Copy Vanta's Revenue Engine Framework to Grow beyond 100M in Revenue (ARR)

Stevie Case, Chief Revenue Officer at Vanta, has an impressive track record. Under her leadership, Vanta has scaled to over 10,000 customers and surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) within five years. With a background as a professional gamer and a deep understanding of strategy, resource management, and human psychology, Stevie has applied her competitive mindset to building one of the most efficient revenue engines in the SaaS industry.

In this article, we’ll break down Stevie’s actionable advice for founders looking to make a predictable revenue engine. Whether you’re just starting or scaling your startup, these insights will help you create a repeatable, scalable, and data-driven sales process that drives long-term growth.

You can also listen to the full episode as a podcast.

Master Discovery: The Most Important Skill for Founders

Stevie Case emphasizes that the single most important skill for founders is discovery—the ability to ask insightful, open-ended questions to uncover potential customers' true pain points. She explains, “The best founders I meet are incredible at discovery. They ask second- and third-level questions to deeply understand why customers are willing to pay for their product.”

Discovery is not just about identifying surface-level problems; it’s about quantifying their impact on a customer’s business. Stevie highlights that customers only buy for three reasons: to increase revenue, save money, or reduce risk. Founders must dig deep to understand which of these drivers motivates their customers.

Actionable Steps:

1. Ask Open-Ended Questions: For example, “What happens if you don’t solve this problem in the next year?” or “How does this issue impact your business operations?”

2. Use a Framework Like MEDDIC or MEDPIC: Focus on understanding the customer’s pain and quantifying its impact in dollars, time, or risk.

3. Listen Actively: Avoid “happy ears,” where you only hear what you want to hear. Instead, challenge assumptions and dig deeper to uncover the truth.

By mastering discovery, you’ll validate your product-market fit and lay the foundation for a scalable sales process.

Focus on Repeatability Before Scaling

One of the most prominent mistakes founders make is diversifying too early. Stevie warns, “You want to keep your first channel going longer than you think. If your channel is good and your ICP (ideal customer profile) is clear, it should take you much further than just $3–10 million in ARR.”A predictable revenue engine starts with a single, repeatable process.

For Vanta, search engine marketing (SEM) provided a steady stream of inbound leads. Stevie explains, “We knew exactly how much each lead cost, how many leads converted to opportunities, and how many opportunities became closed deals. That math was repeatable.”

Actionable Steps:

1. Define Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP): Identify the segment of customers who experience the most acute pain your product solves.

2. Stick to One Channel: Focus on a single lead generation channel, such as SEM, outbound sales, or events, until you've fully optimized it.

3. Measure Key Metrics: Track customer acquisition cost (CAC), conversion rates, and payback periods. An ideal payback period is less than one year.

By focusing on repeatability, you’ll build a solid foundation that can scale without breaking.

Hire the Right Sales Team and Incentivize Them Properly

As your revenue engine matures, you must build a sales team to scale your efforts. However, Stevie cautions against common mistakes, such as hiring based on shiny logos or failing to provide proper incentives. “Just because someone worked at Google or Slack doesn’t mean they’ll succeed in a startup environment,” she says.

Stevie recommends starting with at least two sales reps to create a comparison point and foster healthy competition. She also advocates for a 50/50 compensation plan, where 50% of earnings come from base salary and 50% from variable commission. “Good salespeople perform when they’re incentivized properly,” she explains.

Actionable Steps:

1. Hire Entrepreneurial Salespeople: Look for candidates who are scrappy, independent, and motivated by both equity and commissions.

2. Set Clear Goals: For early sales hires, focus on simple targets, such as acquiring a specific number of customers, rather than complex quotas.

3. Reward Overperformance: Allow salespeople to earn above their on-target earnings (OTE) if they exceed their goals.

Building a motivated and capable sales team will ensure that your revenue engine continues to grow efficiently.

Quantify and Optimize Your Revenue Engine

A predictable revenue engine is defined by its math. Stevie explains, “If you can describe the math of your sales process—how many leads convert to opportunities, how many opportunities convert to deals—you have a predictable revenue engine.”At Vanta, this meant understanding the cost of acquiring leads through SEM, the conversion rates at each stage of the funnel, and the average deal size. Once you’ve nailed the math for one channel, you can add additional “engines,” such as new customer segments, geographies, or products.

Actionable Steps:

1. Track Metrics Across the Funnel: Measure lead generation costs, conversion rates, and average deal sizes.

2. Expand Gradually: Add new channels or customer segments once your first engine is optimized. For example, Vanta expanded from startups to growth-stage companies and enterprises.

3. Diversify Revenue Streams: To reduce risk, aim to have at least four independent revenue engines by the time you go public.

Quantifying your revenue engine allows you to scale with confidence and predictability.

Avoid the Trap of Success: Keep Iterating

As your revenue engine matures, the biggest challenge is avoiding complacency. Stevie calls this the “golden handcuffs of success.” She explains, “When you have a revenue machine working, there’s a temptation to keep doing what you’re doing. But the only way to stay in hypergrowth is to refine and iterate constantly.”

For Vanta, this meant transitioning from a transactional sales approach to a value-based one. Instead of simply pitching features, the team focused on uncovering customer pain points and quantifying the ROI of solving them.

Actionable Steps:

1. Create a Feedback Loop: Regularly gather insights from your sales team and customers to refine your approach.

2. Adopt a Value-Based Sales Model: Focus on solving customer pain points and quantifying the impact of your solution.

3. Experiment Continuously: Test new channels, products, and sales strategies to stay ahead of the competition.

By fostering a culture of continuous improvement, you’ll ensure that your revenue engine remains agile and scalable.

Final Thoughts: Simplify and Focus

Stevie’s parting advice for founders is simple yet powerful: “Simplify the mission of every person on the team. Give them one goal and measure them against it consistently. If you do that, you can’t go wrong.”

Building a predictable revenue engine is a journey, not a destination. By mastering discovery, focusing on repeatability, hiring the right team, and constantly iterating, you’ll create a sales process that drives sustainable growth for years.

You can also listen to the full episode as a podcast.