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Contents

1. Revenue systems

2. Builds

3. The operator

4. Writing

5. Journal

6. Resume

7. Appendix

191 wordsby CONNOR J. LAUGHLIN

Leadership and team operating system.

How a near-zero-budget function became a board-backed team with an international model.

Operating cadenceThe standing cadence as run: a weekly pipeline review, a monthly performance ledger review, and quarterly sponsor reporting, spaced by how often each one happens, each with a named owner.WEEKLY PIPELINE REVIEWREVENUE LEADSMONTHLY LEDGER REVIEWMARKETINGQUARTERLY SPONSOR REPORTEXECUTIVE SPONSOR
FIG_015 [ Operating cadence ]The cadence artifacts, drawn on their review periods, with an owner named on each.

Near-$0 to board-backed marketing function built from scratch. 2 offshore contributors at the start, 4 direct reports inside a 16-person international model across the U.S., Canada, Guatemala, India, and the Philippines at the end.

None of that scaled on charisma. Scope, review gates, escalation rules, and a cadence people could plan around all got written down, which is how the team grew without me in every room.

The case

  1. 01The problem

    Marketing was responding to ad hoc requests with random priorities. Execution speed and quality suffered.

  2. 02What I built

    I built two accountable lanes (demand generation and enablement), documented handoffs, intake and prioritization, QA gates, templates, cadence, and a coaching loop.

  3. 03What changed

    Marketing ran like a product team. Execution speed went up. Rework went down.

  4. 04What it proves

    The lanes and the SLAs were written down, so the review loop kept running when I was not in the room.

Proof

Chapter figures

demand generation and enablement
2 lanes. demand generation and enablement. documented handoffs and shared cadence.
operating review
Weekly. operating review. RACI, SLAs, escalation paths.

Systems built

  1. Two-function org with documented handoffs
  2. Intake and prioritization workflow
  3. Templates and QA gates
  4. Weekly operating review

Chapter details

Scope
  • Org design
  • intake and prioritization
  • QA and governance
  • templates
  • cadence
  • coaching.
Stack
  • Operating cadence
  • Intake
  • Templates
  • Analytics
Governance
  • RACI
  • SLAs
  • weekly reviews
  • version control
  • escalation paths

Governance notes

  • RACI maintained for every recurring workflow
  • Version control and escalation paths defined

In the interview

Clear lanes, measurable SLAs, and review loops are how I lead. The team could grow without me in every room.
Email Connor

Open to VP of Marketing & GTM, Head of GTM, VP Revenue Operations, and GTM engineering roles at AI-native B2B SaaS and PE-backed growth companies that build the tools of change. Chicago, hybrid or remote.