foreword
This book is a rarity. While it’s intended primarily for technically oriented people with some familiarity with coding and data, it also happens to be lucid, compelling and occasionally even (gasp!) funny. The first chapter, in particular, should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in running a successful subscription-based business. Buy a copy for your boss.
It’s exciting to think about all the different companies that will benefit from the sharp analysis in these pages. Data folks from all sectors of the global economy, from streaming media services to industrial manufacturers, will be paying close attention to Carl’s book. Today the whole world runs “as-a-service”: transportation, education, media, healthcare, software, retail, manufacturing, you name it.
All of these new digital services are generating vast amounts of data, resulting in a huge signal to noise challenge, which is why this book is so important. I study this topic for a living, and no one has written such a practical and authoritative guide to effectively filtering through all that information in order to reduce churn and keep subscribers happy. When it comes to running a subscription business, churn rates are matter of life and death!