Why Strong Ops is The New Model at Apollo
In many companies, operations roles, whether RevOps, BizOps, or DevOps, are often pigeonholed into support functions.
But, Apollo.io‘s COO Matt Curl argues for a different approach: strong Ops.
This model doesn’t just reduce pain points; it drives long-term value by shaping the business strategy.
What is Strong Ops?
Strong Ops goes beyond just being a support function that takes tickets or a partner that brings someone else’s vision to life. Instead, it’s about using the broad view that Ops teams have across the company to guide the business forward proactively.
This means solving problems, identifying opportunities, setting strategic directions, and sometimes resisting changes that don’t align with the company’s long-term goals.
Why Strong Ops Matters
Strong Ops prevents the frequent strategy shifts that can come with leadership changes, especially in high-turnover roles like VPs of Sales or Marketing.
Matt points out that each leadership change often brings a new way of working, leading to inconsistent approaches, tech debt, and missed opportunities.
Ops teams that are empowered to maintain a stable strategic direction help ensure the business stays aligned with what truly works and doesn’t get sidetracked by the latest trends or executive preferences.
Creating Long-Term Value vs. Reducing Pain
Matt’s distinction is clear: traditional support Operations are often reactionary, focused on reducing immediate pain rather than creating long-term value.
In contrast, strong Ops takes a proactive stance, using their understanding of the business to guide decisions that align with established product-market fit and strategic goals.
Takeaway for Leaders
For leaders looking to implement strong Ops, the key is empowering Ops teams to execute and lead.
This involves trusting them with high-level insights into the customer and market, allowing them to maintain a steady course even as other parts of the leadership team evolve.
By doing so, companies can build more resilient, adaptable, and ultimately successful operations that drive the business forward.
Who Owns Product-Market Fit and Why It Matters
Product-market fit (PMF) is foundational to a company’s growth, and ownership isn’t straightforward. Matt argues that, initially, it’s the founder’s job to nail down this fit before scaling. Founders are uniquely positioned to understand the market and the customer needs deeply. They are the ones who can align the initial product with a market that’s ready to embrace it.
But what happens when your company grows, and you have multiple products?
The responsibility shifts from founders to a more collective approach. At this stage, the role of Ops, especially RevOps and BizOps, becomes critical. They aren’t just there to execute; they should lead the charge in identifying and driving the next growth opportunities.
As the company evolves, the challenge of sustaining product-market fit goes beyond founders. It’s about continuously listening to customer-facing teams and leveraging insights from product managers to find adjacent markets and new horizons.
Transitioning from Operational Excellence to Strategic Growth
A company has two critical modes: operational excellence and strategic expansion. In the early days, the focus should be on operational excellence, perfecting the systems that work, scaling efficiently, and ensuring all teams are aligned and executing effectively.
However, as Matt notes, this focus must shift once growth begins to plateau. Ops leaders must then explore new market opportunities, act on insights from customer interactions, and push the boundaries beyond maintaining the status quo.
A Cautionary Tale for Ops Teams
A common pitfall for Ops teams is the tendency to default to a reactive mode, simply solving the pain points highlighted by leadership changes or immediate market pressures. Instead, a strong Ops approach is proactive, identifying sustainable paths to growth and guarding against the disruption that comes with frequent leadership changes or shifts in strategy.
This means building foundational processes that are robust and adaptable, allowing the business to thrive even as personnel changes occur.
Key Takeaways for Ops Leaders
- Founders Own Early Product-Market Fit: The initial PMF is the founders’ domain. They must drive the understanding of customer needs and align the product accordingly before scaling efforts.
- Ops Teams Own Strategic Expansion: As the company scales, Ops should transition from just executing to leading strategic initiatives, identifying new opportunities, and adapting processes to support growth beyond the initial product.
- Consistency Over Chaos: Avoid the trap of constantly reinventing processes with every new leader. Instead, build adaptable, foundational frameworks that align with long-term company goals and protect against the disruptive effects of leadership turnover.
Next Steps
- For Ops Teams: Are you focusing on pain reduction or long-term value creation? Evaluate your current approach and consider how you can shift towards a more strategic, value-driven mindset.
- For Founders and Leaders: Reflect on how your team’s understanding of the customer and market needs aligns with your strategic goals. Are you enabling your Ops team to drive the next stage of growth?
The Strategic Role of RevOps in Defining Customer Ownership
In businesses where sales, marketing, and customer success operate in silos, there’s often confusion about who truly “owns” the customer. Is it the sales team driving revenue, the marketing team generating leads, or the customer success team ensuring satisfaction and retention?
This ambiguity can lead to misalignment and inefficiencies, especially when different departments have conflicting priorities.
For instance, sales might prioritize volume. Marketing might focus on lead quality, and customer success might only want perfect fits.
However, a strong RevOps function can be the central orchestrator, aligning all customer-related activities under a unified strategy. By owning the customer definition, RevOps ensures that every department works towards the same goal: acquiring and retaining the right customers who bring long-term value.
Benefits of RevOps Owning the Customer Definition:
- Unified Customer Journey: When RevOps owns the customer definition, it can map a cohesive journey from first contact to retention and upsell. This ensures a seamless experience for the customer and helps the company identify and address any gaps in their processes.
- Data-Driven Decisions: RevOps, with its cross-functional view, is uniquely positioned to analyze data across all customer touchpoints. This enables the company to make informed decisions about which customer segments to target, how to engage them, and when to pivot strategies based on real-time insights.
- Consistent Messaging and Processes: A clear definition of the customer ensures that messaging is consistent across all departments. Sales, marketing, and customer success can then align on the types of customers they seek, the messaging they use, and the metrics they track. This consistency builds trust and reinforces the brand’s value proposition.
- Efficiency and Accountability: By centralizing customer definition of responsibility, RevOps reduces finger-pointing between departments. This leads to better accountability and more efficient resource use, as everyone is aligned on what success looks like.
RevOps should be at the forefront of customer strategy for companies looking to scale efficiently and sustainably. This helps set the right targets and ensure all customer-facing teams pull in the same direction.
Considerations:
- If you’re leading a RevOps function, focus on defining and refining who your ideal customers are.
- Ensure this definition is communicated clearly across all departments and backed by data.
- Regularly revisit and adjust this definition as the market evolves to align with your company’s growth trajectory.
Prioritizing Growth and Accountability in Revenue Operations
“Strong Ops” is transforming how companies approach growth.
Unlike traditional support or partner models, which focus on minimizing pain points, Strong Ops is about measurable impact and accountability for revenue growth.
1. Owning Growth, Not Just Processes
Strong Ops leaders aren’t just there to streamline processes or keep things running smoothly. They’re responsible for driving tangible growth.
This mindset shift means that Ops teams are pushing for initiatives that directly contribute to the bottom line instead of merely reducing friction.
The critical question is: How does your role impact the company’s revenue directly? If you can’t clearly define growth, it’s time to rethink your approach.
2. Setting Clear Expectations and Metrics
Accountability in Ops means more than maintaining order. It’s about results.
For directors and VPs in Ops roles, the impact is measured not by how smoothly things run but by the financial outcomes of their initiatives. Are you tracking the right metrics that reflect your contribution to growth?
Assess your efforts based on the financial or growth impact rather than just process improvements. A clean operation means little if it doesn’t translate to revenue.
3. Addressing the ‘Clean House’ Fallacy
There’s a common pitfall: keeping everything organized without driving traffic.
Imagine a perfectly tidy house that no one visits. In Ops, it’s easy to fall into the trap of maintaining flawless processes while neglecting the core mission: growth.
Reflect on whether your focus on operational tidiness overshadows the ultimate goal of bringing in revenue. It’s better to have a bustling, slightly chaotic environment driving business than a quiet, orderly one that’s not.
4. Embrace Accountability Without Fear of Transience
There’s a concern that assigning revenue targets to Ops could make roles more transient, similar to high-turnover sales positions.
However, tenure without impact isn’t beneficial for anyone. If an Ops leader has been in place for a while without driving significant growth, it’s not just about longevity. It’s about effectiveness. The takeaway is simple: Your value is in your impact, not just your presence.
The Stakes of Leadership Turnover
Consistent leadership is crucial for a company’s stability, yet high turnover among sales leaders is a common pitfall, especially in fast-paced, venture-backed businesses. Hiring multiple sales VPs in quick succession disrupts strategy and drains time and resources.
Matt highlights that the risk of repeatedly trusting new, transient leaders can be mitigated by having a strong Ops leader willing to step up and own the growth trajectory.
Why Leaning on Strong Ops Matters
Strong Ops isn’t just about supporting sales or marketing; it’s about taking the reins when needed. Matt shares a powerful perspective: if the cycle of hiring and firing continues to fail, an empowered RevOps leader should be ready to take charge.
This isn’t about ego but safeguarding the company’s growth and ensuring continuity. When you’re deeply invested in the company’s success, stepping up can turn a spiraling situation around.
The Power of Stepping Up
In a growth-driven environment, the difference between thriving and merely surviving often boils down to taking initiative.
When Matt talks about ‘taking the ring to Mordor,’ he’s not referencing leadership responsibility. He’s highlighting the mindset of ownership and bravery required to drive a business forward.
Strong Ops leaders see beyond the tasks; they know the mission and aren’t afraid to make bold moves to meet the company’s strategic goals.
Navigating Scale with Strategic Clarity
For companies like Apollo.io, rapid growth magnifies every flaw in the system.
Ops leaders must respond to immediate issues and anticipate future challenges by rethinking the architecture of their processes and systems. This means moving from fixing what’s broken today to building a sustainable framework for tomorrow.
Key Insight
In periods of intense growth, Ops’s role expands from behind-the-scenes support to a central, guiding force.
Strong Ops can significantly impact a company’s trajectory and long-term success by owning the customer journey, defining the right processes, and being willing to take on direct leadership roles when necessary.
Conclusion
The evolving role of Ops, particularly in RevOps, BizOps, and DevOps, is crucial in defining a company’s strategic direction. By stepping beyond support functions and embracing a proactive, strong Ops model, these teams can transform from mere pain reducers to long-term growth drivers.
Matt Curl’s insights highlight the importance of empowering Ops to own the customer journey, ensure consistency across departments, and take charge of defining and executing strategic initiatives.
This shift from traditional support to a leadership role allows Ops teams to create measurable impact, foster stability amidst leadership turnover, and maintain a unified vision of the customer.
Are you ready to step up? Evaluate how you can shift from task management to strategic leadership, driving growth and not just efficiency.
Empower your Ops teams with the authority and resources to lead strategically. Your company’s long-term success may depend on it.
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