What PE-Backed CROs Do Differently with Vanessa Brangwyn, CRO of Motus

In the ever-evolving landscape of revenue leadership, few journeys offer as much perspective as the path from customer success to chief revenue officer. Even rarer is the ability to navigate both venture capital and private equity environments with equal aplomb.

This week, I sat down with Vanessa Brangwyn, CRO at Motus, who shared invaluable insights from her extraordinary career trajectory, rising from CSM to Chief Customer Officer to CRO during Achievers' growth from $5M to over $100M in revenue, all while experiencing the full spectrum of ownership structures from VC to public company to PE.

Her unique vantage point offers powerful lessons for revenue leaders operating in any environment. Here are the key insights from our conversation:

Listen to Vanessa's episode on Apple and Spotify.

The Fundamental Differences Between PE and VC Environments

While many revenue leaders hold strong opinions about private equity versus venture capital backing, the reality is more nuanced than conventional wisdom suggests.

"From the PE world, especially when you're the CRO, you should be prepared to have lots of board engagement," Vanessa noted. "Revenue is always the first and longest topic at every board meeting."

The primary differentiator? Incentive structures.

In venture-backed companies, the focus tilts heavily toward growth at nearly any cost, with the goal of selling on a multiple of revenue. This creates an environment where rapid expansion and market share take precedence over operational efficiency.

In private equity-backed companies, the north star becomes profitable growth with a clear path to EBITDA expansion. Companies are typically acquired and sold on a multiple of profitability, not just top-line revenue. This drives a more disciplined approach to investment and expansion.

This distinction shapes everything from board conversations to operational decisions:

"The PE model is kind of like 9.9 times out of 10 will make it. And in the VC world, the model is kind of like one in 10 will make it," Vanessa explained.

Interestingly, this creates a scenario where PE firms often have more developed playbooks for operational excellence precisely because they've seen more companies succeed through methodical execution rather than outlier growth.

The Power of Shared Learning Networks

One of the most surprising advantages of the PE world is the structured knowledge-sharing between portfolio companies - something notably absent in many venture environments.

At Motus, which is co-owned by two PE firms including Thoma Bravo, Vanessa benefits from a twice-yearly gathering of portfolio CROs who openly share practices, templates, and frameworks. They even have standardized terminology for common processes, like the "QAM" (Quota Allocation Model) for sales capacity planning.

This community creates an environment where revenue leaders aren't forced to reinvent the wheel with each challenge. Instead, they can adapt proven practices to their specific context (what I prefer to call "high probability practices" rather than "best practices.")

This highlights an interesting paradox: venture-backed early-stage companies, often led by first-time founders with less operational experience, typically receive less structured guidance than PE-backed companies with more seasoned executives.

Making Strategic Decisions Through a Different Lens

Perhaps the most consequential difference between PE and VC environments is the decision-making timeframe. PE firms typically operate on 3-5 year horizons, while venture investments may span a decade or more before reaching liquidity.

This creates a fascinating dynamic when evaluating strategic opportunities:

"We're halfway through our kind of investment cycle. And we have a lot of great ideas, and some of them are longer term ideas. So we're thinking about, is this the kind of idea that somebody that a future buyer would want to inherit and take forward and continue to capitalize on? Or is this something that we need to pause on?" Vanessa shared.

This time-horizon thinking shapes everything from market expansion to product development. For instance, Modus needed to carefully evaluate which new industries to enter next, knowing that building presence in a new vertical is typically a multi-year investment.

This doesn't mean PE-backed companies lack ambition—Modus recently acquired competitor Everlance in a strategic move to expand market reach and consolidate the category. But it does mean initiatives are evaluated through a lens of feasibility within a defined timeframe.

The Universal Truth: Efficient Growth Is Winning

• Customer acquisition cost (CAC)

• Lifetime value (LTV)

• Net revenue retention (NRR)

• Gross revenue retention (GRR)

The difference lies not in which metrics matter, but in how quickly companies are expected to demonstrate improvement.

The Path From CS to CRO: Putting Customers at the Center

"Every organization is like, 'We're super customer centric,' but it doesn't always flow through to decisions that are made, to comp structures, to strategies."

Her background in customer success gives her an intimate understanding of how sales decisions impact the entire customer lifecycle. This perspective becomes particularly powerful when thinking about compensation structures that align incentives across the entire revenue journey.

"If I'm a CRO who also has a revenue retention target, and I recognize that my company's success is going to be on the back of revenue retention because we need to grow and we can't grow the business if we don't retain the customers and the revenue associated with those customers, then I think I can approach some of the decisions I need to make differently," she noted.

Building Influence as a Revenue Leader in Any Environment

Whether operating in PE or VC, successful revenue leaders must build credibility with their executive peers and boards. Vanessa shared two critical elements for influence:

1. Lead with data, support with stories "You have to know the data. Like you have to be in the data. They are, and you have to lean on the data to answer the questions," she emphasized. "Storytelling matters a lot in our world. And you can still do that, but it needs to start with the data and then stories can come from there."

2. Leverage board members' closing power "Board members love closing deals. And that's what they do, right? That's their world," Vanessa shared. "Any time I've gone to a board member for help with a deal, because these are people who are just so well connected, they've welcome[d] the chance."

This ability to engage board members as extensions of your revenue team—opening doors with C-level prospects or helping accelerate stalled deals—becomes a powerful competitive advantage.

The Building Blocks of Exceptional Revenue Leadership

Regardless of environment, truly exceptional CROs share certain characteristics:

1. Systems thinking: They understand how each component of the revenue engine affects others, and can operate at multiple levels of abstraction simultaneously.

2. Team building: "If you believe that their success is your success, then it's going to unlock a lot more capacity and a lot more potential," Vanessa noted.

3. Creating safe spaces for growth: "We need to give people safe spaces to fail," Vanessa emphasized. "If you save the day every time and you jump in every time, then how will this seller, this person learn how to do the hard things?"

The greatest revenue leaders aren't those who personally shine brightest—they're the ones who create environments where everyone can excel.

The convergence of PE and VC models in today's capital-constrained environment offers an opportunity for revenue leaders to extract the best from both worlds. By combining PE's operational discipline with VC's growth mindset, today's revenue leaders can build organizations that deliver both efficiency and expansion.

As Vanessa's journey illustrates, the most valuable perspective may come not from committing to one model over another, but from the ability to synthesize diverse experiences into a cohesive leadership approach.

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