Companies across all stages are rethinking how they structure their go-to-market teams.
One shift is becoming increasingly common:
The CMO is taking over what used to be the CRO’s job.
This is not about downplaying the importance of sales. It is about recognizing that many of the operational aspects of revenue forecasting, pipeline tracking, quota management, and sales dashboards are now handled by RevOps and AI.
What remains is strategic ownership of growth. And the person already driving demand, defining messaging, and managing the buyer journey is often the best fit to lead it: the CMO.
Historically, companies divided growth responsibilities into two tracks.
The CMO focused on brand, campaigns, and demand generation.
The CRO focused on sales targets, forecasting, and revenue operations.
This structure worked when:
Forecasting was manual
Sales processes were highly relationship-driven
Marketing was seen as a top-of-funnel support function
That structure does not reflect how most modern companies operate, especially in digital-first or marketing-led environments.
With the right infrastructure in place, many responsibilities previously assigned to a CRO can now be handled by systems and operations teams.
Forecasts segmented by region, product, or team
Lead scoring and routing
Pipeline health tracking
Sales performance analytics
Customer expansion and churn risk detection
These tasks no longer require executive ownership. They require reliable data, strong RevOps leadership, and smart automation.
Modern CMOs do far more than build awareness. They shape positioning, generate pipeline, and connect messaging across the buyer journey.
In many companies, the CMO already:
Leads demand generation
Defines go-to-market positioning
Oversees campaign strategy and execution
Partners closely with sales and product teams
Provides sales enablement tools and competitive insights
When marketing is already responsible for most of the pipeline, and when sales execution is supported by automation and analytics, there is little reason to split leadership between two executives. Consolidating ownership improves speed, accountability, and alignment.
This approach benefits companies at all stages, but it becomes critical in fast-moving environments. It is especially relevant for:
Startups building lean go-to-market teams
SaaS companies with short sales cycles and high marketing contribution
Digital-first businesses with self-directed buyers
Teams adopting AI and RevOps early in their growth
Even larger companies are beginning to consolidate leadership under one revenue owner. Many are finding that separating marketing and sales leadership creates more friction than focus.
More companies are moving toward a model like this:
The CMO owns pipeline and revenue targets
A VP of Sales reports to the CMO
RevOps manages forecasting, attribution, and systems
AI supports deal prioritization, coaching, and performance insights
The CRO title may still exist in some organizations, but the function is increasingly integrated into a unified go-to-market engine led by the CMO.
If your company is debating whether to hire both a CMO and a CRO, here is our view.
You do not need two executives to lead the same customer journey. You need one leader who can align brand, demand, and revenue under a single strategy. That leader is often your CMO.
We help companies build that model. One message. One strategy. One team responsible for growth.
If this sounds like the structure your business is moving toward, we would be happy to have a conversation.