Capital, Leadership & Velocity: New Data on What Drives Efficient Growth in Funded Businesses

The results from our latest poll series on capital, leadership, and hiring velocity reveal how funded businesses are prioritising commercial capability, decisive leadership, and proactive hiring to drive efficient growth post-raise.

As investment-backed businesses face increasing pressure to demonstrate efficient growth, the decisions made immediately post-raise have never carried more weight. A recent poll series reveals a striking consensus: commercial execution trumps operational expansion, decisive leadership matters more than domain credentials, and hiring velocity is planned, not reactive. 

The data, gathered across four critical decision points, paints a clear picture of how growth-stage businesses are thinking about capital allocation, team building, and scaling strategy as we approach 2025. For founders raising capital and investors evaluating their portfolio companies, these insights offer a roadmap for what separates efficient growth from expensive expansion. 

Here’s what the data shows, and what it means for businesses navigating the next phase of growth. 

Commercial Leadership Unlocks Growth Faster Than Headcount 

When asked what unlocks growth fastest after a funding round, respondents sent a clear signal about where capital should flow first:
 

• 43% identified strong GTM leadership as the primary growth driver 

• 29% pointed to new market entry 

• 14% cited product team expansion 

• 14% selected ops/process overhaul 

Combined, 72% of respondents prioritised commercial capability – either through GTM leadership or market expansion – over internal operations or product development.  This reflects a fundamental shift in how funded businesses are thinking about growth. The expectation is no longer that capital automatically translates into headcount across all functions. Instead, the focus is on commercial orchestration: building the GTM engine that converts investment into pipeline, revenue, and repeatable customer acquisition. 

Strong GTM leadership means more than hiring a commercial director. It means establishing ICP clarity, defining a repeatable sales motion, instrumenting the funnel, and creating the operating rhythm that allows the business to learn and adjust quickly. Without this foundation, adding product capacity or operational infrastructure simply scales complexity rather than revenue. 

New market entry came in second, but it’s notable that this was prioritised over product expansion. This suggests that leaders see more opportunity in geographic or segment expansion with existing product than in building new features without proven distribution. 

What this means for founders: Capital should flow to commercial capability first. Before expanding product teams or overhauling operations, ensure you have the GTM leadership and discipline to convert investment into measurable commercial outcomes. When speaking with investors and partners, lead conversations with clarity on your ICP, your repeatable motion, and the commercial leadership you’ve secured or are building. 

What this means for investors: Portfolio companies that struggle post – raise often have the sequence wrong – they’ve built product or operational capacity without the commercial infrastructure to absorb it. The businesses that scale efficiently establish GTM discipline first, then expand thoughtfully into new markets or product lines. 

Scaling Outside Hubs: Pragmatism Over Ideology 

When asked how they approach hiring when scaling outside major hubs, respondents revealed a pragmatic, blended approach: 

• 33% said they use remote teams 

• 33% said they expand through partners 

• 22% hire locally 

• 11% delay until later 

The equal split between remote teams and partner expansion is telling. Leaders are no longer defaulting to local hiring as the first step when entering new markets. Instead, they’re balancing speed, cost, and local credibility through hybrid models. 

Remote teams offer velocity and capital efficiency. They allow businesses to access talent quickly without the overhead of establishing local entities or navigating unfamiliar hiring markets. For many functions – product, engineering, data, marketing – remote models are now standard.

Partner expansion offers something different: local trust, market knowledge, and faster activation in regions where relationships and regulatory complexity matter. For businesses entering EMEA, LATAM, or APAC markets, partners can provide the credibility and local presence that remote teams alone cannot deliver. 

Local hiring still has a role, but it’s increasingly a follow-on decision rather than a first move. Leaders hire locally when traction justifies the investment, not as an upfront bet on market potential. 

What this means for founders: Have a clear view on how you’ll scale outside your current geography. Investors and partners will ask about cost-to-revenue efficiency and local credibility. A hybrid model – remote teams for core functions, partners for market activation, selective local hires where traction exists – answers both questions and demonstrates capital discipline. 

What this means for senior leaders: If you’re building teams outside major hubs, design your operating model intentionally. Define what functions work remotely, where partners add strategic value, and at what revenue threshold local presence becomes necessary. This isn’t compromise, it’s a design choice that balances speed, cost, and market fit. 

The Executive Hiring Bar: Decisive Leadership Over Everything 

When asked what they look for when hiring senior team members, respondents delivered the most emphatic signal in the entire series: 

• 83% identified leadership and decision-making as the number one requirement 

• 8% cited AI/data fluency 

• 4% pointed to relevant domain expertise 

• 4% selected cross-border experience 

Eighty-three percent. No other factor came close. 

At growth inflection points, the ability to make clear decisions quickly matters more than technical pedigree, industry background, or tool fluency. This isn’t to say domain expertise doesn’t matter – it does. But at senior levels, judgment under uncertainty, clarity of thought, and speed of execution separate good hires from transformational ones. 

Leaders who can reduce time-to-decision, establish clear operating mechanics, and compress feedback loops create disproportionate value. They don’t wait for perfect information. They assess, decide, communicate, and adjust based on outcomes. In fast-moving environments, this decisiveness compounds. 

The low score for AI/data fluency is worth noting. It’s not that these capabilities are unimportant – they’re increasingly table stakes. But they’re amplifiers of good leadership, not substitutes for it. The best executives use data to inform decisions, but they don’t outsource judgment to algorithms or dashboards. 

What this means for founders: When pitching your executive team to investors or partners, frame capabilities in terms of decision velocity and operating discipline. Talk about cadences, dashboards, kill-switches, and how your leadership team compresses learning loops. Credentials matter less than demonstrated judgment and speed of execution. 

What this means for hiring leaders: Optimise interview processes to assess decision-making under ambiguity. Use case studies, scenario planning, and reference checks focused on how candidates have made difficult calls with incomplete information. Look for evidence of clarity, speed, and the ability to mobilise teams around decisions. 

Hiring Velocity: Planned, Not Reactive 

When asked how soon after a funding round they start hiring, respondents revealed a clear preference for proactive, staged hiring over reactive scrambling: 

• 29% start before the deal closes 

• 29% hire within 3–6 months 

• 24% hire immediately after close 

• 18% wait until pain hits 

The combined 58% who hire either before close or within three to six months signals that leaders are treating hiring as a strategic activity, not a reactive one. They’re pre-planning priority roles, defining hiring milestones, and moving quickly to avoid post-raise latency. 

Starting before close reflects a sophisticated approach: identify the critical gaps that will determine success, build candidate pipelines, and move as soon as capital is available. This avoids the 60–90 day lag that comes from starting searches after the raise. 

The 3–6 month window allows for a calibration period. Leaders use the first quarter to assess what’s working, what’s breaking, and where the next bottleneck will appear. Then they hire with precision rather than volume. 

Only 18% wait until pain hits. This minority approach is reactive and expensive – it means hiring under pressure, paying premium fees, and often bringing people into broken systems rather than building the right infrastructure from the start. 

What this means for founders: Build a Day 0–90 hiring plan and a Day 90–180 contingency plan tied to leading indicators. Define what roles unlock growth (typically GTM leadership and critical product/engineering hires), and move decisively. Then layer in follow-on hires based on traction signals like win rates, ramp time, and CAC payback. This balances speed with discipline and avoids both over-hiring and decision drag. 

What this means for investors: Portfolio companies that hire reactively – waiting until systems break or opportunities are missed – burn capital and time. The best – performing companies have hiring roadmaps that align to business milestones, not headcount targets. 

The Integrated Story: What Growth-Stage Leaders Should Take Away 

The data from this poll series tells a coherent story about how investment-backed businesses are thinking about growth as we approach 2026:
 

Capital flows to commercial capability first
GTM leadership and market entry outpace product expansion and operational build-out. The expectation is that investment translates into revenue through disciplined commercial execution, not headcount volume.
 

Scaling outside hubs uses blended models
Remote teams and partner expansion are equally favoured approaches, with local hiring following traction rather than leading it. This reflects pragmatism over ideology and a focus on capital efficiency.
 

Executive hiring prioritises judgment and speed
Leadership and decision-making capability matters far more than domain expertise, cross-border experience, or technical fluency. At senior levels, the ability to make clear decisions quickly is the most valuable trait.
 

Hiring velocity is planned, not reactive
Leaders are mapping hiring to milestones and moving proactively, with nearly 60% hiring either before close or within six months. Reactive hiring is the minority approach. 

For founders, investors, and senior leaders navigating the next phase of growth, this data offers a clear framework for evaluating growth strategies and investment priorities. 

What Founders Should Communicate to Investors and Partners 

If you’re raising capital or engaging with investors and strategic partners, here’s the narrative that will resonate: 

We’ve prioritised commercial leadership early. Our focus is on ICP discipline, repeatable GTM motion, and decision velocity across the executive team. Capital is flowing to the functions that convert investment into measurable revenue outcomes. 

We’re scaling pragmatically outside hubs. We use remote teams for speed and efficiency, and we partner strategically for local trust and market activation. Local hires follow proof of traction, not thesis. 

Our executive hiring bar is judgment and pace. We assess candidates on their ability to make clear decisions under uncertainty and compress feedback loops. AI and data fluency are expected, but judgment leads. 

Our hiring is staged and milestone-driven. Priority roles were pre-vetted before close. Follow-on hires are tied to revenue milestones and payback windows in the first 3–6 months. We don’t wait for pain to force decisions.
 

What Investors Should Look For in Portfolio Companies 

For investors evaluating portfolio companies or new opportunities, the data points to clear markers of efficient growth: 

Is commercial capability leading the build? Companies that scale successfully establish GTM discipline first. Product and operations follow once the commercial motion is proven and repeatable.

Is the scaling model capital – efficient? Blended approaches – remote plus partners, then selective local hires – demonstrate thoughtful capital allocation. Pure local expansion without proof is expensive and risky.

Does the executive team demonstrate decision velocity? Businesses that move quickly and decisively create compounding advantages. Look for evidence of clear operating cadences, rapid feedback loops, and leaders who can make calls with incomplete information.

Is hiring tied to milestones or emotions? The best companies hire proactively against a plan. Reactive hiring signals weak operating discipline and often results in expensive mistakes. 

Risks to Watch 

While the data points to clear priorities, there are risks worth calling out: 

Over-indexing on GTM without product readiness
Commercial leadership only works if the product is ready to scale. Use activation metrics, expansion triggers, and feature adoption data to ensure GTM learnings feed back into product development.

Partner dependence without internalisation plans
Partners are valuable for market entry, but define contribution ceilings and plan to internalise the motion where LTV and data justify it. Over-reliance on partners can limit control and margin.

Remote team coordination drag
Remote models require intentional operating discipline. Codify cadences, decision frameworks, and communication norms to avoid drift and misalignment.

Hiring too fast without calibration
While proactive hiring beats reactive scrambling, businesses that hire too quickly without validating product-market fit or GTM repeatability burn capital on the wrong roles. 

Final Thoughts 

The data from this poll series reinforces a central truth about efficient growth: capital allocation, team building, and scaling strategy are not reactive – they’re designed. The businesses that win post-raise are the ones that establish commercial discipline first, hire executives for judgment and speed, scale pragmatically outside hubs, and plan hiring against milestones rather than pain. 

For founders engaging with investors, partners, and potential hires, this is the moment to demonstrate that discipline. The market is looking for clarity, velocity, and evidence that you’re building a business, not just scaling headcount. 

The playbook is clear. The execution is hard. But the businesses that get this right – that prioritise commercial capability, hire decisively, scale efficiently, and plan proactively – are the ones that turn investment into enduring value. 

Insights from Chris Preston, CEO Zeren & Renoir. Chris leads the global teams at Zeren and Renoir, bringing over 20 years of experience building teams, brands, and businesses. He has partnered with clients around the world to deliver permanent, interim, and consulting solutions.