You don’t need a RevOps team to start thinking like one.
When early growth portfolio companies are scaling fast, sales leaders often face a familiar blind spot: no dedicated RevOps function and no time to build one. But the board still expects forecasts, deal velocity insights, and rep performance tracking. And when data isn’t flowing, confidence erodes internally and across the table.
You know the sales team needs clarity. You know your CEOs are watching. And you know that waiting for the perfect RevOps hire is a luxury the deal thesis doesn’t afford.
We’ll show how forward-leaning sales leaders tackle this gap without over-engineering it. And we’ll show why those who don’t are missing an opportunity to lead smarter now and in the quarters ahead.
You’ll learn:
- What good baseline visibility actually looks like (without building from scratch).
- How to extract value from your CRM’s default tools while your hiring search unfolds.
- When to get your hands dirty with dashboards (and when not to).
This isn’t about replacing RevOps. It’s about giving your sales leaders the fluency to lead with confidence, even in uncertainty.
The smartest operating partners aren’t waiting for the right hire to get started. Instead they’re identifying this gap to shape what comes next. And when RevOps finally joins the team, they’ll be ready to lead it.
Don’t let another quarter slip by in the dark. Your sales leaders are flying blind, and this is your chance to change that.
Understand What Good Visibility Looks Like
You don’t need to become a systems expert to improve performance visibility. But you do need to define what “good enough” looks like.
Start by guiding your sales leaders toward a Minimum Viable Data Foundation. That means the fewest metrics needed to answer the most important questions. It’s not a full RevOps stack. It’s just the insights that let them lead well this quarter.
Here’s where to focus:
Without those three, sales leadership becomes guesswork. With them, even basic dashboards provide leverage, enabling leaders to coach effectively and focus where it matters.
Operating partners know the pressure CEOs are under to move quickly. But without visibility, speed turns into risk. Guide your leaders to define what “good enough” looks like and focus on building exactly that.
Start With What Exists, Then Customize
Most early growth companies don’t need new systems. What’s needed is smarter use of what they already have.
In our work across dozens of portcos, we’ve seen that HubSpot and Salesforce both come preloaded with powerful dashboards. The problem is that few teams use them the right way.
Push your teams to start with what’s already available:
- Pipeline inspection dashboards: Filter by close date and stage progression.
- Forecast dashboards: Connect commit and best-case deals to weighted probabilities.
- Rep performance dashboards: Measure meetings booked, opportunities created, and deals closed.
Once these are live, the goal isn’t to reinvent them. It’s simple customization to match your sales motion. If you’re running PLG motions, track velocity. If you’re focused on mid-market deals, watch stage length and conversion.
Fortunately, this takes hours, not weeks. Your team isn’t too busy for this.
Should I Learn This or Delegate It?
Most sales leaders in early stage portcos didn’t sign up to manage data. But they can’t afford to avoid it.
No one’s asking them to become analysts. But they do need data fluency. Just enough to ask smart questions and see what’s missing.
Why it matters:
- It builds investor trust. Visibility creates confidence across the board.
- It reduces over-reliance on external reporting or dashboards no one understands.
- It gives leaders leverage to coach, prioritize, and pivot without waiting for RevOps.
That doesn’t mean they can’t delegate. But they should never delegate the understanding. Otherwise, they’re stuck reacting instead of leading.
This is where an operating partner’s shadow leadership matters. Encourage CEOs to get under the hood. Not to micromanage, but to own the outcomes. It’s not about being hands-on forever, it’s about being hands-on unit the foundation is set.
Use the Gap to Become a Smarter RevOps Partner
Here’s the upside no one talks about: the gap is training ground.
When a sales leader understands the basics of pipeline inspection, forecast strategy, and dashboard tuning, they’re better equipped to:
- Evaluate future RevOps candidates with clarity.
- Define what good RevOps reporting looks like for the business.
- Scale faster by aligning process and people.
Too often, RevOps hires fail because no one upstream knows what to ask for. But if your leaders start learning now, they’ll make smarter hires and get more from day one.
This isn’t survival mode. It’s transformation mode. The work you do now defines what RevOps can become for the Portco.
Closing: Lead Now. Scale Later.
You don’t need to wait for RevOps to get control over your pipeline. The tools are already there.
The insight starts when someone steps in and says, “We need to see more, faster.”
Encourage your sales leaders to:
- Use built-in dashboards to get quick wins.
- Ask better questions about pipeline and performance.
- Learn just enough to lead with data, not guesses.
The RevOps hire will come. But the leaders who succeed in the in-between moments are the ones who shape how that function lands.
Looking for help building the baseline?
We work with operating partners like you every day. Most importantly, we help sales leaders gain visibility without waiting for perfect conditions.
Let’s talk about how we can help your portcos lead smarter today.
