversee the process, helping you bring it to the finish line. Our Approach The Prequel Method is based on our direct operating experience transforming numerous technology companies, delivered in an intuitive, agile way that focuses on results and accelerates time-to-value. THE PREQUEL METHOD™ LAUNCH SERVICES DEPLOYMENT

Operating Support Prequel's on-demand Operating Support services offer flexible operating support for portfolio organizations through all phases of the investment lifecycle Operating Strategy Prequel delivers comprehensive assessments of the company's operating strategy including Product, Go-to-Market, and Customer Experience Align operating plan to business objectives Determine operational maturity, identify key actions Bring operational expertise to critical decisions Improve team collaboration and decision quality Ongoing Operating Support On-demand expertise delivered by professionals with Private Equity experience in Product, Technology, Customer Operations, and Go-to-Market as required to meet operating plan goals Project leadership and execution Interim/fractional organizational leadership Coaching & mentorship Change management

CASE STUDY Middle-Market HCM SaaS Platform Leading the integration process of two HCM Software providers, creating a combined entity that resulted in a strategic exit . Go-To-Market The go-to-market strategy was an important function to address early in the integration process to avoid a negative impact on revenue. There were four areas of focus - sales & marketing teams, market position/brand, marketing plan and activities, and the tech stack. Resource Assessmen t We started by determining the resource requirements for a sales and marketing team to support the merged company and its expanded value proposition and TAM. We identified the skills needed for success in both sales and marketing and did an assessment of coverage and gaps. We then developed goals and compensation plans at the team and individual levels that aligned with new corporate objectives and ensured the focus would be on our new, expanded market opportunity. Market Positioning & Launch Once the teams were in place, we focused on developing materials to support the new value proposition. The decision was made for the combined entity to keep the name of one of the organizations as the brand had a positive market perception. We developed a positioning and messaging matrix as well as a revised ICP (ideal customer profile) to support the new offering and created relevant deliverables including training materials and content for an SKO (sales kick-off meeting). Program Execution The next step was to combine and refine the marketing plan to support the new goals and budget requirements. This involved assessing program performance, gaining an understanding of what was working and what wasn't working, and focusing investments toward the most valuable areas. A revised plan was produced with the intent of revisiting it frequently. Decision-making agility was key as we gained knowledge of our place in the market. Data Integration & Tech Stack Evaluation The final step of the integration process was an assessment of the sales and marketing data and tech stack to create an integrated foundation using the best and most modern tools available. When this exercise was complete, we had a single salesforce automation platform that included the historical data we deemed necessary, as well as a single contact discovery and marketing platform to support program activity. Creating a GTM machine to address expanded TAM Back to Case Study

CASE STUDY Middle-Market HCM SaaS Platform Leading the integration process of two HCM Software providers, creating a combined entity that resulted in a strategic exit . Customer Experience Making improvements across all customer touchpoints As the platform and product strategies evolved, it was critical to align the customer experience to a more structured, packaged approach that would reduc e costs and gain efficiencies, while removing duplication o f effort. Customer Support We took the initial step of assessing talent and skills with the goal of combining the support teams into one and training them to field questions on the end-to-end solution. We then segmented our customers and created a tiered support system to ensure larger revenue clients were handled appropriately. From a systems perspective, we merged into a single ticketing system and ensured that all self-service information and ticket creation options for clients were easy to use, covered the full suite of products, and routed to the correct contacts. We developed the proper KPIs and reports needed to discern further improvements to enhance the client experience. Implementation Project delivery and time-to-revenue were evaluated and areas for improvement were found including the need to implement a more firm scheduling process at kick-off that would reduce risk with go-live dates. We added additional client resources such as ongoing pre-training and pre-implementation content, making the process more effective and customer-friendly, especially around the configuration and testing process. We partnered with the development team to identify administration and configuration improvements that could further improve efficiencies. Customer Success At the time of acquisition, neither company had a customer success function in place. We hired a leader to initiate the process, creating an opportunity to gain a better understanding of client temperature as well as generating upsell/cross-sell opportunities. The team was then built and the processes were defined for initial outreach and documenting and reporting on their findings. The CSM team helped develop and execute a "Heal Desk" to identify clients with satisfaction issues where executive and cross-functional engagement was helpful. Back to Case Study