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# Lessons from Sterling Snow
- URL: https://www.antoinebuteau.com/lessons-from-sterling-snow/
- Published: 2026-06-30T17:52:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-18T21:39:33.000Z
- Description: Sterling Snow, Divvy’s Chief Revenue Officer, helped scale the company by unifying sales, marketing, and customer success. His operating lesson is to replace departmental handoffs with shared targets across the funnel, giving the entire revenue team common accountability.
- Author: Antoine Buteau
- Tags: Profile, Sales, GTM & Marketing Profiles

![Visual summary of operating lessons from Sterling Snow.](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/content/images/2026/06/lessons-from-sterling-snow-profile-infographic.webp)

## Lessons from Sterling Snow

As Chief Revenue Officer at Divvy, Sterling Snow helped scale the company to a $2.5 billion exit by consolidating sales, marketing, and customer success into a single team. He eliminated traditional departmental handoffs in favor of shared targets across the entire funnel. This compilation outlines his operational playbook for founders and revenue leaders.

### Part 1: Revenue Alignment

1. **On structural unity:** "Traditionally, alignment between teams looked like this: Marketing did its thing then threw the baton to sales, who then closed the deal and passed the baton again to customer success. There was movement, but no synergy." — [*Source: \[The Sales Engagement Podcast*](https://spreaker.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
2. **On the CRO mandate:** "You cannot achieve true hypergrowth if marketing and sales are reporting to different executives who have different end goals." — [*Source: \[SaaStr Podcast #628*](https://saastr.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
3. **On cross-functional targets:** "Line up multiple teams around a single target, and ensure that target is always revenue focused." — [*Source: \[The Sales Engagement Podcast*](https://spreaker.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
4. **On eliminating finger-pointing:** "When marketing owns leads and sales owns revenue, you invite conflict. When both own revenue, you invite collaboration." — [*Source: \[SaaStr Podcast #628*](https://saastr.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
5. **On leading through unity:** "The most effective way to transform an organization is to lead the conversation towards unity." — [*Source: \[The Customer Experience Podcast*](https://bombbomb.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
6. **On shared language:** "If marketing speaks 'MQLs' and sales speaks 'ARR', they are fundamentally operating in different companies." — [*Source: \[SaaStr Podcast #672*](https://saastr.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
7. **On budget allocation:** "A unified revenue org allows you to move budget fluidly from marketing to sales enablement depending on what the funnel actually needs that week." — [*Source: \[The Investor + Operator Podcast*](https://investoroperator.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
8. **On compensation:** "If you want teams to act like one team, you have to compensate them based on the success of the whole machine, not just their isolated cog." — [*Source: \[SaaStr Podcast #628*](https://saastr.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
9. **On reporting structures:** "The org chart shouldn't reflect internal political boundaries; it should mirror the journey the customer takes." — [*Source: \[The Customer Experience Podcast*](https://bombbomb.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
10. **On defining alignment:** "Alignment isn't a weekly meeting between department heads. It is a shared scoreboard." — [*Source: \[Marketing Today Podcast*](https://marketingtodaypodcast.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*

### Part 2: Go-To-Market Strategy

1. **On GTM agility:** "Your go-to-market motion cannot be static. It has to evolve every time the market shifts or your product reaches a new tier of maturity." — [*Source: \[SaaStr Podcast #672*](https://saastr.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
2. **On proprietary channels:** "Find lead sources that your competitors can't simply outbid you on. Secure those early." — [*Source: \[Marketing Today Podcast*](https://marketingtodaypodcast.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
3. **On positioning against incumbents:** "Don't attack the competitor's product features; attack the outdated philosophy their product forces the user into." — [*Source: \[CRO Confidential*](https://libsyn.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
4. **On market feedback:** "A tight feedback loop is essential to bring sales and marketing together to serve prospects in the most effective way." — [*Source: \[The Customer Experience Podcast*](https://bombbomb.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
5. **On rapid iteration:** "The teams that win are the ones that run the most experiments in the shortest amount of time, not the ones with the most elaborate initial plans." — [*Source: \[SaaStr Podcast #672*](https://saastr.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
6. **On segmenting audiences:** "You cannot sell to an enterprise CFO the same way you sell to a mid-market controller. The GTM motion must adapt to the buyer's internal friction." — [*Source: \[The Investor + Operator Podcast*](https://investoroperator.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
7. **On product-led vs sales-led:** "It's rarely a binary choice. The best GTM strategies use product as a wedge and sales as the accelerator." — [*Source: \[SaaStr Podcast #628*](https://saastr.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
8. **On early traction:** "In the early days, you don't need a scalable strategy. You need a strategy that gets the first hundred people to care intensely." — [*Source: \[The Investor + Operator Podcast*](https://investoroperator.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
9. **On messaging saturation:** "If your messaging feels repetitive to you, it's probably just starting to register with your target audience." — [*Source: \[Marketing Today Podcast*](https://marketingtodaypodcast.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
10. **On competitive intelligence:** "The best competitive intelligence comes from your own lost deals, not from reading the other company's website." — [*Source: \[CRO Confidential*](https://libsyn.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*

### Part 3: Marketing & Demand Generation

1. **On rapid ad testing:** "We would write numerous ads daily to determine the best approach. You let the market tell you what works, not your internal intuition." — [*Source: \[TofuHQ Interview*](https://tofuhq.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
2. **On newsletter sponsorships:** "Locking down sponsorships in niche newsletters early provided a proprietary lead flow that competitors couldn't easily replicate." — [*Source: \[TofuHQ Interview*](https://tofuhq.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
3. **On marketing accountability:** "Marketing should be held accountable for closed-won business, not just generating top-of-funnel leads." — [*Source: \[SaaStr Podcast #628*](https://saastr.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
4. **On brand vs performance:** "Brand makes performance marketing cheaper. They aren't opposing forces; one is the foundation for the other." — [*Source: \[Marketing Today Podcast*](https://marketingtodaypodcast.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
5. **On content creation:** "Don't create content to check a box. Create content that directly answers the objections your sales team hears on the floor every day." — [*Source: \[The Sales Engagement Podcast*](https://spreaker.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
6. **On event ROI:** "If you can't trace an event back to pipeline generation within two quarters, it was a party, not a marketing strategy." — [*Source: \[The Investor + Operator Podcast*](https://investoroperator.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
7. **On lead scoring:** "A lead score is useless if sales doesn't trust the criteria behind it. Build the scoring model together." — [*Source: \[SaaStr Podcast #672*](https://saastr.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
8. **On website conversion:** "Treat your website like your top-performing sales rep. If it's not closing meetings, figure out where it's dropping the ball." — [*Source: \[Marketing Today Podcast*](https://marketingtodaypodcast.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
9. **On category creation:** "You can't create a category with a press release. You create it by forcing the market to acknowledge a problem they were previously ignoring." — [*Source: \[CRO Confidential*](https://libsyn.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
10. **On marketing budgets:** "Spend aggressively on channels where unit economics make sense, but hold back 10 percent for unproven, high-risk experiments." — [*Source: \[TofuHQ Interview*](https://tofuhq.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*

### Part 4: Sales Execution & Operations

1. **On pipeline hygiene:** "A bloated pipeline is worse than an empty one, because a bloated pipeline lies to you about the health of the business." — [*Source: \[The Sales Engagement Podcast*](https://spreaker.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
2. **On the discovery process:** "Discovery shouldn't feel like an interrogation. It should feel like a consultation where both sides determine if there's a fit." — [*Source: \[SaaStr Podcast #628*](https://saastr.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
3. **On sales urgency:** "Time kills all deals. If you aren't establishing a compelling reason to act now, the default answer is always 'maybe later'." — [*Source: \[SaaStr Podcast #672*](https://saastr.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
4. **On discounting:** "When you discount early, you communicate that your initial price was a lie. Defend the value before you drop the price." — [*Source: \[CRO Confidential*](https://libsyn.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
5. **On multi-threading deals:** "If your deal relies on a single champion, you are one resignation letter away from losing the account." — [*Source: \[The Sales Engagement Podcast*](https://spreaker.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
6. **On sales enablement:** "Enablement isn't a one-time training session. It is the continuous process of removing friction from the rep's day." — [*Source: \[The Investor + Operator Podcast*](https://investoroperator.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
7. **On objection handling:** "Don't wait for the prospect to raise the obvious objection. Address the elephant in the room before they have the chance." — [*Source: \[CRO Confidential*](https://libsyn.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
8. **On closing techniques:** "The best close is simply the logical conclusion of a well-executed discovery and evaluation process." — [*Source: \[The Sales Engagement Podcast*](https://spreaker.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
9. **On forecasting accuracy:** "Forecasting isn't about guessing the future; it's about understanding the historical conversion rates of your current pipeline stages." — [*Source: \[SaaStr Podcast #672*](https://saastr.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
10. **On territory planning:** "Design territories based on addressable opportunity, not geographical convenience, to ensure reps have equal chances to succeed." — [*Source: \[The Investor + Operator Podcast*](https://investoroperator.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*

### Part 5: Customer Success & Experience

1. **On the cost of disjointedness:** "When internal alignment is not achieved, companies risk a disjointed customer experience that damages the brand." — [*Source: \[The Customer Experience Podcast*](https://bombbomb.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
2. **On seamless handoffs:** "The customer shouldn't have to repeat their pain points to a success manager after explaining them to a sales rep for three months." — [*Source: \[The Customer Experience Podcast*](https://bombbomb.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
3. **On retention ownership:** "Customer success secures the renewal, but marketing and sales set the expectations. Churn is often a symptom of bad selling." — [*Source: \[SaaStr Podcast #628*](https://saastr.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
4. **On proactive support:** "If you only talk to the customer when they have a problem or when it's time to renew, you are a vendor, not a partner." — [*Source: \[The Customer Experience Podcast*](https://bombbomb.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
5. **On measuring success:** "NPS tells you how they feel. Product usage tells you what they actually do. You need both to gauge account health." — [*Source: \[The Investor + Operator Podcast*](https://investoroperator.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
6. **On expansion revenue:** "Upsells should feel like a natural progression of value, not a forced transaction to meet an internal quota." — [*Source: \[SaaStr Podcast #672*](https://saastr.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
7. **On managing churn:** "Treat churn as a systemic failure to investigate, not just a lost contract to replace." — [*Source: \[The Customer Experience Podcast*](https://bombbomb.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
8. **On customer feedback:** "The most valuable product roadmap is written by listening to the frustrations of your most active users." — [*Source: \[Marketing Today Podcast*](https://marketingtodaypodcast.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
9. **On defining the experience:** "A remarkable customer experience is the natural byproduct of a unified internal culture." — [*Source: \[The Customer Experience Podcast*](https://bombbomb.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*

### Part 6: Hiring & Team Culture

1. **On interview tactics:** "I ask candidates to map out a 30-60-90 day plan, and then I ask them to condense it. It shows me how they prioritize when time is scarce." — [*Source: \[TofuHQ Interview*](https://tofuhq.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
2. **On cultural fit:** "Hire for a high-performance culture fit. Brilliance is useless if it creates toxicity in the revenue org." — [*Source: \[TofuHQ Interview*](https://tofuhq.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
3. **On onboarding:** "The first two weeks dictate a rep's trajectory for the next year. Do not shortcut the onboarding process." — [*Source: \[The Investor + Operator Podcast*](https://investoroperator.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
4. **On internal mobility:** "Your best future managers are often your current top performers who show an instinct for teaching others." — [*Source: \[SaaStr Podcast #628*](https://saastr.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
5. **On letting people go:** "If someone isn't meeting the bar after being given every resource to succeed, keeping them hurts the morale of the people who are carrying the weight." — [*Source: \[The Sales Engagement Podcast*](https://spreaker.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
6. **On diversity of thought:** "You don't want a team of people who solve problems exactly the way you do. You want a team that covers your blind spots." — [*Source: \[The Investor + Operator Podcast*](https://investoroperator.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
7. **On remote work culture:** "Culture isn't the ping-pong table in the office. It's how people communicate in Slack when things go wrong." — [*Source: \[Marketing Today Podcast*](https://marketingtodaypodcast.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
8. **On promoting from within:** "Creating a clear path for advancement is the easiest way to retain top talent in a competitive market." — [*Source: \[SaaStr Podcast #672*](https://saastr.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
9. **On team resilience:** "A resilient team doesn't panic when they miss a target; they dissect the failure and adjust the inputs." — [*Source: \[The Sales Engagement Podcast*](https://spreaker.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*

### Part 7: Leadership & Management

1. **On transparent leadership:** "Share the ugly numbers along with the good ones. The team can't help fix a problem they don't know exists." — [*Source: \[The Investor + Operator Podcast*](https://investoroperator.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
2. **On managing managers:** "Your job shifts from managing the work to managing the environment in which the work gets done." — [*Source: \[SaaStr Podcast #628*](https://saastr.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
3. **On decision making:** "Make decisions quickly based on 80 percent of the information. Waiting for absolute certainty will paralyze the organization." — [*Source: \[CRO Confidential*](https://libsyn.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
4. **On ego in leadership:** "Leave your ego at the door. The best idea wins, regardless of whose title is highest on the org chart." — [*Source: \[The Sales Engagement Podcast*](https://spreaker.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
5. **On cross-departmental friction:** "When friction arises, address the process, not the personalities. Usually, it's a structural flaw causing the conflict." — [*Source: \[The Customer Experience Podcast*](https://bombbomb.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
6. **On setting the pace:** "The speed of the team is dictated by the speed of the leader. If you drag your feet, they will too." — [*Source: \[The Investor + Operator Podcast*](https://investoroperator.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
7. **On radical candor:** "Feedback is a gift, but only if it's delivered with the genuine intent of helping the person improve." — [*Source: \[Marketing Today Podcast*](https://marketingtodaypodcast.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
8. **On resource allocation:** "Don't spread your best people across ten mediocre projects. Put them all on the one initiative that could double the business." — [*Source: \[SaaStr Podcast #672*](https://saastr.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
9. **On maintaining focus:** "The hardest part of leadership is saying no to good ideas so you have the bandwidth to execute on great ones." — [*Source: \[The Sales Engagement Podcast*](https://spreaker.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*

### Part 8: Metrics, Data & Accountability

1. **On funnel accountability:** "Every department should be accountable for KPIs at least one stage deeper in the sales funnel than their immediate function." — [*Source: \[SaaStr Podcast #628*](https://saastr.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
2. **On actionable metrics:** "If a metric goes up or down and you don't know what behavioral change caused it, it's a vanity metric." — [*Source: \[The Investor + Operator Podcast*](https://investoroperator.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
3. **On data silos:** "When marketing has their data set and sales has theirs, the customer truth gets lost in the middle." — [*Source: \[The Customer Experience Podcast*](https://bombbomb.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
4. **On measuring velocity:** "Deal velocity is the most underrated metric. The faster a deal moves through the pipeline, the more predictable your revenue becomes." — [*Source: \[SaaStr Podcast #672*](https://saastr.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
5. **On tracking conversions:** "Don't just look at the overall conversion rate. Measure the conversion rate between every individual micro-step of the buyer journey." — [*Source: \[Marketing Today Podcast*](https://marketingtodaypodcast.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
6. **On the limits of data:** "Data tells you what happened, but human intuition is required to figure out why it happened." — [*Source: \[The Investor + Operator Podcast*](https://investoroperator.io/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
7. **On revenue predictability:** "Predictability is the ultimate goal. If you hit your number but you don't know how you did it, you are in danger." — [*Source: \[The Sales Engagement Podcast*](https://spreaker.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*
8. **On individual accountability:** "Set clear inputs. If a rep hits their activity inputs but misses the target, it's a process failure. If they miss the inputs, it's an accountability failure." — [*Source: \[TofuHQ Interview*](https://tofuhq.com/?ref=antoinebuteau.com)*\]*