What is Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)?
A Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) is a C-level executive responsible for all revenue-generating functions including sales, marketing, customer success, and partnerships.
What does a Chief Revenue Officer do?
A Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) owns all revenue-generating functions at a company — sales, marketing, customer success, and often partnerships. Unlike a VP Sales who manages the sales team, the CRO sets cross-functional revenue strategy and reports directly to the CEO or board. Most companies hire a CRO when they reach $10-30M ARR and need unified go-to-market leadership.
The Chief Revenue Officer is the executive who owns the entire revenue engine of a company. Unlike a VP of Sales who manages the sales team, the CRO aligns all go-to-market functions under a single leader to drive predictable revenue growth.
CRO vs VP of Sales
The CRO sits above the VP of Sales in the org chart and has a broader mandate. A VP of Sales owns the sales team and quota. A CRO owns the entire revenue number across sales, marketing, customer success, and often partnerships. Companies typically elevate to a CRO model when they reach $20M-$50M+ ARR and need cross-functional alignment.
CRO Responsibilities
A CRO's core responsibilities include: setting revenue strategy and forecasting, aligning sales, marketing, and customer success around shared metrics, owning the P&L for revenue-generating functions, reporting to the CEO and board on revenue performance, and building the leadership team across all GTM functions.
CRO Salary
Based on our analysis of current job postings, CRO base salaries range from $250K to $400K, with total compensation often exceeding $500K-$1M+ at growth-stage and public companies. Equity is a significant component, especially at pre-IPO companies.
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