MARK ZIDES
Blog
Explore Mark Zides' essays on fractional CRO leadership, go-to-market strategy, revenue operations, executive coaching, and exit readiness.
Seven steps to an advisory board built around the decisions ahead: a seat per decision, a brief per seat, an agreement checklist, a meeting agenda to copy, and how to reward and rotate advisors.
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The difference side by side, two questions and five tests to choose, how rare venture money is, what each path pays the founder at a sale, and how to grow without outside money.
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What the research says about going solo, three questions that decide it, six steps to replace what a cofounder would have given you, and what being the only founder means when you raise money or sell.
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Seven steps to hand work over so it stays handed over: sort your week, pick the person, set the level of authority, write the brief, check in less over time, and coach instead of taking it back.
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What product-market fit is, six steps to find it by narrowing who you sell to, the signs that you have it, a test for B2B and services firms, how long it takes, and what to do if you do not have it.
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What unit economics is, how to calculate it in five steps from your own books, a worked example for a services firm, what good looks like, and what to fix first when the numbers are bad.
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How a sale to your own managers works, how they pay for it under the SBA rules in force since October 2026, a worked example, and how to test the team first.
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The seven ways an owner can leave a company, what each one pays and when the money arrives, how to choose between them, and a five-step exit plan.
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Why founder burnout is usually built into how the company runs, the signs to take seriously, when to see a doctor, and seven steps that change what reaches you.
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How each motion wins B2B buyers, what buyers say they want, when a hybrid beats both, a scorecard to choose yours, and the first hire each motion calls for.
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What a head of sales, a director and a VP of sales each own, how long each title tends to last, and four questions that match the title to the job.
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Seven steps to grow a service firm without adding hours, the numbers that set its ceiling, how to price for scale, and what changes as the firm grows from $1 million to $20 million.
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What a private equity roll-up is, how it makes money, which industries get rolled up, and what an owner should know before selling their company into one.
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What an operating rhythm is, the five meetings most growing companies need, what each one reviews and decides, a weekly scorecard, and how to put it in place in 90 days.
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What B2B companies really spend on marketing at each size, how to work out your own budget from the revenue you need, and how to split it between people, programs and tools.
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How to run a consultative sales call step by step, twenty questions to ask, three examples with the words to use, and how to build the approach into a sales team.
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What a chief growth officer owns, the three different jobs behind the title, how it compares with a CMO, CRO and CCO, and how to tell whether you need one.
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How an earnout works, with a worked example, how much of one sellers actually receive, and the ten terms to negotiate before you agree to one.
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How to measure how much of your company rests on its largest customers, where buyers and lenders draw the line, and a two-track plan to bring it down.
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What the role owns, who it reports to, how it differs from a chief revenue officer, and how to tell whether your company needs one yet.
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Twenty-five questions for the founder doing the hiring, what a strong answer sounds like, the red flags, and how to test the candidate on your real pipeline.
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How to choose your key accounts, the six-step process, a one-page account plan template, and how to keep one customer from getting too big.
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What private equity firms pay, how the price is paid, the growth they expect after the sale, and the questions to ask before you sign.
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What changes when a founder becomes CEO, the seven shifts in order, where the week should go, and when the founder should take a different seat.
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What founder-led marketing is, a seven-step weekly system, six formats to post, how to measure it, and how to hand it over before it depends on you.
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The seven reasons a business stops growing, the five numbers that show which one is yours, and the order to fix them in.
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Twelve ways to take the waiting out of a deal, what to say when it stalls, a close plan to copy and how to measure the result.
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Ten ways to raise prices that keep customers, how to explain the increase, a call script and email, and what to say when a customer pushes back.
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Seven steps to test a startup idea with real buyers before you build it, and how to tell a commitment from a polite yes.
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Six ways AI is changing how startups hire, work and sell, what the evidence says about each, and what a founder should keep in human hands.
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What to look for in a cofounder, how to test the partnership in a short working trial, the questions to ask, and the terms to agree before the shares are split.
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The ten mistakes that cost first-time founders the most, the stage where each one is made, the warning sign to check for, and what it takes to fix.
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Who reports to whom, the seven revenue decisions the two roles share and who should own each, and the order a founder CEO should hand them over.
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The six decisions a CRO and a CFO fight over, who should own each one, why CFOs last longer, and which seat a growing company should fill first.
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Three measures, three different answers: who advertises fractional roles, who already works this way, and why company stage matters more than industry.
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Seven qualities to look for, the proof that settles each one, and the three checks that collect it before you sign.
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Ten strategies in three stages, how to choose the first channel, what to spend, and how to tell when marketing is not the problem.
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Senior judgment for part of the week, what it really costs once benefits are counted, and when a full-time hire is the better call.
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Build content from the questions buyers already ask, put a form only where it earns one, and judge it by the sales conversations it starts.
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What the seat is, what it is called in the US, how it differs from an advisor, and when a founder-led company should fill it.
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Find what still depends on you, hand over the decisions in order, and step away in stages before a buyer tests it for you.
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What losing customers really costs, where churn starts, and nine ways to keep the revenue you have already won.
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Size the gap to your target, fill it from the core outward, and check it against the people, pipeline and cash it needs.
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How many sellers a revenue target needs, when to hire them, and how the team has to change shape as it grows.
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What a business sells for by size, the eight steps of a sale, why a third of deals never close, and how sellers actually get paid.
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What a VP of sales does, the five signs a company is ready for one, what the seat really costs, and what to hire first when it is too early.
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What founder-led sales is, the six signs the founder has become the bottleneck, what it does to company value, and how to hand selling over in four stages.
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Thirty six questions for founders and boards hiring a CFO, grouped by what each one tests, with the answer to listen for and the red flag behind it.
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What a fractional COO owns, what it costs at one day a week against a full-time wage, how it differs from an interim COO, and when it is the wrong hire.
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What a chief information officer owns, how the role differs from a CTO, a CISO and an IT director, what it pays, and why it decides technology deals late.
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What a go-to-market engineer builds, how the role differs from revenue operations, what the market pays, and the test for whether the hire will help.
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What a fractional CMO owns, what the market actually charges, and the point at which the saving disappears and a full-time hire costs less.
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Lead generation captures demand that already exists. What a lead actually is, what an opportunity really costs, who should own it, and when more leads make things worse.
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A sales funnel counts how many buyers survive each step. What it shows, what it cannot see, the three ways it quietly flatters a business, and when a list would serve you better.
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Most companies have the dashboards and still cannot name a decision that went differently because of them. The test a decision has to pass, and the numbers worth arguing about.
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Growing means revenue and cost rise together. Scaling means the cost of the next customer falls. When you are ready, in what order, and what breaks first.
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The five phases, what a plan has to contain to survive contact with a quarter, who belongs in the room, and why most plans are never executed.
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What demand generation actually creates, how it differs from capturing demand that already exists, and why most buyers have a shortlist before they search.
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Sales and marketing alignment is four agreements rather than a workshop: shared definitions, a written handoff, one number both teams carry, and a review that uses it.
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The six sales funnel stages, what the buyer is doing in each, and how to find the stage where your deals are actually dying rather than the one that feels worst.
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Revenue operations is the function that owns process, data and systems across marketing, sales and customer success, so the revenue number means one thing.
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What a chief revenue officer actually owns, how the role differs from a VP of sales or a CMO, and the signals that say a company is ready for one.
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Lead generation captures demand that already exists. Demand generation creates it. Which one you need first depends on whether anyone is searching for you yet.
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The seven stages every deal passes through, and the rule that decides when a deal is allowed to move.
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Building rapport with customers is the difference between a conversation that moves somewhere and one that stalls.
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A channel partner sells to customers they already own. What separates a programme that produces revenue from one that produces a logo slide.
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Six decisions decide how a company reaches buyers. Most founders have made them without writing them down.
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