AMA: Tegus Global Head of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Kayvan Dastgheib on Revenue Ops Career Path

Revenue operations is an evolving field that has emerged from the convergence of traditionally siloed roles like sales, customer success and marketing operations. Many professionals in revenue operations do not start their careers with the intention of landing in this field; instead, they often transition from roles in sales, marketing, customer success, finance, business operations, or even technical positions. The appeal of revenue operations lies in its holistic approach to managing go-to-market strategies, which requires a blend of strategic insight and cross-functional coordination. The role is ideal for those who thrive on synthesizing complex operations and driving growth through data-driven strategies and collaboration across various business functions. If you are currently outside of revenue operations, consider how your unique skills can contribute to the multifaceted challenges of go-to-market strategies, and whether these challenges excite you.

The leap from a Senior Revenue Operations Manager to a Director-level position hinges significantly on the breadth of your current responsibilities and the nature of the organizations you aim to join. The scope of responsibility for managers and directors can vary greatly depending on the size and maturity of the organization. For instance, smaller, earlier-stage companies often afford managers and senior managers broad responsibilities that allow for significant business impact. Conversely, being a director in these smaller companies means addressing challenges that more mature organizations might already have overcome. Firstly, evaluate the types of organizations you aspire to be part of—consider their growth stage and market position as this will provide clearer guidance on what experiences you need to accumulate. * For those aiming to excel in larger organizations, experiences that showcase your ability to navigate complex mergers, spearhead large-scale integrations, or manage significant go-to-market expansions are invaluable. For instance, playing a key role in the integration of systems post-merger, leading the strategic planning process during a major product launch, or developing and executing a multi-regional expansion strategy could demonstrate your readiness for a director-level role. * Conversely, if your goal is to step into a leadership role at a smaller, growth-stage company, you should focus on acquiring experiences that align with rapid scaling and operational agility. This could involve leading the implementation of a CRM system to support a growing sales team, architecting a data-driven sales strategy from scratch, or overseeing the deployment of a new go-to-market model that doubles the company's market reach. These experiences should show your capability to apply scalable solutions that drive substantial business growth. * Additionally, being part of a team that navigates a company through a significant revenue milestone, such as growing from $50M to $100M ARR, provides a solid foundation for a director role. Experiences like redesigning sales territories to maximize market coverage, optimizing compensation plans to drive performance, or leading a cross-functional project that results in a 30% increase in sales productivity, all demonstrate your ability to deliver impactful outcomes at scale. Essentially, your experiences should demonstrate your ability to lead through complexity, drive significant business outcomes, and adapt strategies to diverse business contexts.

I prefer to frame the challenges I face as a Revenue Operations manager not as frustrations, but as crucial considerations that influence how I allocate my time and resources over the coming months. A common issue is that Revenue Operations teams are often under-resourced relative to the size and needs of the organizations they support. It can take years to build a team with the capacity and expertise needed to scale operations effectively alongside rapid business growth. * The ongoing challenge is aligning the needs of the business with the capabilities of my team, deciding which initiatives are most critical for short-term success while planning for long-term scalability. This often means making tough decisions about prioritizing tasks that will deliver the highest value. Invariably, the needs of the business will outpace the capacity of the team at times, necessitating a strategic evaluation of what's truly essential. * The most successful Revenue Operations leaders excel in articulating the business value of expanding their teams. They effectively communicate the potential risks and opportunity costs of understaffing to stakeholders, ensuring that resources are allocated to support growth adequately. This isn't unique to Revenue Operations—every functional leader must assess whether their team can meet the business's needs and advocate for the necessary resources to succeed. This aspect of the role requires a nuanced understanding of how to balance immediate operational demands with strategic investments in team capability. It involves ongoing communication with other leaders to align on priorities and ensure that the Revenue Operations team can continue to support the organization's growth and adapt to changing market conditions.

I do not like the terms "hard skills" and "soft skills" because, ultimately, to be a RevOps leader, these are simply skills that you need to master to be effective in your role. Due to the significant variance, you will find in RevOps leaders and their career paths, some competencies will be more prevalent or highly indexed than others, but each of these plays a role in being a successful leader. * First, you need significant depth and breadth in understanding go-to-market strategy and planning. RevOps leaders need to be able to lead planning cycles, define the development of sales and growth plans, understand headcount, budget, territory design, and compensation plans, and build these into a cohesive rules of engagement * Then, there needs to be a strong understanding of analytics and data strategy. The best RevOps leaders are the ones who understand the importance of data governance, data integrity, and take ownership of implementing a clear reporting dictionary. Data is the secret language of strategy. RevOps is often seen as the connective tissue between go-to-market functions, and that comes with the responsibility to align the truth and ensure everyone is speaking the same language. * Following closely is a strong understanding of forecasting, knowing how to design and implement the systems and frameworks that ensure go-to-market leaders are able to deliver accurate forecasts and maintain pipeline hygiene. * A key differentiator for RevOps leaders is also a mastery of business systems. Go-to-market technology can easily be one of the most powerful force accelerators for a go-to-market team and just as easily be a drag on what should be an adaptable and high-velocity machine. As a result, having at least a fundamental understanding of broader best practices around tools, technology, and, more importantly, change management and implementation will set someone apart as a best-in-class RevOps leader. * Being a RevOps leader means you are going to be leading a RevOps team, and that means you need to build an A+ roster. You have to hire the critical players that are missing within your team, know where you're strong and where you need to index. If you're very strong on the financial aspects of go-to-market planning and are not as strong on the technical, make sure that your priority is to hire technical experts for your team. Similarly, if enablement strategy isn't your strongest, make sure to index and invest in talent that has a high ownership over the enablement function. If you are not as well versed in managing deal desks or in building out the robust functions required for effective contract management, hire a strong field desk manager to be a part of your team and add value in that space within your organization. * Lastly, but most certainly not least, and arguably I would say it's the most important, is you need to be able to build cross-functional partnerships and communicate at a senior level. The best RevOps leaders work with everyone at the organization; there isn't a limit to go-to-market. As a result, you need to be able to be a partner, to put the business first, to be an effective agent of change, to build alliances and partners across an organization, and learn how to influence many other parties within the organization with whom you do not have direct management and oversight. If you wrap all of that together, that's going to be the scorecard to live by for a best-in-class RevOps leader.

The leap from analyst to manager marks the first step in shifting focus from the quality of your individual contributions to your ability to deliver tangible business impact and work effectively with others. This role demands a blend of interpersonal, strategic, and technical skills to manage teams effectively and drive organizational success. * Being a manager often means becoming a people leader, which requires a track record of mentorship, coaching, and uplifting members of your team based on your tenure and experience. As a manager, you must demonstrate proven mentorship and coaching abilities. Leading involves nurturing talent, fostering professional growth among team members, and setting a positive example in workplace culture. Your role is to guide your team through challenges, helping them to leverage their strengths and improve on their weaknesses. * Effective communication is vital. A manager must bridge technical and business language barriers between cross-functional teams, ensuring clear and effective exchanges of ideas. This requires not only translating complex data into actionable insights but also advocating for your team's needs and contributions at the strategic level. * You must also move beyond purely technical skills surrounding data management or solution implementations. Instead, start identifying process inefficiencies, analyze that data, and propose solutions to optimize various business aspects that accelerate the overall customer journey. * Develop a systems thinking and building mindset. This doesn't necessarily mean creating technology solutions; rather, it involves crafting frameworks that allow you to identify needs, communicate with partners, execute plans, and report on successes and failures in a scalable way, prioritizing lessons learned. * Being a manager also means you are a culture carrier; you should be seen as a champion of team ideals and an exemplar for others to follow. How do you deliver on the company’s values? How do you establish a bias for action, bridge gaps, inspire teams, and collaborate to deliver ideal outcomes? These are critical aspects of being a manager. Transitioning from an analyst to a manager involves elevating your individual work to inspire those around you and the teams beneath you to perform at a level you have become known for. You need to apply your impacts and knowledge in a way that is felt throughout the broader organization. Being a manager is not just about managing work; it's about leading people and processes in a way that supports the company’s broader objectives and fosters a positive and productive team environment.

I appreciate this question because it highlights the non-linear career paths typical in Revenue Operations. Given the diverse origins of Revenue Operations professionals, there's no set path, but rather a blending of various skills from different business functions. It's essential to understand how to apply your unique skills to the specific challenges Revenue Operations leaders face. * There is tremendous value in a robust understanding of the go-to-market motion. For those transitioning into an analyst role, familiarity with the roles and responsibilities of sales, customer success, and marketing teams and how these teams synergize to drive business strategy is fundamental. For higher-level roles, a deeper grasp of these functions' success metrics and how to collaborate effectively with these teams is necessary. * Financial acumen is another transferable skill. Understanding how to read a profit and loss statement, comprehend go-to-market efficiency metrics, and construct data-driven booking plans is vital. Revenue Operations often serves as a bridge between finance and go-to-market functions, so strength in financial analysis supports this bridging role. * Data analytics skills are also highly valuable. The best Revenue Operations professionals go beyond mere reporting—they interpret data to challenge assumptions and adjust strategies. They must translate complex data insights into actionable strategies that non-technical stakeholders can understand and act upon. * Lastly, you can leverage a deep understanding of your target market. Knowing the ideal customer profile, core buyers, their motivations, and pain points provides a strategic advantage. This knowledge enables you to support go-to-market strategies effectively, making you a valuable consultative partner within the organization.