Revenue Builders · 12 Feb 2026 · From the week of 9 February
Building the Machine: The Pipeline, Metrics, and Discipline Behind 100%+ Revenue Growth with Carlos Delatorre
These are notes on the conversation, checked against its transcript. The episode itself has the full discussion.
In brief
Carlos Delatorre, a sales leader who has served as CRO at MongoDB, TripActions/Navan and ClearSlide, joins John McMahon for a replay episode on scaling enterprise sales organizations. He covers how he evaluates CRO roles, why complex selling needs a sophisticated go-to-market engine, the MongoDB lesson of hiring senior leaders too late, and the metrics he reviews during and after a quarter. He also discusses his management operating rhythm, how he stays close to the field, and why he protects his personal sustainability. The central argument is that leaders need disciplined systems and deliberate time blocks, and should develop their managers rather than doing the reps' jobs.
For founders
- Carlos tests any CRO opportunity on whether the market is big enough, whether the product is differentiated enough to win more than a fair share of deals, and whether the leadership team can scale with the company.
- In a complex product with real business value, Carlos said effective pipeline generation can make the market bigger rather than only fulfilling existing demand.
- Carlos said a strong senior sales leader could take about six months to find and three months to ramp, so senior hiring has to start well before the need arises.
- Carlos said small behaviours such as cutting corners on minor things are a signal of integrity that he watches closely when evaluating people.
For revenue leaders
- Carlos dedicates Tuesdays to pipeline generation and counts net new meetings set on Tuesday and again on Friday.
- Carlos regards two net new meetings per salesperson per week as healthy and zero as a bad sign.
- Carlos wants to see at least one visible opportunity per AE per month, defined as a scope-stage deal with a champion and real work underway.
- Carlos said unusually fast stage conversions can mean reps are holding deals back from the forecast, and that heavy reliance on expansion revenue is dangerous because it can dry up abruptly.
- At MongoDB, Carlos said reps who brought in the line-of-business general manager early in a project had much faster sales cycles than those who worked only with developers and IT ops.
What was said 23, most useful first
Late senior leader hires at MongoDB left the team roughly 10 to 12 AEs behind plan by Q4, forcing heroics to hit the number. Listen
Carlos said the team looked strong from outside, but he had not hired senior leaders early enough for the growth rate, and by Q4 the team was well behind plan. The team made the number only through heroics, when Carlos said it should have been a celebration at 120 percent of the number.
“we were probably 10 heads behind plan, maybe 12 AEs behind plan.”
Listen to the episode Hiring & team building Link to this Report a problem
A manager's job is to make reps self-sufficient, so it is better to have the rep solve a deal problem even if it takes longer or is solved less well. Listen
Carlos described how his first manager at PTC told him, after he had been doing the reps' meetings, that he was paid to be a manager and not a rep. The lesson he took was that solving problems through reps builds their skill, even if it takes twice as long or the problem is solved half as well.
“your job is to make the sales reps self-sufficient”
Listen to the episode Sales team, hiring & comp Link to this Report a problem
Blocking time by day, week, month, quarter and year, with blocks that can be moved but not deleted, protects focus. Listen
Carlos said he schedules the things he needs to do at each time horizon, and his assistant could move the blocks but not delete them. When a meeting did not fit, she brought him the trade-off, such as whether to cut pipeline generation time or skip the meeting. He added that you should budget more time than you think you need, because things take longer and emergencies come up.
“she knew that she could move those blocks around. but she also knew that she could not delete them.”
Listen to the episode Leadership & culture Link to this Report a problem
Carlos dedicates Tuesdays to pipeline generation and counts net new meetings set on Tuesday and again at the end of the week. Listen
He asks how many net new meetings each salesperson set on a given Tuesday, then re-checks on Friday because much of the Tuesday outreach pays off on Wednesday through Friday, when prospects call back or are finally reached. He treats net new meetings set as one of the two leading indicators he watches for AEs during the quarter.
“on a given Tuesday, how many net new meetings did each salesperson set?”
Listen to the episode Pipeline & demand generation Link to this Report a problem
Carlos regards two net new meetings per salesperson per week as healthy, with zero as a bad sign. Listen
He said some reps do three a week and some only one. He uses this weekly figure together with visible opportunities as the two leading indicators he watches for AEs.
“if salespeople are able to generate two net new meetings, that's pretty healthy.”
Listen to the episode Pipeline & demand generation Link to this Report a problem
A visible opportunity is one at scope stage, with a champion and real work underway, and Carlos wants to see at least one per AE per month. Listen
He described scope as the stage where the team believes it has a champion and an opportunity and is doing real work to build value, understand the organization and evaluate the solution, though not yet a proof of concept. He said some reps get maybe two a month, three over two months, or four in a quarter.
“you really want to see at least one a month.”
Listen to the episode Sales process & deals Link to this Report a problem
Unusually fast stage conversions can mean a rep is holding deals back from the forecast rather than closing them with magic. Listen
Carlos said some reps prefer not to put deals into the forecast, so their deals appear to close quickly when in reality they were kept in the back pocket. He said analysing conversion rates, meaning how long deals spend in each stage, helps leaders learn from reps with fast cycles and also spot this behaviour.
“if the conversion rates are unbelievably fast, then usually what that means is there are some sales reps who are a little bit reluctant to put things in the forecast”
Listen to the episode Metrics & finance Link to this Report a problem
At MongoDB, reps who brought in the line-of-business general manager early in a project had much faster sales cycles than reps who worked only with developers and IT ops. Listen
Carlos said some reps found projects being built, identified the line-of-business owner and explained how MongoDB would help that business get to market faster and realise revenue sooner. Doing this early in the cycle made deals move quickly, whereas dealing only with developers and IT ops took much longer.
“If I do that early in my sales cycle, my sales cycle goes super fast, where if I deal with just the developers and the IT ops people, it's going to take a lot longer.”
Listen to the episode Sales process & deals Link to this Report a problem
At MongoDB, Carlos and his team built an outbound pipeline generation approach, combining account research and persona-specific messages, that took new reps a day and a half of training just to understand. Listen
He said there had been no outbound pipeline generation before he arrived, and that over about a year he, sales ops and sales leaders built what they called the PG recipe. It required researching each account, building messages for each persona and adding MongoDB open-source research. He said it became a big part of why the company grew so quickly.
“We called it the PG recipe.”
Listen to the episode Pipeline & demand generation Link to this Report a problem
30-minute open sessions that anyone can book, capped at six people, and blocks two hours every day when visiting an office to walk around and talk with staff. Listen
He used these sessions to hear what people were worried about, including what was coming down from corporate, the CEO or product, and what was and was not resonating with the team. If he goes to the New York office, for example, he said he would block two hours every day just to walk around and talk to people.
“30-minute calls, coffee with Carlos. Anybody could sign up, but only up to six people.”
Listen to the episode Leadership & culture Link to this Report a problem
A CRO role should pass three tests: a big enough market, a differentiated product, and a team that can scale as the business grows. Listen
Carlos's first filter for a CRO opportunity is whether the market is big enough, since a limited market means growth runs out even if everything else is fine. He also asks whether the product is differentiated enough that a salesperson who sells it well can win more than their fair share of deals, and whether the people around the table can scale with the business.
“Is there a big market? Because if there's not a big market, there's a chance everything else could be okay and then you just run out of market and you can't grow anymore.”
Listen to the episode Strategy & market Link to this Report a problem
A product with real business value lets pipeline generation create demand, not just fill demand that already exists. Listen
Carlos said a complex product with clear business value pays off for pipeline generation, because a salesperson can make the market bigger rather than only serving buyers who are already looking. He presented this as the second of his three tests for choosing a role.
“You can actually make the market bigger through effective pipeline generation.”
Listen to the episode Strategy & market Link to this Report a problem
In complex sales, technical features have to be translated into business value for each role in the buying group. Listen
Carlos said that if a salesperson only talks about technology, features and functions, the business value is not obvious, so the rep has to help each stakeholder see the connection. He said the value must be described in terms that resonate with each role, and the presentation tailored to each person.
“if you just talk about the technology and the features and the functions, it's not obvious what the business value is.”
Listen to the episode Sales process & deals Link to this Report a problem
Finding a strong senior sales leader could take about six months, and ramping them about three more. Listen
He gave these timelines as the reason a senior leader needed six or nine months out has to be searched for well in advance. They are his experience-based estimates from scaling MongoDB.
“it could easily take six months to find them ... and another three months to ramp them”
Listen to the episode Hiring & team building Link to this Report a problem
Before concluding a leader cannot make the next step, look for tangible changes in their behaviour and leadership, since people develop at different speeds. Listen
John McMahon said some people learn and adapt at different speeds, may make the jump later and may even be more successful than those who already have. He said he always had to see some tangible change in their behaviours and leadership to know they would eventually get there. This built on Carlos's point that people develop in spurts, with some promoted yearly and others needing two or three years in a role.
“I had to see some sort of tangible change in their behaviors and their leadership to know that eventually they're going to get there.”
Listen to the episode Leadership & culture Link to this Report a problem
Cutting sleep, family time and time to reflect made him less patient, less creative and worse at decisions, so he now protects them as part of the job. Listen
He said that when things got hard he worked harder, slept less and took calls in the car, trimming time with family, sleep, reflection and eating well. Only later did he see the effect on his patience, temper, decisions and creativity. He now aims for eight hours of sleep, good food and at least some exercise so he can operate at his best.
“if I don't take care of myself, I can't take care of anything or anyone around me.”
Listen to the episode Leadership & culture Link to this Report a problem
At TripActions, Carlos blocked three hours at the start of each month to study the fact pack and another three hours to ask questions about what he learned. Listen
He described this as part of his management operating rhythm, with the monthly study block running from about nine in the morning until noon. He tied the monthly block to a broader practice of defining priorities for each day, week, month, quarter and year.
“at TripActions at the beginning of every month, there's a three hour block”
Listen to the episode Leadership & culture Link to this Report a problem
Each sales stage should have an unambiguous exit criterion that everyone can agree has or has not occurred. Listen
Carlos said unambiguous exit criteria mean that if an opportunity is in stage three, everyone knows the exit criteria for stages one and two already occurred, without spending 10 minutes talking about it. John McMahon added that it does not have to be a long list, since one or two clear definitions per stage are enough. He also framed recruiting as a similar pipeline with qualification at each step.
“for each stage, you have unambiguous exit criteria.”
Listen to the episode Sales process & deals Link to this Report a problem
Productivity per AE is the key metric for judging the health of a sales team. Listen
After a quarter closes, Carlos reviews new revenue per AE first, then the mix between new logos and expansion, then stage conversion rates. He uses these to see which reps and behaviours are driving outsized results.
“productivity per AE is the key metric to define the health of a sales team.”
Listen to the episode Metrics & finance Link to this Report a problem
Relying too heavily on expansion revenue is dangerous, because it can dry up and growth can fall off abruptly, so new logos stay critical. Listen
Carlos said that as a business matures it might get two-thirds or even three-quarters of its revenue from expansion, and that expansion itself is not a problem. The risk is that eventually you sell customers all they need, and he treats the quality of new logos as a key measure of future revenue.
“It is dangerous to rely too heavily on expansion.”
Listen to the episode Metrics & finance Link to this Report a problem
When you are convinced your solution beats what a customer is about to buy, keep escalating until you reach the person who makes the decision. Listen
Early in his career at Beckman Coulter, Carlos spent three days calling a doctor's office manager until he got a meeting with the doctor, who was about to take a competitor's machine. After she agreed to see him, he won the deal, then put it through a competing distributor and told the distributor that had sold the rival product he would keep doing this until they talked, after which that distributor became his best.
“then you should stop at nothing and go as high as you need to go and be as persistent as you need to be to get your message to the person who makes the decision.”
Listen to the episode Sales process & deals Link to this Report a problem
Small behaviours, such as cutting corners on something minor, reveal a person's integrity, so he watches them closely when judging people. Listen
He said that generosity, kindness or a willingness to sacrifice for a deal or the company tell the same story in the other direction. He said he extrapolates from these little things to the whole picture of a person.
“If someone shows some maybe lack of integrity, willing to cut corners, even if it's on something small, I've learned to pay a lot of attention to that.”
Listen to the episode Hiring & team building Link to this Report a problem
Carlos goes on sales calls and uses the drive or flight to debrief on the account, then gets a bite to eat to hear how people feel about their careers, the company and the market. Listen
He said that beyond debriefing on the account, going for a meal helps him really understand how people are feeling. John McMahon added that leaders should stay off the phone during these activities and make the conversations personal.
“Nothing better than, you know, the drive or the flight to debrief about the account.”
Listen to the episode Leadership & culture Link to this Report a problem