Sign In

Nick Mehta

Professional based in Palo Alto, California, United States

Nick Mehta

CEO, Gainsight

Nick Mehta (he/him), is the CEO of Gainsight, the platform that helps companies of all sizes and industries drive durable growth through customer-led and product-led strategies. He works with a team of over 1400 human beings who together have helped create the Customer Success category that's currently taking over the SaaS business model worldwide.

Gainsight is a five-time Forbes Cloud 100 recipient and Nick has been named the #2 CEO by the Software Report, has a 99% approval rating on Glassdoor, and was named Entrepreneur Of The Year for Northern California Award. He is a member of the Board of Directors at F5 (NASDAQ) and has co-authored two books on Customer Success, Customer Success and The Customer Success Economy.

Prior to Gainsight, Nick was the CEO of LiveOffice, where he led the Inc. 5000 company's profitable growth to $25 million in revenue and successful sale to Symantec. Nick has held senior operating roles for public and private companies in the enterprise and consumer technology markets, including Veritas Software (acquired by Symantec), Symantec Corporation, and XDegrees (acquired by Microsoft). Mehta also served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Trinity Ventures and Accel Partners.13

In a recent talk at SaaStr Annual 2023, Nick shared his top 10 failures as a CEO while growing Gainsight to over $200M ARR. Some key lessons he learned include:

  1. Not holding leaders to the highest standard of the company's values early on25
  2. Trying to do too much and not focusing on the most important priorities5
  3. Hiring too fast without enough rigor and cultural fit5
  4. Letting politics and ego get in the way of doing what's best for customers and employees5

Despite these challenges, Nick has led Gainsight to become a market leader in Customer Success software. He is passionate about building a values-driven culture and helping other SaaS founders learn from his experiences, both successes and failures.4

Highlights

Apr 2 · twitter

This might help you if you are trying to be there for friends or work colleagues who are going through hard or tragic times:

For me, so many wonderful people have reached out (literally thousands) over the last 2 months and said "just checking in - how are you doing?"

That on it's own is such a gift. It's amazing to wake up in the morning and feel supported.

And I try to answer them honestly. For example, right now, I'm feeling a lot of joy and am excited about some startup ideas, fun travel, friends, etc. And the grief creeps up when I least expect it. But it's ok - the grief for me is a reminder of my love for my daughter. And I don't ever want to lose that.

When I share this answer with friends and I ask how they are doing, most respond with a more pithy "I'm doing great!"

Those that take it further open up about themselves, braving the world of vulnerability.

And I can understand why folks don't always do it. Maybe they aren't feeling anything strongly now. Maybe they are and it's too hard to talk about. Maybe they're busy. Or maybe they are worried to share because they think their challenges are relatively insignificant (they aren't - in my view, all emotions, joy and suffering matter equally).

Those that cross this threshold are incredible. They make me feel so much less alone.

So when you check in on a friend, an interesting question is whether it would serve you and them to be real with how you're doing too. It's not a recommendation (everyone's life is different) - just a thought.

Apr 2 · twitter

Lawyers used to be so based.

Nov 8 · youtube.com
Nick Mehta, CEO Gainsight: My Top 10 Failures as a ... - YouTube
Nick Mehta, CEO Gainsight: My Top 10 Failures as a ... - YouTube
Apr 12 · gainsight.com
My Top 10 Mistakes in 10 Years: Gainsight CEO Nick Mehta
My Top 10 Mistakes in 10 Years: Gainsight CEO Nick Mehta

Related Questions

What are Nick Mehta's key achievements at Gainsight?
How did Nick Mehta transition from LiveOffice to Gainsight?
What are the main strategies Nick Mehta uses to drive growth at Gainsight?
What awards has Nick Mehta received for his leadership at Gainsight?
How does Nick Mehta balance his diverse interests with his role at Gainsight?
Nick Mehta
Nick Mehta, photo 1
Nick Mehta, photo 2
Add to my network

Experience

Gainsight

Education

Harvard University

Location

Palo Alto, California, United States