Pipeline is Permission
Over the weekend, I kept coming back to one simple idea: pipeline is permission.
It’s not that brand, category creation, or customer experience don’t matter—they do. But without pipeline, none of those things scale. Pipeline is what gives CMOs permission to build, influence, and lead. It’s the most visible indicator of a healthy GTM engine—and the fastest red flag when something’s broken.
Diagnosing pipeline isn't just about counting leads or opportunities. Done right, it reveals everything: demand gaps, weak messaging, sales breakdowns, product-market misalignment, even pricing and packaging issues.
At nearly every company I joined as CMO, pipeline was either the issue—or became the issue to focus on and fix fast. That’s when I leaned on the Treasure Ops model I built. It’s a way to operationalize the diagnosis, create visibility, align across GTM, and systematically fix what’s broken.
The 0.8x Wake-Up Call
A few years ago, month one as CMO. The post-Board meeting turns into a firing squad. One Board member unloads on the CRO:
“You need better sellers. Oracle-style closers. Bigger deals.”
The CRO defends his team. No one’s listening.
I speak up—new guy or not:
“It’s not the sellers. It’s the pipeline. We’re running at 0.8x coverage for the next three months. It doesn’t matter who’s selling—we don’t have enough to sell.”
All heads turn:
“When are you fixing it?”
Challenge accepted.
Eighteen months later, we’re running 3–4x coverage and growing 100% YoY. From negative growth to hypergrowth.
Twelve months after that: a $640M exit from a $90M valuation. Pipeline was the unlock.
So, How Do You Fix the Pipeline?
Treat it like software architecture. Pipeline is a system—complex, interconnected, and constantly evolving. You can’t brute-force it. You have to diagnose, prioritize, and systematically rebuild.
Start by mapping every key component—demand gen, sales motion, messaging, conversion points, segmentation, product-market fit, and more. Then zero in on the top 2–3 failure points. Fix those. Measure impact. Move to the next set.
Build the right teams. Align GTM. Partner tightly across sales, ops, and product. Instrument everything. Report what matters. And yes—embrace AI. It’s a multiplier, not a magic wand.
Pipeline problems don’t get solved in one sprint. But with the right model and mindset, they get solved.
Breaking Down the Pipeline System
Fixing pipeline isn’t just a tactic—it’s a system-wide diagnosis. Here’s how I break it down:
1. Market Intent
Are you creating a category, reshaping one, or competing in an existing space? Each requires a different pipeline motion. Make the wrong call here, and you’ll spend months solving the wrong problem with the wrong playbook.
2. Brand Awareness and Perception
If people know and love your brand—great. Maximize capture.
If they know you for the wrong reasons—perception repair must run alongside demand gen.
If they don’t know you at all—you’re starting from zero and need a different approach entirely. Perception fuels conversion.
3. ICP, Persona, and Target Market
Clarity here is non-negotiable. You can experiment early—but you need to land on a high-efficiency ICP fast, capitalize, then expand. Generalist targeting kills CAC and conversion.
4. Customer Segments and Deal Size
ACV drives everything. Enterprise and SMB require totally different engines, channels, and pacing. Same goes for geo: what works in North America rarely translates directly to EMEA or APAC.
5. Demand Gen Engine
Evaluate everything—definitions (lead vs opportunity), inbound/outbound/ABM/hybrid mix, channel ROI, scalability, CAC. Often, this is where the biggest fixes happen. I’ve rebuilt entire demand engines from the ground up—and it changed the growth curve overnight.
6. Pipeline Hygiene and Speed
Leads rot. Follow-up SLAs, lead routing, attribution accuracy—these aren’t ops details, they’re growth levers. In one case, just reducing first-response time from 30 minutes to 5 tripled our conversions.
7. Funnel Conversion + Velocity
Every stage matters. Every drop-off is a signal. From lead to closed-won, analyze conversion rates and time to convert—overall and per channel. Closed-lost and deferred deals often reveal the real issues: ICP misalignment, product gaps, pricing friction, or weak execution.
8. New vs. Expansion vs. Retention
Most teams start with new logo acquisition. But long-term scale comes from a pipeline strategy that includes expansion and retention. You’ll need all three.
9. Direct vs. Partner
Many start direct. Few prioritize partner early enough. Different motions, different hires, different metrics. But partner-driven scale often unlocks the next phase of growth—and better ROI.
10. Strategic Expansion
At some point, every company wants to go upmarket. Bigger ACVs, executive buyers, higher strategic value. That means a new message, new team motion, and a revamped engine—without breaking what’s already working.
11. Hyperscaling
The best question a CEO or Board can ask:
“If I gave you $1M / $10M / $100M more—how fast can you grow?”
That’s when you know you have pipeline permission. But not every channel scales. You have to know what will break, what will scale linearly, and what needs re-architecting.
12. Team
Every stage requires a different team DNA. Experience, mindset, and hunger all matter. Structure drives velocity—and misalignment here will stall everything.
13. AI
This is the biggest unlock. AI-first CMOs and AI-native teams will run leaner, move faster, and compete harder—even against giants. AI isn’t a layer—it’s the engine. Embrace it or fall behind.
14. Alignment
Pipeline doesn’t get fixed in a vacuum. Sales, Product, Finance, Ops—alignment here isn’t about meetings, it’s about outcomes. I’ve seen incredible results when GTM leaders lock arms, commit to impact, and leave politics behind. You don’t win alone.
You Don’t Fix Everything at Once
It’s easy to get overwhelmed. Don’t. That’s where Treasure Ops comes in.
Pick the three biggest unlocks. Focus. Execute. Measure. Move on to the next three.
That rhythm—identify, prioritize, execute—is what turned pipeline from a problem into a weapon at every company I’ve joined.
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