On the TechTO stage ×1
First seen on the TechTO stage in 2019. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Erin ↗
In their words
I'm not too picky about the words — some people might call it growth ops or GTM ops or business ops. When you talk about all the systems and data and process that sit behind marketing, sales and customer success, it's the umbrella over all three of those.
The way that it's changing now is how those all have to actually work together. I think it used to be a lot more thrown over the wall, and now it's more planning together, looking at the data and then continuing to cycle through that and improve the process.
Once you get over 50 people, that's where you really need to have somebody who can connect the dots and make those things run more smoothly — and when you start to get into over 100 and over 150 people, that's when you have a lot of chaos if you don't have a very organized process.
Around the web ×2
Quick answers
Who is Erin Bush?
A revenue operations leader. Introducing the September 2019 SalesTO panel, TechTO described her as senior director of revenue ops at LeanData, an Atlanta native who started in sales and sales leadership, worked at Alfresco and SalesLoft, and had moved to the Bay Area a year earlier to help scale LeanData. A Fullcast interview in August 2020 listed RevOps leadership roles at LeanData, SalesLoft and Pendo. No current role is published here because none could be verified from a first-party source.
Who should revenue operations report to?
It depends on the company, and she said she did not know of an industry best practice. Her view: the CRO if there is one, or at an earlier stage a head of finance or the CEO — someone who takes RevOps outside reporting to a sales leader so it can act as an objective third party.
When does a company need a dedicated operations hire?
Early on, functional leaders tend to do it themselves — the first head of marketing runs the marketing automation platform, the first head of sales outsources Salesforce or has one person help. Past about 50 people, she said, you need someone to connect the dots, and past 100 to 150 people there is a lot of chaos without an organised process.
How was LeanData's RevOps team organised in 2019?
Under one RevOps umbrella: a lead for enablement plus heads of marketing, sales and customer success operations, each with their own team, with plans to add owners for the tech stack and data analysis as the company grew. At the time of the panel the team was working on 2020 planning, connecting the top-down revenue number to the pipeline, opportunities and target accounts needed to reach it.