Startups don’t have the luxury of throwing cash at problems like it’s Monopoly money. Every dollar counts, and every decision has to drive growth. But here’s the kicker, RevOps doesn’t have to be a money pit, so long as you're scrappy, smart and strategic.
It’s not about spending more, it’s about spending smarter.
Before you start drooling over shiny new tools, get your teams aligned. Sales, marketing, and customer success need to be aligned and running like a well-oiled machine. Set clear KPIs that everyone understands and agrees on. Are you chasing customer acquisition? Retention? Upselling? Make sure everyone’s working toward the same goals.
Pro tip: If your teams aren’t aligned, no tool in the world can save you. Alignment is free, but misalignment costs a fortune.
You don’t need a $100k CRM to get started. HubSpot’s free tier, Airtable, and even Google Sheets can handle the heavy lifting in the early days. Once you’ve outgrown the basics, you can start investing in more advanced platforms. But by then, you’ll know exactly what you need—and you won’t be wasting money on features you’ll never use.
There is no one-size-fits-your-entire-business-revenue-needs platform. You are going to need to have more tools in your belt to really nail the revenue game (I really stuck to my analogy there).
Keep posted because soon I'll show you how to build the perfect RevTech stack to help any companies from pre-rev to multinational corporation achieve higher revenue.
But until then.....
Automation is the unsung hero of RevOps, but it’s easy to go overboard. Start small. Automate the repetitive tasks—lead scoring, email follow-ups, data entry. Tools like Zapier or Make (formerly Integromat) can connect your apps and automate workflows without costing an arm and a leg. Many modern SaaS tools even have native integrations with other platforms. Check out the integrations tab in all your SaaS subscriptions.
The goal isn’t to automate everything—it’s to free up your team’s time so they can focus on what really moves the needle. Your team’s time is worth more than a bot’s.
In 2025, data isn’t just important—it’s everything. But you don’t need a data scientist to get started. Focus on tracking the metrics that matter most to your business, like customer acquisition cost (CAC), lifetime value (LTV), and churn rate.
Make sure everyone has access to this data and knows how to use it.
When your team makes decisions based on data, not gut feelings, you’ll see results faster. And unlike opinions, data doesn’t lie—it’s the ultimate truth-teller.
However, beware: while the data doesn’t lie, the analyst can. Good practice: make sure that you have someone look over the data for a second or even a third time.
A good practice is to pull all your data into a visualization platform. Personally, I like Google Looker Studio, but there are many other options out there. Looker Studio is a free product with several native connectors, all Google related. To get data from your other platforms, you will need to subscribe to a service that provides these connectors.
Another tool I love to use is Funnel. They have an incredibly generous free plan that will be able to get you started on your data visualization journey. Trust me when I say this: Visualizing your data is a game changer, especially if you are presenting to people who may not have the same passion for numbers as you do.
The beauty of a lean RevOps strategy is that it grows with you. Start with the basics, and add complexity as you need it. Maybe that means upgrading your CRM, hiring a RevOps specialist, or investing in advanced analytics.
The key is to stay flexible. What works for a 10-person team may not work for a 100-person team, and that’s okay. Think of it as upgrading from a bicycle to a sports car—you don’t need the sports car on day one.
Your data stack should serve your strategy, not sabotage it. Full Stack RevOps provides a complimentary Data Efficiency Assessment to help your organization cut through complexity and regain strategic focus.