Does this sound familiar?
Your first operating model
Every startup has an operating model, whether anyone designed it or not. In the early days, it's the founders: they sell, decide on pricing, onboard customers and keep the numbers in a spreadsheet. That's exactly right at that stage. It starts to hurt once the team grows, because what worked through a few people's personal effort doesn't carry a team of ten, twenty or fifty.
The risk at this stage runs in both directions. Without structure, every new hire adds chaos. With too much structure too early, you slow down a team that needs to move fast. A good first operating model is just enough: clear stages and definitions, a CRM that follows how you sell, a few metrics everyone trusts, and clear ownership, built so it can grow with you.
How I help
- New Business: Sales Pipeline & Lead Management: from founder-led sales to a repeatable process your reps can follow
- CRM, GTM Systems & AI: a CRM and tech stack set up properly from the start, or cleaned up before it gets worse
- Sales Forecasting & Revenue Reporting: the metrics and board reporting investors expect
- GTM Strategy & Scaling: ICP, territories and quotas, and support when you enter new markets
- Existing Business: Customer Retention & Expansion: renewals and expansion from the very first customers, before churn becomes a board topic
How we work together
We start with where you are today and the next milestone ahead: a funding round, your first sales hires, a new market. I build what you need for that step, document it and hand it over, so your team can run it and your first in-house RevOps hire has a solid place to start.