Episode 1: AI in Post-Sales — Prototyping to Production

Most AI in customer success never makes it off someone's laptop. This episode is about why, and what it actually takes to get something running in production.

Jeff covers the mistake most CS teams make when they start thinking about AI, what the customer lifecycle looks like when you map it to real pain points, and the fork most operators don't know they're at: when MCP is enough vs. when you're building an actual application whether you planned to or not.

Real example included: a prototype built in Claude that became a containerized app running on Azure behind Tailscale VPN and Entra SSO — because the data lived in two systems that no MCP could bridge.

No metrics yet for most of this. That's fine. Sometimes the win is just getting parity — your internal systems wired together, working the way your team actually needs them to.

What's covered:

• Why starting with the tool is the wrong move
• Mapping AI to the customer lifecycle: onboarding, adoption, renewal, expansion
• The MCP path vs. the enterprise app path
• Real deployment architecture: GitHub Actions, Azure, Entra SSO, Tailscale VPN
• Why Intercom's help desk is a problem and what we built around it

About the show:
The AI Customer Success Brief is for operators past the prototype stage. Real implementations, real deployment paths, no vendor pitches. Hosted by Jeff Kushmerek, founder of Infinite Renewals. Sponsored by Infinite Renewals.