How do you think about your first 30/60/90 day goals when coming in as the Head of revenue operations in a startup that didn't have revenue operations before?

Question

Lindsay Rothlisberger · Accepted Answer

Here are some goals I’d consider for a new RevOps function:

First 30 days:

1. Meet with key stakeholders in sales, marketing, customer success, and finance to understand the current processes, tools, and technology being used.
 2. Use the information gathered to identify areas where revenue operations can make the most impact, such as improving the sales process, implementing new technology, or optimizing the revenue model.
 3. Develop a roadmap for revenue operations. Based on the gaps and opportunities identified, develop a plan for the next 3 months that outlines the initiatives, goals, and expected outcomes.

60 days:

1. Begin implementing the initiatives outlined in the roadmap, starting with the highest-priority items. Focus on the things that provide impact quickly, versus large long-term investments -- this will help gain momentum while you ramp and develop a deeper understanding of the business.
 2. Develop processes and standard operating procedures. Such as standing meetings with sales and marketing leaders, revenue reporting cadences, project management norms, etc.
 3. Review and optimize the tech stack. Review the company's technology stack and identify opportunities to optimize or replace tools that are not meeting the needs of the revenue operations function.

90 days:

1. Align the org around common language and definitions, such as lead and deal stage definitions and important conversion metrics.
 2. Plan for future growth. Develop a plan for scaling revenue operations as the company grows, including hiring additional staff, implementing new tools, and refining processes.

It’s really important to understand the needs of the business versus assuming that the systems, processes and tools should look similar to what you’ve seen in previous roles. So make sure to invest time up front learning from other folks in the org.

Ana Rottaro · Answer

Days 0-30: Discovery and Reporting

1. Go through the process of understanding necessary RevOps initiatives as noted in the question “What's your framework to prioritizing needs/deliverables when you're the first revenue operations manager at a company establishing the function?”
 2. Identify urgent revenue leaks like slow responses to hand-raisers or low follow-through or renewals falling through the cracks.
 3. Understand where reporting lives and what reporting is missing in the funnel. While you’re doing this, create a list of reports and dashboards that can later be added to a section of your RevOps homepage to start creating a definitive list of where to get metrics that all departments can use. This should clearly display where RevOps has a stake and can help revenue.

Days 31-60: Quick High-Impact Wins

You should have an understanding of where revenue is currently coming from and where the org is losing business. Being the first revenue operations person should mean a lot of low-hanging fruit to impact the business. Focus on those low-hanging fruit and stand up some quick simple measures to boost revenue. A little should go a long way in these situations, don’t focus on standing up long-term processes if it’ll take a long time, just focus on quick gains that can hold things over while bigger initiatives get set into motion. Note what will need to be revisited later. This establishes the impact the function can have early on and creates buy-in from stakeholders.

Days 60-90: Establish the Function

1. Define revenue operations at your org and put together a RevOps home page wherever go-to-market documentation lives. You will house your initiatives, mission, request process, and resources for other teams and leadership here like links to dashboards. Add a centralized list of reports collected on go-to-market metrics to start becoming a resource.
 2. Refine what’s needed to ensure RevOps has a continued impact. Create a first draft of documentation on how RevOps will work and showcase the initiatives you’ve identified as the highest priority to bring scale and sustainability to go-to-market processes.
 3. Kick-off work for what you’ve identified as the highest priority initiative to show what working with RevOps will look like for stakeholders.

Related Ask Me Anything Sessions

HubSpot SVP, Revenue Operations (RevOps), Sid Kumar on Establishing the Revenue Ops Function

Zapier Director, Revenue Operations, Lindsay Rothlisberger on Establishing the Revenue Ops Function

Clockwise Head of Revenue Operations, Ana Rottaroon Establishing the Revenue Ops Function

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