Rungway Revenue Leader Case Study

Rungway partnered with Oakstone International on a retained basis to appoint its first revenue leader following senior executive hires and ahead of private equity investment. As the brief evolved from sector pedigree to true start-up experience, Oakstone refined the search and secured a hands-on sales leader with a proven track record building revenue functions in early-stage HR SaaS businesses, capable of closing deals personally while laying the foundations for scalable growth.

Company Background

Search Background

Requirements

The Challenge

The Result

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Company Background

• Rungway was founded in 2014 by Julie Chakraverty

• HQ in London, UK

• Total Funding £3M

• Specialising in Employee Listening Platform (HR Tech)
  

Search Background

• Rungway’s founder wanted to accelerate her vision for the company by taking on PE investment

• Rungway has since hired a CEO, CFO and CPO, and they were looking to hire their first revenue leader to build a sales engine

• An existing relationship with Rungway’s PE investors led to an introduction between Rungway and Oakstone.

• A retained agreement saw the Oakstone team work exclusively on this role.

Requirements

• Rungway was looking for a revenue leader with extensive start-up experience to build a repeatable revenue stream and value proposition.

• Rungway was focused on finding someone who could individually close deals whilst building out their team and then work on broader strategic initiatives.

The Challenge

• The initial search targeted revenue leaders at HR software companies in EMEA; however, the search changed when Rungway realised that start-up experience was more important.

• The collaborative, ongoing refining of the specification caused the search process to be longer than normal as different candidate profiles were required for the change in criteria.

The Result

• Rungway hired a revenue leader who had worked with two previous HR-focused UK SaaS start-ups at a similar stage of growth to Rungway.

• This individual had a strong focus on enterprise sales

• What does a first revenue leader typically do in an early-stage SaaS business?

  A first revenue leader is responsible for both execution and foundation-building, including:

  • Closing enterprise deals personally

  • Defining early go-to-market strategy

  • Building pipeline discipline and forecasting

  • Hiring the first sales team members

  • Shaping the value proposition and commercial messaging

• How can Oakstone support start-ups hiring their first GTM leader?

  Oakstone is in a particularly strong position to support start-ups hiring their first GTM leader because this hire is rarely “just another sales role.” It’s often the most critical inflexion point in a young SaaS company’s growth journey.

  • Help founders define what they need before they need to hire.

  • Identify the right leadership.

  • Access the right GTM talent, which startups struggle to attract.

  • De-risk the hire through rigorous assessment

  • Support founders who have never hired GTM leadership before

  • Advice on compensation, equity and market benchmarks

  • Build long-term partnership beyond the first hire