/cro-advisor

name: "cro-advisor"
description: "Revenue leadership for B2B SaaS companies. Revenue forecasting, sales model design, pricing strategy, net revenue retention, and sales team scaling. Use when designing the revenue engine, setting quotas, modeling NRR, evaluating pricing, building board forecasts, or when user mentions CRO, chief revenue officer, revenue strategy, sales model, ARR growth, NRR, expansion revenue, churn, pricing strategy, or sales capacity."
license: MIT
metadata:
  version: 1.0.0
  author: Alireza Rezvani
  category: c-level
  domain: cro-leadership
  updated: 2026-03-05
  python-tools: revenue_forecast_model.py, churn_analyzer.py
  frameworks: sales-playbook, pricing-strategy, nrr-playbook

CRO Advisor

Revenue frameworks for building predictable, scalable revenue engines — from $1M ARR to $100M and beyond.

Keywords

CRO, chief revenue officer, revenue strategy, ARR, MRR, sales model, pipeline, revenue forecasting, pricing strategy, net revenue retention, NRR, gross revenue retention, GRR, expansion revenue, upsell, cross-sell, churn, customer success, sales capacity, quota, ramp, territory design, MEDDPICC, PLG, product-led growth, sales-led growth, enterprise sales, SMB, self-serve, value-based pricing, usage-based pricing, ICP, ideal customer profile, revenue board reporting, sales cycle, CAC payback, magic number

Quick Start

Revenue Forecasting

python scripts/revenue_forecast_model.py

Weighted pipeline model with historical win rate adjustment and conservative/base/upside scenarios.

Churn & Retention Analysis

python scripts/churn_analyzer.py

NRR, GRR, cohort retention curves, at-risk account identification, expansion opportunity segmentation.

Diagnostic Questions

Ask these before any framework:

**Revenue Health**

• What's your NRR? If below 100%, everything else is a leaky bucket.
• What percentage of ARR comes from expansion vs. new logo?
• What's your GRR (retention floor without expansion)?

**Pipeline & Forecasting**

• What's your pipeline coverage ratio (pipeline ÷ quota)? Under 3x is a problem.
• Walk me through your top 10 deals by ARR — who closed them, how long, what drove them?
• What's your stage-by-stage conversion rate? Where do deals die?

**Sales Team**

• What % of your sales team hit quota last quarter?
• What's average ramp time before a new AE is quota-attaining?
• What's the sales cycle variance by segment? High variance = unpredictable forecasts.

**Pricing**

• How do customers articulate the value they get? What outcome do you deliver?
• When did you last raise prices? What happened to win rate?
• If fewer than 20% of prospects push back on price, you're underpriced.

Core Responsibilities (Overview)

| Area | What the CRO Owns | Reference | |------|------------------|-----------| | **Revenue Forecasting** | Bottoms-up pipeline model, scenario planning, board forecast | `revenue_forecast_model.py` | | **Sales Model** | PLG vs. sales-led vs. hybrid, team structure, stage definitions | `references/sales_playbook.md` | | **Pricing Strategy** | Value-based pricing, packaging, competitive positioning, price increases | `references/pricing_strategy.md` | | **NRR & Retention** | Expansion revenue, churn prevention, health scoring, cohort analysis | `references/nrr_playbook.md` | | **Sales Team Scaling** | Quota setting, ramp planning, capacity modeling, territory design | `references/sales_playbook.md` | | **ICP & Segmentation** | Ideal customer profiling from won deals, segment routing | `references/nrr_playbook.md` | | **Board Reporting** | ARR waterfall, NRR trend, pipeline coverage, forecast vs. actual | `revenue_forecast_model.py` |

Revenue Metrics

Board-Level (monthly/quarterly)

| Metric | Target | Red Flag | |--------|--------|----------| | ARR Growth YoY | 2x+ at early stage | Decelerating 2+ quarters | | NRR | > 110% | < 100% | | GRR (gross retention) | > 85% annual | < 80% | | Pipeline Coverage | 3x+ quota | < 2x entering quarter | | Magic Number | > 0.75 | < 0.5 (fix unit economics before spending more) | | CAC Payback | < 18 months | > 24 months | | Quota Attainment % | 60-70% of reps | < 50% (calibration problem) |

**Magic Number:** Net New ARR × 4 ÷ Prior Quarter S&M Spend **CAC Payback:** S&M Spend ÷ New Logo ARR × (1 / Gross Margin %)

Revenue Waterfall

Opening ARR
  + New Logo ARR
  + Expansion ARR (upsell, cross-sell, seat adds)
  - Contraction ARR (downgrades)
  - Churned ARR
= Closing ARR

NRR = (Opening + Expansion - Contraction - Churn) / Opening

NRR Benchmarks

| NRR | Signal | |-----|--------| | > 120% | World-class. Grow even with zero new logos. | | 100-120% | Healthy. Existing base is growing. | | 90-100% | Concerning. Churn eating growth. | | < 90% | Crisis. Fix before scaling sales. |

Red Flags

• NRR declining two quarters in a row — customer value story is broken
• Pipeline coverage below 3x entering the quarter — already forecasting a miss
• Win rate dropping while sales cycle extends — competitive pressure or ICP drift
• < 50% of sales team quota-attaining — comp plan, ramp, or quota calibration issue
• Average deal size declining — moving downmarket under pressure (dangerous)
• Magic Number below 0.5 — sales spend not converting to revenue
• Forecast accuracy below 80% — reps sandbagging or pipeline quality is poor
• Single customer > 15% of ARR — concentration risk, board will flag this
• "Too expensive" appearing in > 40% of loss notes — value demonstration broken, not pricing
• Expansion ARR < 20% of total ARR — upsell motion isn't working

Integration with Other C-Suite Roles

| When... | CRO works with... | To... | |---------|------------------|-------| | Pricing changes | CPO + CFO | Align value positioning, model margin impact | | Product roadmap | CPO | Ensure features support ICP and close pipeline | | Headcount plan | CFO + CHRO | Justify sales hiring with capacity model and ROI | | NRR declining | CPO + COO | Root