Customer Value is a K-Shaped Problem.

Every customer starts their journey with your company at the same point.

Zero usage. Zero value. Zero ROI.

Then something happens. The group splits.

Some customers begin to invest. They assign a champion, attend enablement, roll out to a second team. Others get stuck. The implementation was messier than expected. The champion moved roles. The first use case didn't quite land.

What comes next is where it gets interesting.

The first group accelerates. More investment → more value → more investment. A self-reinforcing upward spiral.

The second group stalls. Low usage → low value → even lower usage. The loop runs in reverse.

Plot it over time, and you don't get a smooth adoption curve. You get a K.

Why this is so hard to spot

Most CS teams look at usage and risk data in aggregate. But when you average the two groups together, the lines blur somewhere in the middle, and the signal disappears.

By the time a stuck customer is obviously stuck, you already lost traction and trust.

This matters more now than it ever has.

In a consumption-based world, revenue is only created when usage and outcomes are unlocked. Every customer who stays stuck is one you paid to acquire and will never break even on (because revenue depends on actual usage).

Mastering the K-shape, and pushing as many customers as possible toward acceleration, isn't just good CS practice. It's a revenue problem.

Why AI-native Products Change The Equation

Traditional SaaS had a slow path to first value.

Implement → Configure → Train → Adopt → Get Value.

AI-native products are different. A user sits down and within minutes has something tangible in front of them. Not a roadmap. Not a demo. A working thing.

That early, frictionless win can changes the K-shape dynamic entirely, creating a hockey stick shape (aka. acceleration).

When customers experience meaningful value before they've made a significant investment, the risk calculus inverts. Instead of "let's wait and see before we go all-in", the instinct becomes "imagine what this could do with real resources behind it."

The divergence becomes even more pronounced. For customers who experience that first win, the upward arm gets much steeper, much faster.

The opportunity (and the pressure) for CS teams has never been greater.

The framework for engineering momentum

So how do you actually get customers on the right arm of the K?

Here's what I use with my team:

Know what value means to this customer specifically. Not what your product delivers in general. What this customer needs right now. Speed? Headcount efficiency? Risk reduction? Revenue? If you don't know, you're flying blind. This conversation belongs in week one, not month nine.
Get them to first value fast. Design onboarding around the path to first value, not full product adoption. These are not the same thing. A customer who has one powerful "oh wow" moment in week two is far more likely to invest in a second use case than one who has completed a twelve-module training programme and is still waiting to feel the difference.
Step in when they get stuck. The divergence point is almost always a moment of friction (a snag in implementation, a champion pulled onto another project, a first use case that underdelivered). Your job is to catch it early and intervene. Not with a check-in email. With hands-on help. The customers heading for the downward arm rarely say so out loud. You have to notice.
Make value clear. Customers who are accruing value don't always know it. It hasn't been named, surfaced, or quantified for them. Your job is to close that gap consistently, in their language, tied to the outcomes they told you mattered in step one.
Run the cycle again. This isn't a one-time conversation. It's a cadence. Understand → unlock → do it with them → communicate → find the next use case → repeat. Every iteration compounds the upward trajectory.

The bottom line

The K-shape problem isn't a mystery. It's a predictable pattern that emerges when customers are left to find value on their own.

The customers who end up on the upward arm aren't always more sophisticated or better resourced. They're often just the ones who got early momentum, and had someone making sure they kept it.

That's your job.

Engineer the momentum.
Get them to value fast.
Stay close at the divergence point.
Make it visible.
Do it again.

In the age of AI-native products, this is the difference between a customer who compounds and one who churns.

Want to go deeper on the skills you'll need in an AI-first world?

I've been building CSM Skills in the Age of AI a guide covering the frameworks, mindsets, and capabilities CS professionals need as AI reshapes the role.

>> Grab it here

Daphne Costa Lopes

If you are reading this online, subscribe to the newsletter here.