Building a Customer Success (CS) program at MongoDB required careful planning and prioritization. The team started by defining what would drive their program, recognizing that CS meant different things to different people. They focused on three main drivers: ensuring successful first-time deployments, continuously assessing subscription value, and addressing the lack of product usage telemetry for on-premise customers. To start small, they used customer segmentation to prioritize areas of focus before hiring new team members. Measuring progress was crucial, so they looked beyond renewal rates and tracked adoption of key product features instead. Finding the right A-player CSM required balancing relationship-building and technical expertise skills. The program became self-funded by working with finance teams to define investment philosophies and identifying ROI. Finally, being mindful of constant change in the CS world was essential, as the team had to adapt to new insights, customer trends, and shifting priorities.