The Questions a Chief Revenue Officer Should Ask Before Scaling a Startup
When I joined an early-stage company as CRO, it had approximately $60K in Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR).
Before developing a go-to-market strategy and determining what the business needed to scale, I sent the Founder and CEO a list of questions. My objective was to understand what the company had already learned, where it was finding traction, what opportunities existed, and what gaps needed to be addressed.
"Below are the questions I ask to analyze a business's go-to-market strategy, sales progress, product differentiation, market opportunity, and what it needs to become successful. Please answer as many as you can right now. I see my role as helping you think through your existing answers, and fill in any gaps as the CRO/VP of S&M. "
These are the questions I use to evaluate a company's Go-to-Market strategy, sales progress, product differentiation, market opportunity, and requirements for growth.
1. Market
Which industries, if any, are you focused on?
What business functions have you successfully sold into?
Which market segments (SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise, etc.) have you sold into? What percentage of your customer base is in each?
What is your ARR per customer for each segment?
What currently prevents you from selling into other market segments? Are those limitations temporary or permanent?
What lead channels do you use (SEM, SEO, SDR outbound, channel, etc.)? What percentage of new MRR comes from each channel?
What non-standard use cases or target markets for your platform and data have customers requested?
2. Product and Competition
Which direct and indirect competitors do you encounter most frequently in customer evaluations?
What direct competitors do you see emerging?
How does your pricing compare to the competition?
What is your unique product advantage in your targeted markets?
How do you envision maintaining that competitive advantage?
What core product features are needed to effectively service Mid-Market and Enterprise customers?
3. Scaling
What do we want the company culture to look like?
What people, processes, and tools will each business function need to scale?
4. Ecosystem
What ecosystem of partners and alliances could accelerate sales?
What partners or integrations could create customer lock-in or other barriers to entry?
5. Funding and Exit Strategy
What is the upside potential of this business? Where do we want to exit?
What MRR/ARR and funding are required to reach cash flow break-even?
What is the funding philosophy of the founders and investors? (For example, where do we fall on the spectrum between bootstrapping and raising significant capital to grow quickly?)
What funding would we need under different growth scenarios, and how would those scenarios impact our potential exit?
Who are our potential acquirers?
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