Why Your Rockstar CRO Isn’t Enough to Maximize Value Creation

Go-to-market (GTM) success is often credited to the strength of a company’s Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). A team that meets its target is widely taken as evidence that the commercial model is healthy. 

But in most private equity- and growth equity-backed companies, even exceptional CROs can only take the business so far through individual leadership. Compressed hold periods, margin scrutiny, and aggressive value creation targets demand something more durable: a revenue system that can be audited, tuned, and scaled independently of any single executive. 

That system is Revenue Operations, when executed at an executive level and not as a tactical support function. 

“If the CRO is the growth leader, RevOps is the system owner. Without that counterpart, you’re scaling talent instead of scaling a machine. And when talent and AI start to blend, growth leaders will need a system owner.”
Stephen Diorio, Author, Revenue Operations 

Beyond the “Hero-Led” Motion 

A world-class CRO can produce results through pipeline expansion, faster execution, and account growth. But even elite CROs can be boxed in by fragmented processes, inconsistent data, tech sprawl, cross-functional friction, and recurring pricing and discounting governance issues. 

In a sponsor-backed context, this creates commercial dependency risk. Performance is person-dependent, not system-driven. When growth depends on the CRO “making it happen” quarter after quarter rather than on a system that produces predictable outcomes, variance increases, margin integrity erodes, and the value creation narrative becomes harder to underwrite. 

“The board doesn’t want another dashboard. They want to know what needs to change, why it needs to change, how it will change, and the quantified financial impact.”
Eugene Nogi, General Partner, Guidepost Growth Equity 

The COO of the GTM System 

RevOps should function as the COO of the GTM system. The right RevOps leader doesn’t just run reports; they operate the commercial engine itself: the cadence, controls, and levers that keep lead-to-cash performing through growth and change. 

At the executive level, Strategic RevOps leaders: 

• Protect margin integrity: Tighten pricing, discounting, and deal governance to reduce leakage. 

• Scale systems: Move the organization from hero-led motions to codified, repeatable playbooks. 

• Accelerate time-to-impact: Shorten ramp time and raise productivity during the hold period. 

• Create sponsor confidence: Establish a forecasting and operating rhythm that leadership and investors can stand behind. 

From Foundational to Strategic RevOps 

Crucially, the next generation of RevOps leaders are not managing to a static point. They run a continuous control system for the revenue engine, actively recalibrating as conditions shift, whether it is ICP changes, pricing pressure, or the productivity impacts of AI automation. 

Their job is to preserve lead-to-cash integrity while the ground is moving, protecting predictability and margin at the same time. 

“When the ICP shifts, the system must shift with it. McKinsey finds successful agility transformations deliver around 30 percent gains and make organizations five to ten times faster. RevOps is what enables and operationalizes that speed, driving the decisions that the field can execute without fragmenting the overall playbook.”
Steve Busby, Founder and CEO, Revenue Operations Associates 

A helpful way to frame the shift is from foundational RevOps to strategic RevOps. Foundational RevOps emphasizes dashboards, CRM hygiene, and retrospective reporting. Strategic RevOps runs the GTM operating system through driver-based forecasting, codified playbooks, and decision systems that trigger action. It is a move from roll-up optimism to measurable probability, and from activity output to controlled commercial outcomes across coverage, capacity, CAC efficiency, margin, and retention. 

A 5-Point Strategic RevOps Diagnostic 

If two or more of the following are true, your organization is ready for a senior RevOps counterpart to the CRO. 

1. Forecasting lacks defensible drivers. Accuracy is off by 10 percent or more, or swings late in quarter, forcing leadership to rely on manual “haircuts” or anecdotes.
2. Productivity is not compounding. Sales productivity remains flat despite headcount growth and investments in enablement and AI, because ramp time, capacity, and core workflows are not standardized.
3. AI adoption is tactical, not structural. Your organization is buying AI tools, but data and process maturity is lacking, resulting in “random acts of digital” rather than predictive modeling.
4. Pipeline and ICP discipline are inconsistent. Customer Success regularly flags non-ICP deals or misaligned expectations, signaling a lack of GTM alignment.
5. Commercial execution is leaking value. Pricing and deal governance issues recur, and the CRO spends more time fixing operational gaps than driving strategy. 

Engineering for Exit: Navigating the Search 

From a PE perspective, this is the moment to treat RevOps as a value creation lever, not overhead. The CRO and RevOps partnership balances speed and control: one drives outcomes, the other ensures consistency, adaptability, and margin discipline. 

Before adding another GTM leader or buying another enablement or AI tool, high-performing portfolio companies step back and assess the system itself: how revenue flows, where friction builds, where value leaks, and which levers improve time to impact during the hold period. 

For sponsors, the decision to elevate RevOps is a move toward institutionalizing value. The most common pitfall is hiring the wrong profile: finding a “Librarian” (strong on dashboards) when the investment thesis requires a “Transformer” (strong on operating change). Finding a leader who can translate a CRO’s strategy into a repeatable growth engine is an architectural decision, not just a hiring one.  

This is why JM Search approaches the search process by first evaluating the current GTM system alongside specialist partners like Revenue Operations Associates. By assessing your entire GTM motion and pinpointing where value is leaking across forecasting, pricing, and retention, we define the specific operating model required for the hold period before identifying the executive to lead it. 

Ultimately, the right RevOps partner does not just power growth; they make it repeatable, explainable, and resilient. In an era where predictability drives multiples, that system is the ultimate value creation lever.