Free Planning Guide

The Practitioner CAB
Launch Planning Guide

How to plan and run your first two Customer Advisory Board meetings in B2B SaaS: member recruitment criteria, a 6-month week-by-week calendar, agenda templates, onboarding interview questions, and the mistakes that kill CABs before they find their rhythm.

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Member recruitment criteria across 5 dimensions — including a candor target most teams miss
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6-month planning calendar from kickoff through your second meeting
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Meeting 1 and Meeting 2 agenda templates with time slots and format notes
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Member onboarding interview guide — the questions that build your agenda
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The 5 mistakes that kill CABs in the first six months
Maria Ogneva
Maria Ogneva Co-founder, Rally Customer Marketing · 15+ years in B2B SaaS customer programs
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What's inside
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Member recruitment criteria that build the right room
CAB membership is not a reward for loyalty. We give you a five-dimension framework — company profile, champion profile, health signals, diversity targets, and candor potential — including the 20–30% candor threshold most programs skip.
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6-month planning calendar
Five phases, week by week: foundation, pre-meeting planning, Meeting 1, the between-meeting cadence, and Meeting 2. Every task has an owner column and a Done checkbox you can use as a live tracker.
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Meeting 1 and Meeting 2 agenda templates
Half-day formats with exact time slots, agenda items, and format notes. Meeting 1 is built for trust-setting — 60% discussion, 20-minute company max. Meeting 2 goes deeper once the foundation is set.
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Member onboarding interview guide
The five core questions to ask every confirmed member before your first meeting. These 30-minute calls are the first act of the advisory relationship — and the primary source for an agenda members actually care about.
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5 mistakes that kill CABs in the first six months
Recruiting too fast. Leading with product news. Skipping in-person. Going quiet after meeting one. Treating the CAB as a marketing asset. Each mistake is one we've seen undermine real programs — with specific guidance on what to do instead.
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The CAB philosophy that makes it work
A CAB run with discipline is one of the highest-ROI programs in customer marketing — not because it generates references, but because it puts your most strategic customers in a co-creator relationship with your company. This guide is the minimum viable discipline to get there.