RevOps is the engine that keeps modern businesses moving. However, too often, it’s misunderstood, undervalued, or mistaken for “just sales support.”
In this episode of Go-To-Market, Amy Cook sits down with Emme Thacher, VP of Revenue Operations at Beam Benefits, to uncover what RevOps really looks like when you’ve built it across industries as varied as finance, SaaS, and healthcare.
Emme has seen it all, and she’s here to spill what works, what doesn’t, and why RevOps is never a one-size-fits-all playbook.
If you think RevOps is just about dashboards and data hygiene, think again. This conversation is a masterclass in building influence, scaling smarter, and proving why RevOps leaders are the glue that holds go-to-market strategy together.
Here are some interview highlights:
Amy: Let’s start with your background. How did you get into revenue operations?
Emme: I’ve been in RevOps for nearly my whole career. I started at a large bank, where optimization and organization were critical, though progress was slow because of regulation and hierarchy. I’ve also worked across multiple industries: finance, manufacturing, SaaS, healthcare, and insurance, supporting B2B, B2C, and even B2B2C models.
Currently, I’m at Beam Benefits, which provides ancillary insurance for small businesses. I joined about six or seven months ago to build out RevOps and grow an incredible team.
Amy: With all that experience, how transferable are RevOps skills across industries?
Emme: It’s a mix of common threads and big differences. For example, RevOps looks very different when supporting transactional versus strategic sales.
In transactional sales, you focus on scale through data enrichment, cadencing tools, and quick insights. In strategic sales, conversations might take months, so you need conversational intelligence, stakeholder mapping, and deal progression tracking. Both are essential, but they require different tools, metrics, and enablement strategies.
Amy: I imagine your level of ownership is also very different now.
Emme: Definitely. Early in my career, I was hired mostly for my hours. Now I’m hired for the expertise I bring and how I choose to spend those hours.
Amy: What advice would you give someone starting out at a place like Goldman who wants to follow your career path?
Emme: Pay close attention to detail, but don’t get lost in it. Ask “why” and “how will this be used?”—that curiosity will get you into the right conversations. Recognize that grunt work offers exposure across the company. Few roles give you such a wide view. Lean into creativity and critical thinking. With AI automating so much, those skills are becoming your differentiator.
Amy: What else helped shape your path?
Emme: I’ve had both great leaders who supported me and tough ones who pushed me into responsibilities I wasn’t ready for. In hindsight, those challenges accelerated my growth. In RevOps, you often report to leaders who don’t know what RevOps is. You have to define your role and advocate for the value you bring.
