The first six months in a new CRO role set our trajectory. Either we earn the trust and authority we need to lead effectively, or we get stuck managing chaos, juggling politics, and constantly having to justify our existence.

In that window, the expectations are sky-high, but the path is rarely clear. Everyone is looking to us to bring order, drive alignment, and prove we were worth the investment. Behind the scenes, we’re still figuring out where the bottlenecks are, who actually owns what, and which fires need to burn a little longer while we dig into the real issues.

Whether we’re stepping into our first CRO role or joining a new company after years in the seat, those early months matter more than anything that comes after. They shape how we’re perceived, how much influence we really have, and how quickly we can turn insight into impact.

On the GTM Science podcast, we sat down with Warren Zenna, founder of the CRO Collective, to unpack what successful CROs actually do in their first six months.

This article breaks down that conversation into the core priorities we need to focus on, and the traps to avoid if we want to build something that lasts.

You can listen to the full podcast episode on Spotify here or on Apple Podcasts here.

Pre-Onboarding: The Job Before the Job

The work of being a CRO doesn’t begin on day one.

Before you even sign the offer, you need to know: Who reports to you and who doesn’t? What promises have been made internally? Where are the fault lines between executives? These aren’t hypotheticals, they’re the political realities that will shape your ability to succeed.

As Warren put it: “The job starts in the interview. The job starts before the job.” That’s the moment to press for clarity, test assumptions, and surface tensions.

It’s when we ask:

• Who reports to us, and who doesn’t?
• Why do those reporting lines exist?
• What decisions will we actually be empowered to make?
• What happens if we try to change something that threatens someone else’s turf?

This is also when we ask to meet with the other revenue leaders; sales, marketing, CS, RevOps. Not to “get along,” but to assess the org dynamics and identify risks.

As Warren puts it, “You’re looking for lumps under the sheet. You’ve got to get under the covers and find out where those tensions are.”

If we’re not willing to ask those questions, we’re choosing to inherit the dysfunction. And we’ll spend the next 6–12 months trying to fix things we could’ve prevented before we ever took the job.

Week One: Set the Foundation

Most new CROs start with a listening tour. They meet the team, get the lay of the land, keep things cordial. But Warren says that’s not enough. We weren’t hired to observe, we were hired to lead.

In week one, our job is to set the tone for what’s coming. That starts with a live kickoff meeting. Bring the full GTM org together and be direct: why we’re here, what’s changing, what success looks like, and how it impacts them. Then, open the floor and take every question, ensuring everyone has a chance to get on the same page.

This isn’t a show of confidence, it’s how we earn real trust.

Behind the scenes, our job is to read the room. Who’s aligned? Who’s uneasy? Who’s already resisting us? Warren calls these “the lumps under the bed”; unresolved tensions from past decisions, org design, or politics that will quietly undermine our authority if left alone.

As he puts it:

“Every onboarding process has to include a review of the players. Who is this role impacting? Have we worked this out? Is everybody on board? Is everybody really clear about where we’re headed and where we’re going and why, and that they understand the implications of it and the impact it’s going to have on them and what their role needs to be in the process to make it successful?”

This is where most new CROs go wrong. If we don’t surface and address it now, we’ll spend the next six months trying to lead a team that never actually got on board.

First 90 Days: Diagnose the System

Our first job isn’t to fix things, it’s to learn what’s really happening in the business.

Warren’s advice: talk to everyone. Start with the people who are going to report to us or be affected by our authority. Not just to build relationships, but to understand what they do, how they’re measured, and where the tension points are.

Do the same with customers. Warren breaks them into three groups: “Our top customers… people who we just recently brought on… and then customers who we had but lost.”

He also suggests meeting prospects who considered our product but didn’t buy. If that information isn’t already available, that’s a problem in itself.

This discovery work isn’t limited to calls and conversations. We need to look under the hood. Get into the data. Review the systems. Understand how the business tracks performance, where deals come from, and how the funnel moves (or doesn’t).

As Warren says, “The first three months, the job is like almost just a total analytical due diligence.”

That includes evaluating the GTM tech stack, identifying process gaps, and assessing overall operational maturity. If needed, bring in outside help. Warren suggests this should be part of our onboarding plan.

We’re not delivering a fix yet. We’re building the diagnostic that will inform the roadmap.

“The intent would be that after an agreed upon period of time I’d have a report that is very clear that I’d present to the higher ups in the company.”

Months 3–6: Design the Revenue Engine

Once we’ve done the diagnostic work, it’s time to build the plan.

This is where our job as CRO starts to shift from discovery to design. We’re no longer just learning how the system works, we’re laying out how to fix it.

That includes process improvements, structural changes, and leadership realignment. If we’ve recommended new reporting lines, like having the CMO report into us, this is where we take responsibility for making it work. Not everyone will be happy about it. Our CEO may have trusted us against their instincts. Now it’s on us to prove they were right.

If certain leaders aren’t aligned with the new model, we have to deal with it directly.

“Some people may need to be replaced,” Warren says. “If we have someone in a critical role like this who’s not on board with this, we either need to get them on board or we need to get rid of them.”

That doesn’t mean picking fights. But it does mean refusing to inherit someone else’s dysfunction. We were brought in to run the system. That means putting the right people in the right seats and making the hard calls when they’re not.

We’ll also need to bring our executive team along. If we brought in a third-party to help with the assessment, this is the point where we deliver the findings and use them to build alignment around our roadmap.

Warren is clear on the goal: “Your job is to build a revenue factory that builds a predictable model for the company. Once that’s up and running, then your job is to run it and lead it and grow it.”

That also means shifting how the business defines success.

“If everyone’s not aligned toward goals that are based around revenue, then everyone has their own agenda to fill.”

We can’t build a unified GTM engine if every function is optimizing for its own metrics only.

The foundation we lay in months 3–6 is what enables the CRO role to scale its impact. Without it, we’ll spend the rest of our tenure playing Whac-a-Mole with symptoms instead of solving the issues holding revenue back.

Expect Resistance

If we do this job right, someone’s going to be upset.

• Maybe it’s the CMO whose role just got restructured
• Maybe it’s the CS leader who doesn’t want their KPIs tied to revenue
• Maybe it’s the CEO who gave us authority but didn’t expect us to actually use it

Warren doesn’t present this as an edge case, it’s the norm.

“If you’re in a position of authority, especially as a CRO, and you’re trying to do the right thing and you’re trying to build something that’s valuable for the company, it’s going to be at odds with a bunch of people. Because it’s going to call into question the way they’re doing things. And people are going to push back. It’s just what happens.”

We’re going to run into people protecting turf. People dragging their feet. People who liked the old way better.

We don’t avoid that conflict, we prepare for it.

That’s why the diagnostic work matters. It’s not just for insight, it’s our armor. It lets us make decisions based on facts, not politics. It gives us credibility when the pushback comes. And it will come.

Take Radical Responsibility

The CRO role is unique because we’re accountable for the entire GTM system. Not just a single function, but the way they all work together. That’s what makes it powerful, and that’s where most revenue leaders fail.

Warren puts it plainly. “You are accountable for the GTM system. That’s what you’re accountable for.”

Not just pipeline, not just sales, not just team performance. The system.

If marketing misses their pipeline goals, it’s our problem. If CS loses key accounts, it’s our problem. If data is broken, if handoffs are sloppy, if sales leaders aren’t forecasting accurately, it’s all our problem.

That doesn’t mean we have to do everything. But it does mean we own fixing it.

And if we walk into a system where we don’t have that level of authority? Where people can say no to our decisions but we’re still accountable for the number?

Then we were set up to fail. That’s why the work starts before day one. That’s why every step, from the interview, to week one, to month six, has to be focused on building the right system, with the right mandate, and the right people.

Because at the end of the day, the board doesn’t care who was responsible.

They just want to know who’s accountable.

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