Building a Revenue Engine in 2025 - Part I

Last week I was tempted by an incredible offer.

A recently Series—B funded SaaS approached me asking to build out their revenue engine. Great technology, real powerful backers…

Here’s the interesting part: they had a CRO but they wanted the SVP of Revenue Strategy & Operations to design the revenue engine from the ground-up

…and they wanted me to be the SVP.

I had questions about agreeing to build an engine that another (the CRO) would live or die based upon… without ever meeting the CRO. So while I waited to meet with them my mind started to race.

How would I build this engine if I accepted the opportunity?

I looked at their goals, their current team and their tools.

Reasonable goals, solid team and tooling.

My mind goes to revenue engine compartments and overall design right away. Here’s what I have to work with:

• Salesforce

• SalesLoft

• Common Room

• Gong

• Apollo

• LinkedIn Sales Navigator

This is a solid set of tools, covering CRM, sales engagement, conversational intelligence, sales intelligence, and …