# Lincoln Murphy

> Lincoln Murphy is the strategic mind behind Customer Success as a recognized business discipline - a consultant, author, and speaker who coined the most-cited definition in the field: 'Customer Success is when your customer achieves their Desired Outcome through their interactions with your company.' Founder of Sixteen Ventures since 2006, co-author of the first book on Customer Success (Wiley, 2016), and former Customer Success Evangelist at Gainsight, Murphy has worked with 300-400+ SaaS and subscription companies worldwide. His 'Desired Outcome' framework - breaking success into Required Outcome plus Appropriate Experience - reshaped how software companies think about retention, expansion, and lifetime value. In 2024-2026, he pivoted toward AI-powered agentic workflows for CS teams under his new venture Extensible Agents, while serving as VP of Customer Experience at ListKit.

- **Role:** Founder at Sixteen Ventures / VP of Customer Experience at ListKit
- **Organizations:** Sixteen Ventures, Extensible Agents, ListKit, Gainsight (former)
- **Nationality:** American
- **Known for:** Credited as inventor and chief popularizer of Customer Success as a recognized business discipline, Co-authored the first book ever written on Customer Success (Wiley, 2016) - published in English, Portuguese, and Japanese, First to enumerate the Seven SaaS Revenue Streams (2009)

## Career timeline

- **2004** — Began focusing exclusively on SaaS businesses
- **2006** — Founded Sixteen Ventures, a boutique strategic consulting firm focused on SaaS customer success and growth
- **2009** — Published 'The Seven SaaS Revenue Streams' - first systematic enumeration of all SaaS revenue models
- **2013-2015** — Joined Gainsight as Customer Success Evangelist, helping establish CS as a recognized business category
- **2016** — Co-authored 'Customer Success: How Innovative Companies Are Reducing Churn and Growing Recurring Revenue' (Wiley) - the first book ever written on Customer Success
- **2016-2023** — Returned to Sixteen Ventures full-time; launched LTV Max; worked with 300-400+ SaaS companies worldwide
- **2024** — Launched Extensible Agents - AI-powered agentic workflows for Customer Success teams
- **2025-2026** — Joined ListKit as VP of Customer Experience; running Agentic CS Sprint workshops and Customer-Led Growth events in US and Brazil

## Achievements

- Credited as inventor and chief popularizer of Customer Success as a recognized business discipline
- Co-authored the first book ever written on Customer Success (Wiley, 2016) - published in English, Portuguese, and Japanese
- First to enumerate the Seven SaaS Revenue Streams (2009)
- Helped 300-400+ SaaS and subscription companies worldwide improve retention and grow recurring revenue
- Helped Gild reduce annual churn from over 30% to less than 12% using CS frameworks
- Helped Gainsight establish and popularize the Customer Success category as CS Evangelist
- Published 800+ articles on CS strategy, churn, retention, and expansion revenue
- Featured in Inc. Magazine, Fast Company, VentureBeat, ZDNet, Read Write, and SoftwareCEO
- Created the 'Desired Outcome' framework - the most cited definition and framework in Customer Success

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Hosted the Agentic CS Sprint (April 7-13) - an online workshop on AI agentic workflows for CS teams
- **2026-04** — Spoke at Customer-Led Growth Experience in Fortaleza, Brazil (April 10) and CX & CS Masterclass in Vitória, Brazil (April 18)
- **2026-04** — Published 'Retention, Expansion, and Advocacy Are Not Behaviors' and 'Health Scores Are Destroying Your Signal' on Sixteen Ventures blog
- **2026-03** — Hosted 'Introduction to Agentic Workflows for Customer Success' training
- **2025-2026** — Serving as VP of Customer Experience at ListKit, using the role as a live proof of concept for CS frameworks
- **2024** — Launched Extensible Agents - AI-powered agentic workflow platform for Customer Success teams

## Links

- Website: https://www.lincolnmurphy.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lincolnmurphy
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/lincolnmurphy
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lincolnmurphy
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LincolnMurphyShares/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/lincoln-murphy
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-26