License to SaaS: GTM Leadership in Transition

The Client

Our client is a B2B enterprise technology company specializing in data infrastructure and hybrid cloud solutions. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company delivers advanced tools for data storage, management, and analysis to both midsize businesses and global enterprises.

Their offerings span a wide array of capabilities—including AI, big data, cloud infrastructure, machine learning, and enterprise storage systems—and are organized into four main product categories: storage platforms, data management, integrated systems, and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS).

As a wholly owned subsidiary of a major public company, the client plays a critical role in shaping next-generation data solutions across highly complex IT environments.

The Challenge

The client was embarking on a strategic business model shift—from legacy on-premise software licensing to a fully subscription-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. This transition required not only a reimagining of how products were sold, but also a complete overhaul of their go-to-market (GTM) approach.

To lead this transformation, the company needed an experienced interim executive with a proven track record of:

• Driving SaaS transitions in enterprise software environments
• Designing and implementing GTM strategies for B2B software organizations
• Aligning cross-functional leaders across sales, marketing, and customer success
• Orchestrating workstreams involving salesforce redesign, quota structures, incentive planning, and customer education

Our Approach

We conducted a targeted search for senior strategy and GTM executives with deep experience in SaaS transformation and commercial model design.

Search priorities included:

• Backgrounds in enterprise software, particularly companies undergoing a shift from perpetual to subscription licensing
• Functional depth across GTM, sales strategy, revenue operations, and change management
• Demonstrated success in aligning teams, systems, and incentives to support SaaS goals
• Strong communication skills and the ability to operate in interim, high-impact roles

Given the client’s technical sophistication and organizational complexity, we emphasized candidates who had led enterprise-scale change across multiple business units and global teams.

The Placement

The selected candidate brought unparalleled experience in SaaS transformation and GTM leadership:

• Successfully led multiple transitions from perpetual licensing to SaaS across multinational software and IT organizations
• Designed and implemented new GTM models, including redefined territories, revised quotas, subscription-aligned compensation plans, and customer education strategies
• Reorganized sales forces to align with SaaS objectives, trained teams on selling value-based subscriptions, and developed dashboards to track key SaaS performance metrics
• Supported spin-offs and business unit transitions within large tech companies, ensuring alignment across marketing, sales, and customer success

His experience, ranging from GTM design to execution, made him uniquely capable of guiding the organization through this high-stakes transformation.

The Outcome

The interim GTM lead quickly embedded himself within the executive team, bringing structure and clarity to a highly complex transformation effort spanning marketing, sales, sales operations, and finance. The engagement required not only strategic insight, but also hands-on coordination across functions and stakeholders.

Drawing on lessons learned from prior SaaS transitions, he helped unify the organization around a clear GTM roadmap—balancing strategic priorities with executional detail. Early traction included the redesign of the sales organization, development of subscription-aligned compensation models, integration of finance into territory and quota planning, and alignment of marketing with new customer engagement strategies.

To drive accountability and transparency, he also introduced robust KPI frameworks and business intelligence dashboards to monitor progress across teams. His experience proved critical in helping the organization navigate complexity, avoid common missteps, and accelerate toward a scalable SaaS model.