My name is Gary Cohen — this is what I achieve at Aha!

What is the best way to accelerate your career? Work at a high-growth company that challenges you and puts learning first. An unwavering motivation to continue improving and achieving is also key. The highest performers constantly pursue new ideas and seek to understand the experiences and motivations of the people around them. We can learn a lot from them.

Curiosity fuels growth — which is why we want to bring you personal stories of achievement from talented people. Our hope is that some of their ideas are useful (and maybe even inspirational) as you work to become your best.

Meet Gary Cohen, a senior product success manager who has been part of the Aha! Customer Success team for more than four years. He enjoys onboarding new team members and helping them get acquainted with our software. Besides this, he loves building deep expertise about all things Aha! and product development as well as showcasing his signature get-it-done attitude. Gary lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Read on to learn more about how he finds meaning and joy in his work — in his own words.

What energizes you about being a senior product success manager?

"I get to work with the world’s best-known and most innovative companies. Rather than sending customers to tiered support or giving automated responses, I talk with them directly — making sure the Aha! product suite integrates with their specific workflows and addresses their needs. It is rewarding to share insights from my years of product development experience and deliver meaningful value with every interaction."

"I love being empowered to do what is best for the customer. There are no salespeople at Aha! — instead, our job on the Customer Success team is to work directly with users to help them get the most out of our software."

What types of projects do you enjoy working on most?

"I enjoy mentoring new team members. My experience in Customer Success and keen understanding of our frameworks are helpful here. I might help a new teammate tailor a support email to be more clear and concise, for instance. Or I might talk about how The Responsive Method — an Aha! framework for personal and business success — drives every interaction we have.

I also like to serve as an onboarding coach for roles outside of my team. All Aha! teammates lead a demo call with a potential customer to 'graduate' from the onboarding program. This can cause some trepidation in those who have not been in customer-facing roles, but it ensures that everyone at Aha! truly understands our software. I am here to guide them toward leading that call with confidence."

"Our onboarding program is unlike any other company's that I have been a part of. At Aha! we make an incredible effort to ensure everyone can create the most value for our customers — while loving our jobs, too."

What are the biggest challenges in your role — and how have you solved them?

"Aha! is fast-paced. We act with urgency. But there is a big learning curve in order to deliver exceptional experiences. We have to lead demos, address support requests, and confidently manage complex procurement, legal, and security processes for large customers.

To make sure we all stay up to speed, we actively shadow one another's calls with large customers. We share feedback and debrief right after these conversations to tackle any issues together. We have also built proven models that help us streamline interactions with customers.

It is also worth mentioning that everyone in Customer Success has previously been in product roles similar to our customers'. (Many of us were prior Aha! customers, too!) This allows us to understand their problems more deeply."

What has been the most rewarding thing about joining the Aha! team?

"To me, the most rewarding thing is participating in Aha! Cares. I have had the opportunity to champion a number of nonprofits through the program — helping to raise $29,000 for local charities in my area over the last three years. I was able to support the Princess Alice Adoption Home here in Johannesburg most recently, and the funds will provide healthy food and formula for young children. It feels great to make a meaningful impact in my own community."

How do you keep learning and building knowledge in your role?

"This is really easy when I am surrounded by such talented and knowledgeable teammates. We learn from each other daily by sharing unique customer scenarios, talking through different product frameworks and methodologies in our Slack channels, and rotating opportunities to present at monthly team lunch-and-learns.

We also learn from our customers. We are always curious. And we continually hone our skills as we guide them on product development best practices — in turn, learning more about how they create exceptional experiences for their own customers."

What is the most surprising, but useful career advice someone has given you?

"Adopting a get-stuff-done attitude is key no matter your role or level within an organization."

"A lot of people are good at describing problems or coming up with ideas, but are not always willing to get their hands dirty and do the work. I try to project an attitude of 'whatever it is, I can handle it.' This highlights the importance of taking action, staying accountable, and leading by example."

The What I achieve series spotlights the exceptional people on the Aha! team. For insights into how we got here, read our Why I joined posts.

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