Welcome to Bullingstone Associates!
As I launch Bullingstone Associates, I’m extremely excited about what we can bring to the market. Having worked deeply in the world of SaaS CROs over the past few years, it became clear to me that there is a significant gap in the market for a firm dedicated purely to appointing senior sales leaders in SaaS.
The titles, duties, and even job descriptions for SaaS CROs haven’t changed much in recent years. Yet, the way to succeed in this role has. The world has shifted: profitable growth now takes priority over growth at all costs. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is a more critical measure of a CRO’s performance than it was five years ago. The Rule of 40 has evolved with added nuances. Meanwhile, the next generation of sales talent brings different skills and motivations compared to their predecessors.
Sales execution under the CRO has also changed. The number of sales tools available has multiplied. Sales through partners, alliances, and channels are more important than ever. The landscape isn’t just more challenging—it’s more nuanced and complex. A great leader’s job is to simplify this complexity for their team.
To succeed, a SaaS CRO must be more integrated with the rest of the C-suite than ever before. With financial metrics carrying more weight, they need a close partnership with the CFO. As AI accelerates product development among competitors, they must collaborate seamlessly with the Chief Product Officer to ensure their product remains current and competitive.
As the CRO role broadens and layers in complexity, success relies heavily on the team beneath them. Hiring these leaders must be treated with the importance and respect it deserves.
So What Does This Mean for Bullingstone Associates?
Given these challenges, the key isn’t just assessing the quality of a sales leader’s achievements, but understanding the context in which those achievements were made—and how that context aligns with the SaaS business’s needs.
The average tenure of a SaaS CRO is just 18 months. By the time they’ve adjusted the strategy and implemented changes, they’re moving on—or, more often than not, being moved on. These leaders have experienced great success before, and they likely will again.
The right CRO for one SaaS business might not be the right fit for another, even if the companies have the same team size, revenue, or product category. Most search firms aim to match these surface-level factors. But that’s not enough.
Context is king. Deep context.
In my previous role, I ran C-suite and C-1 searches for global SaaS businesses. I also spearheaded an innovative sales hiring offering, resulting in SaaS sales team appointments worldwide. Clients included portfolio companies of some of the world’s largest and most successful PE firms.
Until now, SaaS companies have faced a choice: work with recruitment firms that understand SaaS sales but lack executive search expertise, or with executive search firms that know the C-suite but not the nuances of SaaS sales leadership.
Bullingstone Associates bridges that gap. We focus solely on SaaS sales leadership hiring, bringing together the best of both worlds.
Wayne Starritt - Managing Director & Founder