The Path from RevOps Leader to CEO

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Did you have a dream job as a kid? Maybe you wanted to be an actor, a firefighter, or a doctor. Or, perhaps you've always envisioned yourself as a CEO. If being the big boss is your lifelong goal, we've got good news for you. Your RevOps career is giving you the right experience you need to get there. Even though RevOps is a relatively new organizational approach, leaders are already paving the path from ops to CEO. For example, consider Arovy's CEO, Brad Smith. Brad's experience in ops—working across functions, managing tech stacks, and balancing strategic and tactical work—positioned him perfectly for the role he's in now. If you want to make the transition from ops to CEO one day, start by focusing on these four things in your current role:

Think cross-functionally

Let's be honest. There's never a day in RevOps when you work with just one team. You're most likely spending every day collaborating cross-functionally with multiple departments. Working closely with several teams gives you a unique perspective into your company's funnel—from marketing to sales and HR to finance. This insight allows you to make decisions agnostic to one department's benefit, just like CEOs decide what's best for the entire company, not one team.

Solve problems with tech

It's easy for companies and ops teams to fall into the trap of acquiring new tech for the wrong reasons. For example, early growth stage startups often feel like they have to keep buying tech to continue growing. Instead of feeling pressure to purchase tech because everyone else is doing it, start with the problem you're trying to solve. Ask yourself, what's my pain point? How can tech help me solve the problem? What does it look like then the problem is solved? By learning to ask the right questions, you can make better, more informed decisions in your current role and the future.

Eliminate your blind spots

Change management is one of the most critical but tricky responsibilities for ops teams. One small change to your tech stack can cause negative downstream impacts for your entire go-to-market team. To lower your risks, gain clarity, and become more confident, re-engineer your approach to change management. A key way: use a Change Intelligence tool, which gives you a clear view into all of the impacts a change will have before you make it. By thinking holistically about change management, you're able to see the big picture and work more effectively across your teams—an approach that will benefit you throughout your career.

Balance your time properly

Ops teams are often the go-tos for requests since they know how every system and process works. And with a natural inclination to want to fix things, it can be easy to say “yes," to every request that comes your way. However, you can save yourself a lot of time and stress by starting to ask “why," instead of agreeing immediately to a request. Getting to the root of the request will help you know how to prioritize it and solve the entire problem behind it. This approach saves you valuable time in the long run, so you can dedicate more time toward strategic work instead of getting bogged down by tactical requests. And, by focusing on the “why," you're developing a critical skill that will serve you well as a leader. Want to learn more about the transition from RevOps to CEO? Check out the Go-To-Market Excellence podcast episode, Making the Jump from RevOps to Start-Up CEO with Brad Smith .

Think cross-functionally

Solve problems with tech

Eliminate your blind spots

Balance your time properly

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