January 11, 2023
The Chief Revenue Officer has become one of the most consequential value-creation hires in a private equity-backed company, and one of the hardest to get right.
Today’s best CROs do far more than deliver the forecast. They shape commercial strategy, align the go-to-market organization, build high-performing teams, and drive the growth that ultimately influences exit outcomes. As Jim Whitehurst, former President of IBM, former CEO of Red Hat, and advisor to Silver Lake, notes, the role extends far beyond hitting the number.
So what separates a superstar from a solid performer?
JM Search Partner Dan Kielar asked CEOs, board members, and operating partners from Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, Great Hill Partners, Drift, and Quickbase. Their answers point to a consistent profile: leaders who deliver today’s results while building tomorrow’s growth engine, recruit and develop exceptional talent, and combine relentless competitiveness with the humility to keep learning.
What’s Inside
- Why elite CROs balance short-term execution with long-term go-to-market transformation
- The leadership capability contributors identified as the greatest differentiator: building, coaching, and aligning exceptional GTM teams
- How the best CROs use data to drive decisions and where they spend their time
- Why humility, resilience, curiosity, and competitiveness consistently distinguish top performers
Superstar CROs are rare, and their impact on enterprise value is outsized. Knowing how to identify and assess them can make the difference between a leadership hire that accelerates the investment thesis and one that limits it.