Meet our guest

Ryan’s path into tech is anything but traditional. He began his career in law enforcement, moved into college athletics as a head coach, and ultimately found his way into customer success leadership at HubSpot. Across every role, a few themes stayed constant: helping people perform under pressure, building high-performing teams, and translating complexity into action.

Those experiences became especially relevant when Ryan was asked to help roll out an internal AI-powered Customer Success Assistant. The tool was powerful—but power alone doesn’t drive adoption. What mattered was how people actually used it in their day-to-day work.

Key Takeaways from this episode

✅  Champions should reflect the organization, not just top performers.

✅  Early adoption must happen before formal rollout. 

✅  Peer reinforcement beats top-down mandates every time.

Adoption Doesn't Start at Launch. It Starts with Trust

Background context: When Ryan’s team first introduced the AI tool, they didn’t immediately form a champion network. Instead, they quietly placed it into the hands of early adopters—CSMs already experimenting with AI and new workflows.

There was no heavy structure. No rigid program. Just real work. “We told them: use it, break it, pressure test it—and tell us what doesn’t work.”

This early group surfaced practical use cases, prompt examples, and friction points long before the broader organization ever saw the tool.

By the time the official rollout happened, the tool already spoke the language of real users.

Key Insight #1: Seed Adoption

When it was time to build a formal champion network, Ryan made a deliberate choice: include skeptics.

Not everyone in the network loved AI. Some questioned its accuracy. Others worried about job displacement. Ryan wanted those voices represented.

“We wanted honest feedback, not cheerleaders.”

This created a champion group that:

• Reflected real concerns across the org
• Built credibility with peers
• Surfaced objections early, before they stalled adoption

Adoption spread because it felt authentic—not forced.

🎤 “We wanted honest feedback, not cheerleaders.” - Ryan Orner

Key Insight #2: Design Champions as Messengers

Champions weren’t asked to become enablement professionals. They weren’t running formal training sessions or building content libraries.

Their role was simpler—and more powerful:

• Share real examples in Slack
• Talk openly about wins and failures
• Normalize experimentation

Because champions were respected peers, their stories carried more weight than any official announcement.

Free Adoption Template: Champion Network Adoption Worksheet

The Problem: Teams know they need champions—but don’t know how to structure them. As a result, champion programs become informal, uneven, or unsustainable.

How it works: The Champion Network Adoption Worksheet helps you intentionally design adoption instead of hoping it happens.

1. Identify early adopters already experimenting
2. Select champions who are trusted peers (not just top performers)
3. Balance believers and skeptics
4. Map real workflows where the tool removes friction
5. Define where champions share stories and examples

🎤  ““The champions had to be respected voices—not just high performers."— Ryan Orner

More Episodes

Get access to all the past episodes of Adoption Curve for free! Includes all downloadable workbooks and contact information for guest speakers.