The ‘Chief Revenue Officer’ (CRO) title has experienced a boom as of recent. In just three years, there’s been a 73% increase in CRO titles on LinkedIn, with many pointing to Silicon Valley as home to the role’s inception. As companies within the digital or startup space look to scale up - particularly within the software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry – the CRO position was created.
According to Nick Cromydas, CEO and Co-Founder of Hunt Club, a recruiting service for venture-backed tech startups, the rapid growth in CRO titles is due to the shifting nature of marketing and sales. “Traditionally, marketing and sales have been segmented,” he explains. “But today, marketing isn’t seen only as a brand awareness agent. It’s seen more as a way to drive material customers or leads into a sales organisation.”
Although the fundamentals of CRO lie in sales, their expertise transcends beyond revenue, encompassing data skills such as analysing customer engagement and ensuring business models can be scaled up. “In other words, the reason you’re seeing these titles more frequently is because the handshake is getting tighter with the way technology is moving today,” Cromydas explains. “This integration of sales, account management, customer success, business development and marketing call for a CRO because there is now a greater demand for a direct line from marketing and sales into one person.”