Are you struggling to hit the $1M ARR mark because your customer growth is constantly offset by high churn? You have a leaky bucket, and that's a problem we're solving today!

I’m joined by the incredible Anika Zubair, a former immigrant to Europe and a global Customer Success leader, to discuss the critical shift founders need to make. We tackle the common misunderstanding that Customer Success is just support, not a revenue engine.

Listen to this episode and learn:

• Why the second you're too busy to have recurring meetings with customers, you need to hire your first CSM.
• How to segment users beyond the early stage and build different CS motions for Enterprise, Mid-Market, and SMB.
• Anika's two quick tips to get better visibility into your retention problem this week.
• The personal journey of moving from California to Europe and how different cultures shape a founder's perspective.

When Hila Lauterbach moved from Israel to the U.S. with a six-week-old baby, she didn’t have an office, a network, or a roadmap. For months, her desk was a restroom at a small restaurant, and from that space, she built teams, launched startups, and led go-to-market strategy for some of the most exciting SaaS companies in tech.

Today, Hila is the Co-Founder of 10XGTM, a consultancy that helps high-growth startups find their voice, scale their revenue, and navigate the fast-changing world of AI and SaaS. She’s also a global advocate for women and immigrant founders through her work with Femigrants, driving awareness and opportunity in an industry where less than 2% of funding reaches female-led startups.

In this episode, Hila opens up about the real story behind the highlight reel, the failures, the reinvention, and the lessons she’s learned while helping companies grow from zero to multimillion-dollar ARR. She also breaks down her 5A GTM framework, explains what most founders get wrong about scaling, and shares how she’s helping redefine what success looks like in Silicon Valley.

It’s raw, inspiring, and packed with practical lessons for founders, leaders, and anyone carving their own path.

When Sophie Alcorn was a shy little girl in Southern California, she would follow her father, an immigration lawyer, to his office on Saturdays. If she managed to send a fax correctly to the INS, she’d earn a sugar cube as a reward. That small ritual planted the seeds of what would become her life’s calling.

Years later, after resisting the path of “becoming just like dad,” Sophie returned to immigration law on her own terms. Today, she’s one of the most trusted voices guiding international founders through the complexities of building companies in the United States. She’s written for TechCrunch, hosts her own podcast, and has built a practice that has helped countless entrepreneurs secure visas and bring their ideas to life.

In this conversation, Sophie shares her journey from bookworm to advocate, why U.S. policy still lags in supporting immigrant founders, and how options like the O-1 and H-1B are shaping the future of global entrepreneurship. She also opens up about the emotional toll of navigating “extraordinary ability” visas, the myths that waste founders’ time, and what the U.S. stands to lose without a real startup visa.

It’s part story, part guide, and part call to action, a must-listen for any founder dreaming of scaling their vision on American soil.