🏆 The $1MM / $5MM / $10MM B2B Revenue Playbook
How early-stage B2B teams go from founder-led selling to repeatable, scalable growth.
Whether you’re at $0 or pushing past $10M in ARR, growing net new revenue in B2B requires more than hustle — it takes the right motion at the right stage. This playbook is built for founders, GTM leaders, and early-stage sales teams looking to unlock scalable, repeatable growth fast.
It’s based on field-tested tactics and practical execution — not theory. You’ll get a clear view of what to do, when to do it, and how to build a team that drives consistent results.
We’ve broken it down into five essential parts:
📈 What’s Inside:
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Repeatable Outbound & Expansion Strategies by Revenue Stage
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Team Structure & Key Roles: $1M → $10M
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Tools & Tech Recommendations by Stage
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KPIs to Track Growth
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Common Roadblocks & How to Sidestep Them
1️⃣ REPEATABLE STRATEGIES BY REVENUE STAGE
🔹 $0–$1M ARR: Finding Repeatability
Main Goal: Lock in your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and build an outbound engine.
Sales Motion: Founder-led with early cold outbound, warm intros, and inbound experiments.
Outbound Setup:
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Laser-focus on your niche ICP
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Cold emails + calls; use reply data to iterate fast
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1 BDR can support the founder in outbound
Expansion: Early upsells from power users where possible
Key Metrics:
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Deal size: $10K–$25K
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Close rate: 15–25%
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Sales cycle: 30–60 days
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One founder/rep closing ~$250K–$350K in ARR
🔹 $1M–$5M ARR: Proving the Model
Main Goal: Turn early wins into a repeatable process and start hiring AEs.
Sales Motion: BDR-to-AE model. Still outbound-heavy.
Outbound Setup:
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1 BDR : 1 AE ratio
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Document scripts & cadences
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Locked ICP + persona targeting
Expansion:
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Begin tracking NRR
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Assign CS to renewals and upsells
Key Metrics:
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Quota per AE: $500K+
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3–5 AEs at this stage
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Sales cycle: 45–75 days
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ACV: $25K–$50K
🔹 $5M–$10M ARR: Efficiency + Expansion
Main Goal: Lower CAC, increase NRR, and optimize every motion.
Sales Motion: Outbound + inbound engines firing. Add RevOps + CS-led growth.
Outbound Setup:
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Sophisticated segmentation
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SDRs specialized by region/industry
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RevOps in place to optimize funnel
Expansion:
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Dedicated CS with upsell targets
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Land-and-expand motion for strategic accounts
Key Metrics:
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AEs hitting $750K+ ARR
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CAC payback: <12 months
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NRR: >110%
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AE ramp: <90 days
2️⃣ TEAM STRUCTURE: $1M → $10M
| Stage | Key Roles to Add | Ratio Recommendations |
|---|---|---|
| $0–$1M | Founder-led, 1 BDR | 1 founder : 1 BDR |
| $1M–$3M | 2–3 AEs, 1 CS | 1 BDR : 1 AE |
| $3M–$5M | Add RevOps, Head of Sales | 1 CS : 30–50 accounts |
| $5M–$10M | Mid-mgmt, SEs, MOPs | 1 RevOps : 5–10 reps |
Key Hires in Order:
BDR → AE → CSM → RevOps → Head of Sales → Demand Gen → Sales Enablement
3️⃣ TECH STACK BY STAGE
| Stage | Tools to Use |
|---|---|
| $0–$1M | HubSpot, Apollo/Lemlist, Calendly, Loom |
| $1M–$5M | Add: Outreach/Salesloft, Slack, Gong, ZoomInfo |
| $5M–$10M | Add: Salesforce, Full RevOps Suite, BI tools (Looker), CS tools (Catalyst) |
4️⃣ KPIs TO TRACK BY STAGE
| KPI | $0–$1M | $1M–$5M | $5M–$10M |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACV | $10K–$25K | $25K–$50K | $50K–$75K |
| Quota per AE | N/A | $500K | $750K–$1M |
| Sales Cycle | 30–60 days | 45–75 days | 60–90 days |
| Close Rate | 20–25% | 15–20% | 10–15% |
| CAC Payback | N/A | 12–15 months | <12 months |
| NRR | N/A | 90–100% | 110%+ |
5️⃣ COMMON ROADBLOCKS (AND HOW TO SIDESTEP THEM)
| Roadblock | Fix |
|---|---|
| ❌ Undefined ICP | Run tight win/loss reviews; refine ICP monthly |
| ❌ Reps not ramping fast | Define onboarding + scripts; use Loom to clone best reps |
| ❌ Inconsistent pipeline | Add new top-of-funnel sources; run weekly deal reviews |
| ❌ Poor outbound response | Tighter persona-match messaging; test new openers weekly |
| ❌ No expansion motion | Assign upsell targets to CS; run strategic QBRs |
| ❌ CAC too high | Raise ACV, tighten funnel, bring in inbound to assist outbound |
🚀 Ready to Apply It?
This playbook gives you the roadmap — now it’s about execution.
We’re happy to walk you through the full framework and help identify where your highest-leverage optimizations are. Whether it’s improving rep productivity, tightening outbound, or building out your team structure, we’ll help you plug your numbers into the model and see what’s possible.
🔗 [Book a quick walkthrough here]
📩 Or send your key inputs (deal size, sales cycle, win rate, # reps), and we’ll create a custom revenue projection for you.
Let’s build your revenue engine — one stage at a time.