The Interview

Kluster's Take

Tom spoke with John Venezio, VP, Revenue Operations at Panzura. He shares his deep knowledge of data in the Revops space.

John was a CFO for 15 years, moved into a chief operating officer role, then settled into sales operations. He is particularly interested in understanding the big picture from data. He is deliberate when making big decisions, yet quick at making small decisions. John uses the 80/20 rule, 80% of your decisions you should be able to make quickly. The other 20 are the big rocks that you have to think through. 

For John, it always starts with the data, which he uses to make decisions. He takes the time to deeply understand what he is selling and the leadership's vision. He explains that he is a bit of a chameleon. He adjusts his thought process based on the organisation. John thinks carefully about where they are in their lifecycle.

John is in a unique position as he is able to see data across silos. He tells us there’s no limit to the amount of data you can get. He tries to remain true to what the data is saying and not get too involved in what the leadership team wants to say. He creates his model separate from that conversation and lets it speak for itself. If that aligns with what the leadership team is saying then great, if not then there are actions to take.

John stresses that you need a relationship with your leadership team. It needs to be an open, two way conversation. At Panzura he is part of the strategy conversation and is invited to board meetings. This allows him to align the processes to meet the objective. He can support their decision making and make a cleaner transition from the data to the decision.