Finding The Balance – Matthew Amadea – RevOps Rockstars
As a RevOps leader, you’re the driving force in your company. You create the strategic path forward and support other departments in doing the same. In short, you’re the cross-functional glue holding the organization together. To do this, you must organize your RevOps team to best reach operational goals and find the balance of technology empowering them. Easy right?
We sat down with Matthew Amadea, Head Of RevOps at Tigera, on a recent episode of the RevOps Rockstars Podcast to hear his insights on driving RevOps success. Hosting the discussion are Jarin Chu, VP of Marketing, and David Carnes, Founder & Chief Evangelist at OpFocus.
It’s time to hear from Matthew about finding the right balance in his Revenue Operations team!
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What is something in RevOps you had to learn the hard way?
Many departments lean on RevOps during their projects, and as practitioners, our inclination may be to jump in and solve problems immediately. Our instinct is to identify, plan, and find a solution, but it’s essential to safeguard your time.
“I can’t be a yes man; I have to be a gatekeeper.”
Matthew Amadea, Head Of RevOps at Tigera
It’s also essential to fully understand the problem before building a solution. This understanding ensures you’re creating a solution that solves the underlying issues.
What does your title, Head of Revenue Operations, entail at Tigera?
Matthew’s role initially focused on sales operations but expanded over time, absorbing other functions. At Tigera, revenue operations now encompass the entire revenue cycle, including marketing, sales, customer success, and finance operations, from lead creation to renewals and case management.
“You have to be very nimble working for a startup… I need that sprint towards the target.”
Matthew Amadea, Head Of RevOps at Tigera
How do you measure success in the different components of your role at Tigera?
Matthew has multiple stakeholders he reports to, including the CMO, CCO, and CFO, each of which he discusses quarterly goals. He measures success by their discussions and how well each perceives he supports their efforts. Matthew is readying the team to tie concrete ROI metrics back to their initiatives.
Do you take more of a proactive or reactive role?
Breaking down his time, Matthew focuses on reactive initiatives about 70% of the time and proactive projects about 30% of the time. An example he presents is creating a program identifying risk drivers and upsell opportunities, which resulted in a noticeable uptick in retention and expansion.
How do you determine the right balance of in-house and outsourced resources?
When determining the roles and responsibilities to outsource, first take stock of your team and your operational goals. In Matthew’s case, they leverage consultants for Salesforce development work. They initially didn’t have enough ongoing work to justify bringing the role in-house and brought on a consultant for 10-20 hours a week. Once their work got underway, Matt realized a broader need for Salesforce expertise and brought a full-time developer onto the team.
Does your role involve cross-functional projects?
RevOps leaders often spearhead cross-functional projects, which is no different at Tigera. Matthew considers himself the glue that holds other functional teams together, an example being the handoff between sales and customer success.
“I’m like the cross-functional guy here at Tigera. Everyone is on their own team, and the joke is that I’m on every team.”
Matthew Amadea, Head Of RevOps at Tigera
What resources do you turn to when expanding your RevOps knowledge?
Networking is one of the most potent resources in Matthew’s RevOps learning. He’s established a Slack channel with other RevOps leaders to discuss common issues. He also finds the Wizard of Ops helpful. You can never underestimate the power of connections in the RevOps community.
Where do you get your at-a-glance view for reporting?
The Tigera team leverages a data visualization tool called Thoughtspot for their at-a-glance view, along with platforms like Snowflake and Pendo. Matthew enjoys that Thoughtspot enables them to share information with the entire team, not just a few people with tool licenses. Having visibility into user data, especially around trials and platform usage, is valuable in rolling out a PLG motion.
“Multitasking is fake; it doesn’t exist. People can not multitask. It’s called context switching, and it’s very inefficient.”
Matthew Amadea, Head Of RevOps at Tigera
What are you most excited about for the future of RevOps?
Matthew’s most excited about how platforms and technology are developing to support Revenue Operations better and become more integrated. Better integration between your tech stack enables better analytics and forecasting.
How did you get into Saas RevOps?
Starting in economics, Matthew knew he wanted to work in tech. To break into SaaS, he first took a sales role. From there, Matt learned about operations and understood companies’ needs for operational roles. He researched the function by listening to podcasts and attending webinars, then pitched a full-time position to his CEO. He got the green light to take on a sales ops role at JobScience, and later transitioned into RevOps as his career continued.
Expanding your professional career
It was great to hear from Matthew to round out our podcast episodes for 2022! He shared a lot of great takes on strategy and insights into the RevOps community. Connect with Matthew on LinkedIn or look at his company, Tigera.
To kick off 2023, we’re joined by Will Post, the VP of Revenue at VidMob. Catch up on the latest episodes on the RevOps Rockstars Youtube channel!
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