Listen: Most CROs are salespeople. Vanta's CRO says that's changing

• By 2028, CROs must shift from human-capacity-first to systems-first.
  • Fewer than 10% of current CROs can make this transition.
  • Next-gen CROs come from growth, RevOps, GTM engineering — not sales.
• Most founders hire early sales on resume prestige. Wrong signal.
  • Hire hunger and entrepreneurial instinct over logo pedigree.
  • She calls the archetype: “Renaissance rep.”
• Vanta’s interview filter: how candidates own mistakes, not just wins.
  • “Midwest Assassin” profile — outsider mentality, grinding work ethic.
• Technical fluency becomes table stakes for revenue leadership.
• Upcoming: ex-Snowflake CRO Degnan, ex-Stripe CTO Singleton on same show.

Stevie Case (Vanta CRO, ex-Twilio sales leader, ex-pro gamer), interviewed by Brett Berson (First Round Partner) · 2026-02-22 · Read on review.firstround.com