How Rungway Hired Its First Revenue Leader Ahead of Private Equity Investment

Rungway Revenue Leader Case Study

As Rungway prepared for its next stage of growth and future private equity investment, the business partnered with Oakstone International to appoint its first-ever revenue leader. During the search, the brief evolved from seeking sector expertise to prioritising proven start-up leadership experience. Oakstone refined the search strategy accordingly, securing a commercially hands-on leader capable of winning enterprise customers while building the foundations of a scalable revenue organisation.

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

I’m Hiring

Oakstone International are a specialised SaaS executive search and recruitment firm assisting companies globally. If you are looking for executive search assistance or would like to speak to a Divisional Director about future hiring assistance in EMEA, the US or APAC, contact Oakstone.

I’m Job Seeking

As a SaaS client-driven firm, we work exclusively for clients to find people with a specific set of skills and experience.

However, if you would like to submit your CV, it will be passed on to our divisional directors, and we will consider you for future roles that are appropriate to your background and goals.