How to Build a Revenue Engine That Doesn't Break as You Scale | Navin Persaud of 1Password

Have you ever wondered why GTM teams break as they scale? You can do all the “right” things (or what you think are the right things) and still hit a wall. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. 

In this episode, Ross sits down with Navin Persaud, VP of Revenue Operations, at 1Password, to break down the 3 most common reasons GTM teams struggle as they grow and how you can build one that doesn’t. 

Navin brings over 20 years of experience building and scaling revenue teams at high-growth SaaS companies and shares plenty of insights you won’t want to miss.

Listen to the episode here, and get the key takeaways from our conversation below.

1. Lacks a Strong Foundation

Navin equates building an organization to building a house. You can’t build on a shaky foundation or you’ll pay for it later.

“When you want to layer other things on top of your foundation, and it’s not sturdy, it will break,” says Navin. “You have to think of your go-to-market systems and processes as a house you’re building. Your product-market fit is that amazing view you’ve found. You need a strong foundation because if it’s weak, it doesn’t matter how pretty it is on top — it’s going to fail. It’s going to cost you money, cause you pain, and eventually that view won’t save you.”

So what does that actually look like in practice?

• Product-market fit has to come first: You can’t “fix” a weak product with better systems or RevOps. If the core product isn’t there, no amount of process or tooling will create sustainable growth.
• Infrastructure should follow real complexity, not precede it: The right time to invest in systems, CRM, and process is when your business is actually scaling (more reps, more regions, more SKUs). Not before.
• GTM and product need to scale at the same pace: When product innovation outpaces go-to-market (or vice versa), things break. The foundation only works if both sides grow together.

2. Confuses Innovation with Progress

It’s easy to feel like you’re falling behind when there’s a new AI tool, feature, or “must-have” platform every week. But more tools don’t automatically mean more progress.

“Vendors and their solutions exist to solve my problems, not the other way around,” Navin says. “I need to know that I have a problem first. Show me the pain. Then we can talk about features.”

That mindset shift matters more than ever right now. Because chasing innovation without a clear reason is one of the fastest ways to slow your team down.

• Start with the problem, not the tool: Just because something is new (or better) doesn’t mean you need it. If you can’t clearly define the problem it solves, it’s probably not worth the disruption.
• Account for the true cost of change: Switching tools isn’t just a line item, it’s time, training, and lost momentum.  “It’s quite possible [your solution] may be 20% better than the tech I’m using today, but will I lose 40% of runway in a year to make that a reality? Those are the hard choices RevOps leaders have to make, but not on their own,” explains Navin. 
• Make decisions as a team, not in a silo: The best teams evaluate investments together, across sales, enablement, and marketing because every change impacts how the entire GTM engine runs.

3. Automates What Should Be Human

There’s no question — AI is all the hype right now. And with it comes pressure to do more with less. In some cases, that makes sense. In others, it can actually do more harm than good.

“The sales year is 52 weeks. There’s a limited amount of time where we can implement and influence results,” says Navin. “If you’re building for the future, fine. But you can’t sacrifice the present. 

That’s where a lot of teams get it wrong. In the rush to adopt new tools, they lose sight of what actually drives outcomes.

“I think there’s a volume and value separator here,” Navin explains. “There are amazing use cases for AI when it comes to high-volume tasks — things you just can’t support with humans at scale. That absolutely makes sense. But you have to ask: where does human interaction actually matter most? Because that’s where you need to invest. Human interaction must win.”

That distinction of volume vs. value is what separates teams that scale efficiently from the ones that unintentionally erode their customer experience. 

When it comes to AI, here are three tips for how to use it: 

• Use automation to handle volume, not moments that drive outcomes: AI is incredibly effective for repetitive, high-volume work. Examples include routing inbound, answering basic questions, capturing notes, or surfacing insights. But when a deal gets complex, or a customer needs guidance, automation shouldn’t replace real judgment. 
• Be intentional about where humans step in: Not every customer needs the same level of support. The long tail can (and should) be supported with automation. But as deal size, complexity, or risk increases, that’s where human interaction becomes critical. 
• Don’t overlook the handoffs between AI and people: Every GTM motion is a series of handoffs. And every handoff is a chance for something to drop. If the transition from automation to a human isn’t seamless, you lose context, momentum, and trust. The teams that get this right think carefully about how those transitions happen, not just what gets automated.

About Navin

Navin is the VP of Revenue Operations at 1Password, where he leads efforts to streamline systems and processes, and optimize GTM strategy through cloud-based infrastructure, solution selling, and data-driven decision making.

To learn more about Navin or connect with him directly, follow him on LinkedIn. 

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