AMA: Payscale VP, GTM Operations, Kayvan Dastgheib-Beheshti on Technology Management

Interoperability starts with visibility. You can’t bridge gaps between old and new systems if you don’t have a live, documented understanding of what those systems are doing. You need to know what data is flowing where, what dependencies exist, and where failure points could arise. The first thing we do is map the ecosystem, not just a standard tech stack diagram but a detailed systems architecture view. This includes all platforms, all integrations (native and custom), the data schemas involved ...Read More

Scalability isn’t just about selecting the right tools; it’s about tightly aligning those tools with the evolving priorities of the business. What gets a GTM team to $10M in ARR won’t be what gets them to $100M or $500M. To ensure scalability: Start with strategic alignment: Every technology initiative should be a force multiplier for a core business goal. If the business is focused on expansion revenue or customer onboarding, for example, the tech stack should be optimized around CS tooling, im ...Read More

It starts with a simple principle: you can’t innovate if you don’t have the capacity to do so. RevOps teams sit at the intersection of Sales, Marketing, CS, Product, and Finance, and can very quickly become overloaded with ad hoc requests and reactive work. To protect space for innovation: Codify your capacity model: I often target something like 70% for maintenance and execution work (reporting, system support, QBR prep, etc.) and 30% for strategic or innovation-focused initiatives. This makes ...Read More

You have to treat innovation as a structured process, not a side hustle. The best way to balance cutting-edge technology with operational stability is to build a gating framework, something that ensures new technology is evaluated against the reality of data security, systems governance, and change management readiness before anything ever goes live. When vetting a new martech solution, we typically evaluate it across four lenses: Business Alignment – Is this solving a real pain or enabling a st ...Read More

I'm a strong proponent of leveraging predictive models within go-to-market (GTM) organizations. These tools are often developed in partnership with internal data scientists or external vendors and, when built and implemented correctly, can significantly enhance sales efficiency and strategic decision-making. There are two core models I generally recommend for any RevOps function: Predictive ICP Model: This model helps surface accounts most likely to convert by optimizing for win rate. It’s typic ...Read More

At a previous company, we had just implemented a hunter/farmer split across our GTM team. As is common during those transitions, there was a lot of skepticism about account quality and data integrity in Salesforce, which made building territories incredibly difficult. To solve for this, I partnered with a platform called GoodFit.io, which uses external signals, including firmographics, website traffic patterns, funding history, and product intent, to score the likelihood of an account being a st ...Read More