#113 How to Earn Your CFO’s Trust – with Stephen Diorio, Author of "Revenue Operations"

Stephen Diorio, author of "Revenue Operations" and a go-to-market strategy veteran with decades of experience — from co-founding one of the first GTM strategy firms in 1993 to serving as a Gartner analyst — joins Janis and Philipp to unpack the math of growth. Stephen explains why the financial systems behind most B2B organizations fundamentally fail to measure what actually drives revenue, and how RevOps can close the gap between what the business spends on growth and what it actually gets back.

We cover:

• Why traditional accounting treats all go-to-market spend as expense — and why that's fundamentally wrong

• Growth assets: databases, brands, digital channels, content — and why no one measures their value

• The bow tie model: what it captures, what it misses, and why the back end is where CFOs get scared

• Why a third of closed deals originate from actions taken 12–18 months earlier

• The 25 post-booking variables that can double or halve lifetime customer value

• Why "cost to sell" has 100 definitions across 100 companies — and none are right

• The dark funnel and LLM search: why 90% of the buying process is invisible

• Forward-looking vs. backward-looking signals: product telemetry, adoption, and renewal prediction

• The nine customer behavior changes that every growth investment ultimately drives

• Why documenting assumptions — not just measuring outcomes — is the key to continuous improvement

• Treatment models and customer experience: why no one can answer "what does a good CX cost?"

• Share of wallet and account penetration: the massive untapped opportunity most orgs can't quantify

Stephen Diorio on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-diorio-1339011/

Revenue Operations (Book): https://www.amazon.com/Revenue-Operations-Stephen-Diorio/dp/1119871115

Weflow: https://www.getweflow.com

RevOps Chat Community: https://getweflow.com/community

RevOps Letter: https://www.getweflow.com/revopsletter

Janis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janiszech

Philipp on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philippstelzer

Chapters:

(00:00:00) Introduction

(00:00:32) Stephen's Background & Why He Wrote the RevOps Book

(00:02:45) The Math of Growth: Why It's One Big Equation

(00:03:25) Growth Assets: Brands, Data, Channels — and Why No One Values Them (00:05:10) Why Financial Accounting Fails Go-To-Market

(00:07:10) Cost to Sell: 100 Companies, 100 Definitions

(00:09:35) Walking Through the Bow Tie: Top of Funnel to Post-Sale

(00:11:40) Why We Overplay Conversion Rates and Underplay the Dark Funnel (

00:13:00) The Back End of the Bow Tie: Where CFOs Get Scared

(00:15:10) Reliable Cash Flow as the North Star Metric

(00:16:00) Account Penetration & Share of Wallet: The Untapped Opportunity

(00:18:10) Treatment Models: What Does a Good Customer Experience Actually Cost?

(00:20:05) Reliable vs. Accurate Revenue: Why Sandbagging Kills Forecasting

(00:22:30) The Scientific Method: Document Assumptions, Then Test and Adjust

(00:26:35) Dark Funnel, LLM Search & Why 90% of Buying Is Invisible

(00:30:05) Forward-Looking Signals: Product Telemetry and Adoption Data

(00:32:05) The Nine Customer Behavior Changes That Every Growth Investment Drives

(00:35:25) Brand as an Asset: Touch Points, Awareness, and Future Option Value

(00:37:05) Book Recommendation: The Goal by Eli Goldratt