This is the first in a series on RevOps with our RevOps expert in residence, Robert Soffel. Rob first came to our attention during his work with OnFido, collaborating with another of our Operating Partners, Andy Leaver. He’s also done great work with Trustpilot, Fidel API, and more recently, he's been helping several of our portfolio companies implement foundational RevOps.

‍

‍

Setting the scene

‍

In this introduction to RevOps I want to cover two key things: first, what I call the "RevOps mindset" and how to deploy it, and second, a framework for scaling RevOps from $1M to $100M in ARR. I'll touch on the RevOps MVP (minimum viable product) at each stage, the do's and don'ts, and some foundational components to guide you through your growth journey.

We will focus on RevOps as a horizontal function through different growth stages—start, build, and scale. We won’t dive deep into specific topics like sales processes or unit economics, but future sessions will cover those in depth. 

To kick off, I want to share a quote you’ve likely heard: "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it." On your screen, you’ll see the T2D3 growth model—triple, triple, double, double, which translates to companies needing to grow 72x in five years. That was a common expectation not too long ago, driving behaviours like hiring more reps, 10xing MQLs, and raising more cash, often at the expense of sustainable growth.

This hyper-growth mentality also led to misalignment between go-to-market teams and the buyer journey. Common issues included teams operating in silos, multiple definitions of a "customer," and misaligned incentives driving poor outcomes. For example, marketing might focus on MQLs without considering true buyer intent, leading to inefficiencies.

As Sam Jacobs from Pavilion often quotes, “Marketing can’t be crushing it if the entire company isn’t crushing it.” That sentiment perfectly captures the need for unified go-to-market alignment, which is what RevOps is all about.

‍

RevOps & the socratic method

‍

The combination of unrealistic growth expectations and a misaligned go-to-market organisation often results in unproductive, inefficient growth. The opposite of that is what we’re focusing on today. When key priorities, like a clearly defined ICP or disciplined processes, aren’t in place, companies grow inefficiently. This leads to several issues, including operational debt, poor LTV/CAC ratios, customer churn, and, ultimately, layoffs.

One of the biggest challenges is the accumulation of operational debt, particularly during the build stage. This debt—across processes, systems, and metrics—slows down the go-to-market organisation, making it harder to manoeuvre. It’s like trying to walk through molasses. Poor-performing LTV/CAC, customer churn, especially when you don’t see it coming, and layoffs are all symptoms of this inefficiency. 

At the Notion Growth Summit in June, Harrison Rose, co-founder of Paddle and an expert at Notion, said something that really resonated with me: "A company is more likely to die of indigestion than starvation." This reflects the reality of bloated, inefficient growth. It underscores the importance of being disciplined and measured in your approach—you can't be everything to all prospects or segments all the time.

To reinforce this, I recently looked at Carta data, which showed that 58% more startups shut down in Q1 2024 compared to the previous year. While we can’t say for sure if inefficient growth was the cause, it’s likely a contributing factor given the growth-at-all-costs mindset of recent years. 

So, how do we pivot toward more intelligent, methodical growth? Enter RevOps. The foundation of RevOps is to drive efficiency across go-to-market functions. In recent years, especially here in Europe, the role of RevOps has evolved, and it’s no longer just seen as system admin or sales ops with a new label. In fact, in 2023, "Head of Revenue Operations" was the most popular job title on LinkedIn in the US. 

Why the analogy to a machine? Because a machine is reliable, predictable, and capable of repeating processes. This ties into the "bowtie" model from Winning by Design, which emphasises the need to focus not just on the top of the funnel but also on the right side, ensuring repeatability and predictability throughout the customer lifecycle.

Standardisation is key. Clearly define your customer journey, go-to-market processes, and lifecycle stages. Remove subjectivity, and measure conversion metrics continuously. Even if you can’t afford a seasoned RevOps pro early on, applying these principles will help you grow intelligently from the start.

RevOps is like a Socratic method for improving your revenue machine—constantly asking questions and using data-driven insights to make informed decisions. Questions like: Should we target enterprise customers? Is a drop in activation rate due to an onboarding problem or misalignment in the handover? What would happen if we increased conversion rates by 3%?

This mindset will help you move away from gut-feel decision-making and toward data-driven growth.

‍

Five principles of the RevOps Mindset

‍

Defining the RevOps mindset involves five core principles that enable continuous improvement in your go-to-market strategy:

1. Systems Thinking: You’re building a machine, so define how it operates and identify the levers and dials to fine-tune it over time. The goal is to create a system that can adapt to change efficiently.
2. Holistic Thinking: Changes don’t happen in isolation. You must consider both the left (lead generation) and right (customer retention) sides of the bowtie model when making decisions. 
3. Harnessing Technology: Do more with less, but remember, tooling rarely solves process problems on its own. Technology should enhance and optimise your existing processes, not define them.
4. Scaling Intelligently: Balance over-investing and under-investing. Know which resources, processes, or tools to invest in and when.
5. Incremental Improvement: Apply continuous improvement across all aspects of RevOps. Many small, positive changes compound over time for greater impact.

‍

Applying the RevOps Mindset in Practice

‍

Let’s Consider a basic customer lifecycle from prospect to customer retention, with ARR metrics like signed, activated, and retained deals. In one scenario, you have 1,000 leads, with a 10% conversion rate to MQL, and so on. One common assumption is that to improve performance, you need more leads or MQLs, but that’s not always the answer. 

Instead, what if you focus on tightening your ICP, messaging, and qualification criteria? By doing so, you may end up with fewer leads but higher conversion rates across the funnel, leading to better ARR outcomes.

Another example: say you notice many deals are lost at the discovery stage. You might bet on improving the deal discovery process through training or enablement. Even without more leads, by improving win rates and deal size, you can significantly increase revenue.

This is the continuous improvement approach—diagnosing what's happening, identifying challenges, and isolating opportunities for improvement. It’s almost never just about getting more leads.

‍

RevOps Across Growth Stages

‍

At Notion, we look at growth in three stages: Start (finding product-market fit), Build (establishing go-to-market fit), and Scale (scaling that fit). RevOps plays a different role at each stage.

‍

1. Start (RevOps as a Mindset): In the early stages, the business is gathering information and likely running founder-led sales. You may not have a dedicated RevOps hire, but you should still apply a RevOps mindset. Key actions include defining a best-guess ICP and tracking customer interactions to gather feedback and refine your approach.
2. Build (Setting the Foundations): As you ramp up, it’s critical to establish strong foundations for scaling. This includes creating standardised processes, clear metrics, and systems that can handle increased activity.
3. Scale (Optimization): At this stage, the machine is running, but the focus shifts to continuous optimization. RevOps ensures the system is fine-tuned and capable of supporting ongoing growth.

‍

By applying these principles and using RevOps as a mindset, you can scale your business more intelligently and efficiently.

‍

RevOps in START mode

‍

You won’t have all the information to fully define things at this stage, but it’s worth considering how you’ll structure your customer lifecycle now. GTM (go-to-market) motions, like PLG (product-led growth) versus a top-down account-based approach, will affect how you define that lifecycle. It’s not as simple as jumping into HubSpot and setting things up—you need to consider how these motions influence your lifecycle definition.

‍

Rob’s RevOps Don'ts at This Stage

1. Don’t over-invest in tools before processes: Tools won’t solve process problems. Over-relying on them leads to operational debt and wasted resources.   
2. Don’t over-invest in process design: Processes will change frequently, especially early on. Focus on MVPs (minimum viable products) that give you visibility, then iterate from there.
3. Don’t integrate platforms just because you can: Integrations without clear controls or a customer data strategy can create more problems than they solve. Be strategic about which data should be integrated.

‍

Moving Forward: The BUILD Stage

‍

I’ve broken down the build stage into two parts: establishing repeatability and increasing predictability. This stage is about setting solid foundations, and it’s where many companies make mistakes—often after a recent investment (e.g., Series A), they try to deploy capital too broadly without considering priorities. This can lead to scattered efforts and operational debt.

Some common pitfalls include half-hearted partner programs or moving upmarket without proper consideration.

‍

Characteristics of the Build Stage:

‍

• Recent investment and capital to deploy
• One GTM motion gaining traction, possibly testing others
• Functional leaders in place with their own operational expectations
• You may or may not have a dedicated RevOps resource

‍

Rob’s RevOps Do’s and Don’ts at the Build Stage

‍

Do’s:

1. Establish MVP visibility of your funnel: Define your ICP, target personas, and value propositions. Set up a standardised sales process and a qualification framework for both leads and deals. Establish common terminology and metrics to unify the organisation.
2. Create a reporting and operating cadence: Visibility into data is only useful if it’s acted upon. Set up scheduled reporting to deliver insights to relevant stakeholders.
3. Conduct a bottom-up sanity check on plans: Question assumptions in top-down plans, such as expecting 100% of reps to hit quota or generating revenue from reps who haven’t started yet.

‍

Don’ts:

1. Don’t scale your GTM without the foundations in place. Copying half-baked processes into new markets leads to failure.
2. Don’t ignore operational debt; it will accumulate if not addressed.
3. Don’t automate for the sake of it. Automation should be purposeful and measured.
4. Don’t forget to measure the performance of any new initiatives, or you’ll miss critical feedback.

‍

Increasing Predictability

‍

In the later stages of the build phase, you shift to strengthening foundations and driving predictability. Key characteristics include a more sophisticated distribution model, transitioning from generalist to specialist hires, and a focus on unit economics like gross margin.

‍

Robs RevOps Do’s and Don’t at This Stage - BUILD 2 ($10m to $30m ARR)

‍

Do's:

1. Implement a sales methodology: Standardising the sales process increases predictability and helps you get closer to your deals.   
2. Establish rigorous forecasting: Apply data and science to your forecasts rather than relying on gut feel.
3. Segment your customers and prospects: Start identifying which segments are most profitable to further refine your efforts.
4. Put controls around contracts and pricing: Implement structure and consistency with tools like CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote).
5. Track leading and lagging indicators: You need to know what’s likely to happen before it does, allowing you to make informed adjustments.

‍

Don’ts:

• Don’t treat sales methodology like a checklist. It needs to be embedded into your organisation’s ethos.
• Don’t ignore attribution. You need to understand which channels and sources are most effective.

‍

RevOps in SCALE mode!

‍

Scaling: Optimization, Optimization, Optimization

At the scale stage, your focus shifts to optimising the machine. This includes expanding into new products, channels, and geographies while pursuing productivity and profitability. RevOps moves into more of a support and enablement role as you now have an ecosystem of revenue tools and specialised roles in place.

‍

Rob’s RevOps Do’s at This Stage:

1. Specialise your RevOps team: Ensure your team aligns with the needs of the organisation, whether it’s customer ops, partner ops, or Salesforce administration.
2. Develop a framework for defining and executing a RevOps roadmap: Proactively communicate with stakeholders and ensure the team is aligned on priorities.
3. Leverage automation for efficiency: This is the time to optimise workflows with automation where it makes sense.

‍

In conclusion, RevOps and the path to $100M revenue!

‍

RevOps evolves through the stages of growth, from applying a mindset in the early stages, to setting foundations in the build phase, and optimising in the scale phase. Each stage requires a different approach, but the overarching goal remains the same: continuously improve and align the go-to-market organisation to drive sustainable growth.

‍

RevOps Q&A

‍

When should a company hire a dedicated, seasoned RevOps professional? 

‍

Ideally, this should happen in response to increased investment in marketing, sales, or customer success. For example, if the business is launching new campaigns or adding an SDR function, it's a strong indication that RevOps is needed.

In my view, once you've raised a Series A and have capital to deploy, but aren’t entirely sure where to deploy it, that’s a key moment to bring in RevOps. This ensures that the company grows intelligently, rather than spreading resources too thin. RevOps can guide those strategic decisions to maximise efficiency and effectiveness.

‍

What is a good reporting cadence for RevOps?

‍

Sure. Where I’ve seen this work effectively—going back to my time at Onfido—we had various team meetings, such as pipeline reviews, deal reviews, and forecasting meetings, with RevOps as a key participant. But when I refer to a RevOps reporting cadence, I mean RevOps actively surfacing insights.

At Onfido, we had a two-hour steering meeting every two weeks with the CFO, CEO, CRO, and all functional heads. I would present insights on what had happened since the last meeting, which allowed us to collectively address issues like product concerns or deals stalling. It provided a clear view of the business’s performance and allowed leadership to hold teams accountable and commend successes.

Even without a formal steering meeting, weekly or bi-weekly operating reports that show what’s happening across the customer funnel are a great way to get the business familiar with the data. For me, the insight piece is what distinguishes RevOps as a strategic partner rather than just a report builder.