Revenue Operations
Building Commercial Engines Inside Operations
Operations teams sit closer to revenue than most leaders realise. The question is whether anyone is willing to measure it — and own it. Vicky Bansal did. The result: $17M+ in annual revenue impact built entirely within an operations function.
The Signature Story
The Four Intern Experiment — $15M from an idea leadership declined.
In 2016, Vicky identified a prospecting and catalogue management opportunity that could generate direct revenue. He took the business case to leadership. The response: not a priority. No budget. No timeline. Most leaders would have moved on.
Using discretionary budget within his own operations function, he hired four interns and built a proof of concept. The six-month pilot worked. He returned to leadership with results, not projections. The investment followed. Four interns became 10 FTEs and one manager — a dedicated capability with its own mandate, processes and metrics.
That team grew to become the $15M+ PPL revenue engine. A capability that did not exist before Vicky decided to bet four interns on an idea that leadership had declined.
"The revenue opportunity was always there. It just did not have an owner."
The Principle
Revenue Operations beyond sales.
Identify the commercial mechanism
Every operational function — prospecting, support, moderation, vendor management — has latent commercial value. The first step is identifying the mechanism that converts operational activity into revenue.
Build the case with minimal resources
Test the hypothesis before asking for full investment. Start with what you can fund from existing budget. Generate proof before asking for more. The Four Intern Experiment cost four intern salaries.
Scale what works, measure everything
Once the mechanism is proven, scale it with the same rigour as any product launch. Set baselines, measure against them, and report results in commercial terms — not operational metrics.