Knowing The Data

When you're early on in your career (or at any point really), one of the best ways to stand out is to know the data inside and out, whether is your own personal numbers or the company numbers. From a personal perspective, this is how I've been able to progress quickly and gain trust from people much more senior. To get to where you want to go, you need to know where you currently stand.

When an executive leader asks a question and you're able to answer with specifics you quickly become invaluable. And you start to understand the business in ways others can't. Not only lagging indicators, but leading ones [that's a post for another day].

Very few people in leadership positions across an organization have the skills to be competent in data.

One of the trends I am excited to watch unfold is the increasing importance of data analysis being a core competency and requirement, especially in more qualitative roles.

Ramp is an excellent modern day example of this trend that will only continue.

[For reference, they're one of quickest ever to go from $1M to $100M in ARR.]

Eric Glyman (Co-Founder), shared their playbook on Twitter after the first 1,000 days of the company.

One of his key points:

"Dashboarding and data analysis needs to be a core competency of leaders. The playing field evolves so rapidly that it is impossible to steer the ship without a working compass. Qualitative hunches are often wrong. Follow the data."

For further reading on Ramp, highly recommend Packy McCormick's breakdown on Not Boring.

In SaaS specifically, I think we'll see more CROs start to come from revenue operation roles as opposed to the traditional sales path.

Excited to watch this trend unfold and help do my part to shape its future.