Field notes · Chris Schafer
The Bird’s Eye.
Notes from the seat. What I see when a leadership team has stopped agreeing on the problem, what fixes it, and what almost never does. Written for CEOs, founders, and boards across the Greater Toronto Area and beyond.
The Cluster
The field notes. One operating point of view.
Brand pillar · About
Chris Schafer. Interim President for B2B SaaS.
Twenty-five years leading go-to-market across industries. NetSuite from $30M to $1B. ImportGenius to its largest revenue quarter. Now the operator companies bring in when the leadership team stops agreeing on the problem.
Chris Schafer9 min read
Industry Observations
Canada exports the wood and buys back the drumstick.
I bought 48 oak drumsticks off Amazon. Made in China. The customs trail said the wood was Canadian. A Canadian maker cannot buy that raw oak for what the finished stick costs. The value capture problem, and the rule that fixes it.
Chris Schafer8 min read
Sales & Revenue Ops
The best teams use AI to understand the customer.
86% of buyers prefer a seller who gets their goals. 59% say most reps never try. AI just removed the excuse, and the best teams are using it to make conversations stronger, not more robotic.
Chris Schafer8 min read
Sales & Revenue Ops
The buyer did not go dark. They went past you.
Two thirds of B2B buyers want no sales rep in the process, and almost all of them research with AI. But half doubt what it told them. The HELP method is how a seller gets back into the room.
Chris Schafer8 min read
GTM Turnarounds
Most companies hunt for revenue in the wrong place.
When the number gets critical, everyone chases new logos and the accounts that are leaving. The fastest revenue is usually already in the building, hiding in plain sight as frequency. Where to actually look.
Chris Schafer7 min read
Leadership
Where leaders actually figure out AI.
The ones who feel calm about AI are not reading the most about it. They are in a room with their peers. The behavioral science of why peer groups beat headlines, from social comparison to psychological safety.
Chris Schafer8 min read
Leadership
How to become a great conversationalist.
We get fewer conversations than we used to, and most people are worse at them than they think. Three questions, backed by the science, that flip you from making statements to asking the questions that make you great.
Chris Schafer7 min read
Leadership
Knowledge got cheap. Judgment did not.
A machine can out-inform anyone in the room now. The leaders who win are the ones who ask the best questions, see the truth fastest, and move people. The human skills that decide it, and why they matter more now, not less.
Chris Schafer7 min read
GTM Turnarounds
Profit is the anesthetic.
A company can be profitable and stalled at the same time. The cash hides the stall until the year is gone. The five things profit conceals, and the one move that has to come first.
Chris Schafer7 min read
Leadership
How to hire an Interim President in the GTA.
What to look for, what to avoid, and the three questions that separate an operator from a consultant. For Toronto CEOs and boards.
Chris Schafer7 min read
Leadership
Fractional CRO or Interim CRO. Which one do you need?
They are not the same role. One advises. One owns the seat. Picking the wrong one costs a quarter you cannot get back.
Chris Schafer6 min read
Sales & Revenue Ops
When founder-led selling stops scaling.
The signs are obvious if you know where to look. The cost is most of next year if you do not. Five patterns I see in week one.
Chris Schafer7 min read
Sales & Revenue Ops
Selling to the educated buyer.
Buyers show up knowing more than your rep expected, and it is stalling deals, not closing them. The behavioral reason why, and the four-move HELP sequence that accelerates them.
Chris Schafer8 min read
Leadership
A mentor who has already survived a change this big.
The best guide through the AI transition is not the AI expert. It is the operator who crossed a change this size once, when the internet rewrote how business gets sold and served.
Chris Schafer8 min read
GTM Turnarounds
Why B2B SaaS revenue plans keep missing.
Three patterns I see in week one. None of them are about effort. All of them are about what the team agreed to.
Chris Schafer7 min read
GTM Turnarounds
Preparing your B2B SaaS for a capital event.
The twelve-month GTM readiness checklist. What buyers actually diligence, what kills valuation late, and the work that has to happen before the bank gets hired.
Chris Schafer8 min read
When you need the seat filled
Make the revenue plan believable again.
If the leadership team has stopped agreeing and the number keeps slipping, the right move is not another consultant. It is an operator who owns the seat.
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