25 yrs SaaS GTM · NetSuite IPO → Oracle · ImportGenius President

Fractional CRO. GTM turnaround operator.

I work with founders, CEOs, and boards when revenue is breaking and the team needs a fix, not a deck. Two engagement models. Embedded daily as an interim leader, or part-time alongside your exec team.

Book a strategy call ↗ How I work
Chris Schafer, fractional CRO and GTM turnaround operator

Chris Schafer

Fractional CRO · GTM Turnaround
25 yrs
Inside SaaS GTM
NA · APAC
$30M → $1B+
NetSuite arc
Mid-market to enterprise
$9.3B
Oracle acquisition
Inside the full arc to exit
Record Q
ImportGenius, as President
Largest in company history
01 · What I do

I fix broken revenue orgs.

Companies don't usually have one problem. They have three layered ones. Operations is dragging. People are misaligned. The brand isn't telling the right story. From 10,000 feet it looks like a revenue problem. On the ground it's all three at once.

That's where I come in. I've spent 25 years building and running GTM teams across SaaS, from NetSuite's growth through IPO and the Oracle acquisition to running President-level operations at ImportGenius. I see the system, not just the symptoms.

Most engagements start with a 30-minute fit call. If we're a match, we move quickly.

"The right intelligence is already in the room." My operating principle, every engagement
Operations
"The cadence is off. Decisions stall. Forecast keeps missing."
Symptom layer one. Looks like a process problem.
People
"Sales and CS are pointing fingers. The exec team isn't aligned."
Symptom layer two. Looks like a people problem.
Brand & story
"The website says one thing. Sales says another. The market hears a third."
Symptom layer three. Looks like a marketing problem.
Underneath
All three are the same broken revenue system. Treating them separately won't fix it.
That's the work.
02 · When companies call me

Revenue is breaking and the team can't see why.

What I see most often:

  • 01Pipeline is moving but close rates are dropping and no one can explain it.
  • 02The sales team is missing forecast three quarters in a row.
  • 03Customer success and sales are pointing fingers about churn.
  • 04A new product launched and revenue didn't move.
  • 05The brand says one thing, the sales team says another, the website says a third.
  • 06The PE board is losing patience and the CEO needs a credible operator in the seat now.

None of those are sales problems by themselves. They're system problems. That's what I'm built for.

03 · How I engage

Two ways to work together.

Embedded daily
or part-time alongside
Engagement model 01

Embedded turnaround.

Short-term, full-time interim role. I step in as fractional CRO, interim revenue leader, or interim President depending on what the company needs. I work alongside your executive team every day until the org is stable, the GTM motion is fixed, and you have a successor ready.

Commitment
Full-time, daily presence
Length
Short-term, defined by scope
Best for
Revenue is breaking now
Structure
Monthly retainer, defined end
Engagement model 02

Executive team coaching.

Part-time engagement. I coach your CEO, CRO, founders, or full exec team on the operating decisions that are stuck. Weekly or biweekly cadence. Best for companies that have the right people in seat but need outside pattern recognition.

Commitment
Weekly or biweekly
Minimum
3 months
Best for
Right people, decisions stalling
Structure
Per-quarter pricing
Book a strategy call ↗ See how I work Not sure which one fits? Book a call and we figure it out.
04 · Background

25 years operating, building, and turning around SaaS revenue orgs.

I spent over a decade at NetSuite as one of the key global leaders through its growth from $30M to over $1B in revenue, including its IPO and the Oracle acquisition. I built and ran multiple verticals and led teams across North America, Asia, and Australia through that growth.

Most recently I served as President at ImportGenius. Today I run OnDemand Leaders with my wife Elisha, and I co-authored the HELP Operating System.

Early 2000s
NetSuite. Enterprise GTM build.
Joined as one of the early global leaders. Built and ran enterprise sales across North America targeting mid-market and enterprise.
~$30M ARR
2007
NetSuite IPO
Inside the public offering. Continued expanding GTM operations across NA into APAC. Australia, Singapore, Manila.
NYSE: N
2010s
NetSuite. Global expansion.
Led global teams across three continents. Built and ran multiple verticals through the path past $1B in revenue.
Crosses $1B
2016
Oracle acquires NetSuite
The acquisition closed. One of the largest enterprise SaaS deals of the decade. I was inside the full arc from $30M to exit.
Oracle acquisition
Recent
ImportGenius. President.
Led an 18-month B2C-to-B2B transformation. Rebuilt the GTM motion. Realigned the leadership team. Delivered the largest revenue quarter in company history.
Largest quarter ever
Now
OnDemand Leaders + HELP
Fractional CRO and GTM turnaround operator. Co-author of the HELP Operating System. Based in the Greater Toronto Area, serving NA and APAC.
Today
05 · The operating system

HELP. The method behind the work.

HELP stands for Hear, Evidence, Learn, Proceed. It's the operating system I use for the conversations that drive every decision in a turnaround. Calm. Logical. Effective.

It scales. A two-minute hallway exchange. A weekly forecast call. A board meeting. A six-month engagement. Same four steps.

01

Hear

Full attention, not partial input. Skip it and you train the team to escalate just to be heard.

Read more →
02

Evidence

Separate what you know from what you assume. The diagnosis cracks at the spot you treated a story as a fact.

Read more →
03

Learn

Recognition over instruction. The team gets sharper when they pull the pattern from their own past, not yours.

Read more →
04

Proceed

Surface the options. Don't name the winner. The team gets a decision either way. Only one version gets conviction.

Read more →
Sales managers

Use HELP to run forecasts that hold.

AEs

Handle objections without losing the deal.

CS leaders

Keep accounts when the relationship is wobbling.

Execs

Make the call when the data is incomplete and the room is tense.

Learn the HELP Operating System ↗ Download the one-pager
06 · What people say

From the people who reported directly to me.

"

Each of us has had one person who saw our potential and gave us what we needed to go from good to great. For me, that was Chris. His ability to develop a team while keeping the revenue engine moving is genuinely rare.

KV
Kristen Visser
Former direct report · NetSuite
"

I reported directly to Chris when he led our sales organization. He has the experience to build real growth strategies. And the discipline to make them stick. He is simply the real deal.

NJ
Nicole James
Former direct report · NetSuite
07 · Recent thinking

Where the buyer changed and the playbook didn't.

From LinkedIn
2,555 followers
CS
Christopher Schafer
Interim C-Suite Operator · GTM Turnaround & Scaling Expert
1w · Public

Auditing Gong calls and web meetings is tough to stomach. Reps are gripping a manual that no longer exists. Running the script. Following the discovery framework someone built in 2019. And losing.

2019 didn't have Claude. 2019 didn't have a buyer who watched your demos, read customer reviews, and had an AI generated competitor matrix at their finger tips, before the call was even booked. The world the playbook was written for is gone.

The reps winning right now are not better at scripts. They are better at real conversations. Curious from the start. Genuinely curious until it is time to be prescriptive. And knowing exactly when that shift happens. Timing recognition.

You don't earn the right to be prescriptive by reaching the right slide in the deck. You earn it by listening hard enough that the buyer feels heard. Then you can proceed.

#GTMStrategy · #RevenueLeadership · #HELPOperatingSystem · #FutureOfSelling
Read the full post on LinkedIn →
08 · Let’s fix it

Revenue is breaking. Let’s fix it.

If you’re a founder, CEO, or board member watching the numbers slip and the team spin, the first conversation is free. I’ll tell you what I see, what I’d do, and whether we’re a fit. No pitch deck.

Book a strategy call ↗ Send a direct message

Greater Toronto Area · serving NA & APAC