For Private Equity partners and incoming CXOs, the instinct in a flattening market is to increase sales discipline. CRM hygiene, MEDDPICC enforcement, and dashboard fidelity become the primary focus. The intention is control; the risk is that these systems may be faithfully scaling an unverified buying logic.
A recurring pattern is emerging across portfolio companies:
This is rarely an effort problem. It’s almost always a Decision Logic problem. RevOps is a leverage tool, not a strategy; it amplifies the signal or noise it is given. If the underlying logic is inconsistent, RevOps simply scales the inconsistency.
The shift to a Demand-Side model doesn't mean removing operational rigour; it means repositioning the RevOps Lead from measuring the friction of the 'Product Push' to measuring the velocity of Buyer Progress.
Most GTM systems are optimised for Supply-Side control: stages, exits, and activity thresholds. They assume that once a lead is qualified, progress is linear.
However, modern buyers aren't just evaluating vendors; they are struggling to reconcile internal trade-offs. When a deal is "qualified" but hasn’t moved in months, it is often because the buyer reached an internal "No-Go" months ago without ever formally closing the loop with the seller.
RevOps can show you where a deal is stuck, but it cannot tell you why the buyer stopped.
Operational rigour works best after the buyer's decision logic is clear and repeatable. Frameworks like MEDDPICC assume a buyer who is already internally aligned. In 2026, many buyers are not.
The risk for investors isn’t the investment in RevOps itself; it’s scaling execution before validating that the company’s best customers are buying for the same reasons.
Before funding the next phase of GTM scale, one question mitigates the most risk: Do our best customers share a common way of deciding?.
This requires moving beyond "Why sales thinks we won" to understanding the Struggling Moments, internal tensions, and trade-offs the buyer had to resolve to reach an internal "Project Go". If these patterns are inconsistent, RevOps will faithfully scale that volatility.
This does not require a re-org. A 10-day diagnostic can reconstruct how the best deals actually formed:
If a replicable decision pattern emerges, RevOps becomes powerful leverage. If it doesn’t, scaling activity simply masks the risk for another two quarters.
RevOps doesn’t fail companies; it tells the truth about the logic it is given. The winners in 2026 will be the ones who ensured their GTM systems are scaling buyer decision confidence, not just seller activity.