--- title: Tech In Boston Blog | Boston Startups | Account Management description: Account Management | Sharing stories from the people building companies here in Boston. --- # Tech In Boston Blog ## [Startup Account Management: A Template for Saying No to Feature Requests](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/startup-account-management-just-say-no) [fa icon="calendar'] Apr 6, 2015 3:43:00 PM / by [Dave Gerhardt](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/author/dave-gerhardt) posted in [Startups](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/topic/startups), [Account Management](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/topic/account-management) [[fa icon="comment"] 0 Comments](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/startup-account-management-just-say-no#comments-listing) When I was at [Privy](http://www.privy.com/), my job was to manage all of our customers.  This meant it was my job to keep them happy, make sure they renewed their contracts with us, and where possible, get them to pay us more. Like most people in account management roles at a startup, this also meant that I was the first person they called for anything (and that's not a figure of speech -- they actually called).  Direct to my cell phone.  Didn't matter if something was broken at 9 AM on a Saturday or they just had a new idea for a feature right as I was trying to get on the T,  they called  (we didn't have hundreds of customers, so that meant that I actually could spend time an interact with each and every one).  As a result of having to be on the front lines, I think I learned more about business in a year than I did in all of my other jobs combined -- but the number one thing I learned was the importance of saying no and the right way to do so. [Read More [fa icon="long-arrow-right"]](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/startup-account-management-just-say-no) [All posts](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/all) ### Never miss a new blog post ### Posts by Topic - [Startups (7)](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/topic/startups) - [Hiring (3)](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/topic/hiring) - [Marketing (3)](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/topic/marketing) - [Ideas (2)](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/topic/ideas) - [Account Management (1)](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/topic/account-management) - [HubSpot (1)](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/topic/hubspot) - [Podcast (1)](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/topic/podcast) [see all](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/topic/account-management#) ### Recent Posts #### More Links #### Contact Dave [fa icon="envelope"]  david.a.gerhardt at gmail Copyright 2014 | Designed with [fa icon="heart"] by [HubSpot](http://www.hubspot.com) [[fa icon="chevron-up"]](http://470553.hs-sites.com/blog/topic/account-management#)