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The first revenue leader in a venture-backed business takes over a sales process that lives in the founder’s head. HMN Capital runs revenue leadership searches for venture-backed businesses across the UK and Europe, and helps settle whether the business needs a builder or an operator first.
Recent venture mandate: the CRO for a VC-backed business where we also placed the CFO, CPO and COO
These are patterns rather than rules. The business decides the timing.
Founder-led sales
The founder closes the deals. The first commercial hires are often sellers or a business development lead rather than a head of sales.
Series A
Often a VP Revenue: someone who builds the sales motion alongside the founder, hires the first team and writes down what works. A CRO here is usually too early.
Series B
Often around the $5m ARR mark. With a repeatable motion to run and a team to lead, the seat tends to step up to a CRO, sometimes the same person grown into it.
Growth and pre-exit
A CRO who can make revenue forecastable for the board and defensible to a buyer, across new business, expansion and retention.
A repeatable motion
Turning what the founder does instinctively into a process other people can run.
The first team
Hiring and leading the first sellers, SDRs and business development hires. Roles we place
A forecast the board trusts
Pipeline discipline and numbers that hold up quarter to quarter.
Expansion and retention
Revenue from existing customers, which carries more weight with every round.
Builder or operator first
We start by settling which the business needs now. Hiring the operator when the business still needs the builder is a mistake we see often, and it costs a year.
Sector fluency
In technical or specialist markets, product grasp and sector credibility can matter more than a polished SaaS CV, and we search for both.
Packages and equity
We benchmark base, variable and options for the seat against live market data, so the plan rewards what the business needs at this stage.
Headline mandate
CFO, CRO, CPO and COO for one VC-backed business
Four C-suite appointments for the same venture-backed company as it scaled, plus the people and commercial hires beneath them.
Chief Revenue Officer
Growth-equity-backed B2B SaaS. Turning strong product-market fit into a predictable revenue engine across a multi-channel enterprise sales model.
150% year-on-year growth after the hire
Business Development Manager
VC-backed specialist B2B software. The first dedicated commercial hire, where sector fluency and a technical grasp of the product mattered more than a polished SaaS CV.
65 days, brief to offer
Sales Development Representative
VC-backed enterprise SaaS. A first SDR to stand up the outbound pipeline alongside a newly placed CRO, with technical product understanding and outbound discipline in one person.
30 days, brief to signed offer
Should a Series A business hire a CRO or a VP Revenue?
Usually a VP Revenue: someone who builds the sales motion alongside the founder. The CRO seat tends to make sense once there is a repeatable motion to run and a team to lead, which for many businesses is around Series B.
Can you build the team beneath the revenue leader?
Yes. We place first commercial hires, business development managers and SDRs as part of the same relationship, including the first hire under a newly placed CRO.
Do you advise on commission and equity?
Yes. We benchmark base, variable and options for the seat against live market data.
Can you run the search confidentially?
Yes, including while the incumbent is still in the seat.
