Tom FerrariVP - GTM & Technology Search, UltraTalent · Placing elite sellers & builders at startups

Why Modern CROs Don’t Waste Time in Forecast Meetings

22 May 2026 · 2 min

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1:35

In this interview excerpt, Mary contrasts the approach of a modern Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) or VP of Sales in high‑growth SaaS startups with that of a legacy CRO. She recounts a conversation with a regional APAC leader from one of the world’s top three SaaS companies, who says she hasn’t attended a forecast meeting in two years because the data is already available. The modern CRO’s focus is on creating customer value, winning market share, maintaining product‑customer fit, and developing sales skills and competitive capabilities, rather than spending time on appearances or storytelling about future closes. While acknowledging the role is still stressful, Mary emphasizes that the priority shift—from forecasting for optics to data‑driven, value‑centric execution—is the hallmark of modern revenue leadership in startups and scale‑ups.

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How would you differentiate a modern CRO or a VP of sales in the context of startups and scale-ups versus someone who has grown up in a different era?
I'm going to give you an example. I spoke to one of the regional APAC leaders of one of the 3 top SaaS companies in the world right now, and I'll tell you how they build it, and this is the modern CRO versus, I want to say, a legacy CRO. They build it from the ground up, looking at where's value created. And this regional leader said to me, look, Mary, I haven't, I don't think I've been in a forecast meeting in the last 2 years. The data is there. It's the starting point. And it's not that this person doesn't have challenges. It's not that this work is not stressful, but what they're focusing on is winning market share. They're focusing on where's the customer value created? They're focusing on how do we stay as a number one in our vertical? What is the pipeline of development in terms of our skills, in terms of competition, in terms of product? How well a product knows what really matters to our clients. Those are the things that they're focusing on. And not this, this keeping up appearances and telling stories about what's going to close.