Zach Strauss
Operator, GTM architect, and author. I build cash-flowing companies and the revenue systems that make them grow, and I write and speak about how it actually works.
I did not start in a corner office. I started carrying a quota.
Fortune 500 enterprise sales taught me the lesson that still shapes everything I do: revenue is built on human decisions, not dashboards. You can have the best product and the cleanest funnel and still lose, because someone on the other side did not trust you yet. That is where I learned to pay attention to the part of selling the spreadsheets miss.
From there I went and built. I founded, scaled, and exited companies of my own, three so far, one to private equity and two strategic, with four Inc. 5000 honors along the way. Each one taught me a different piece of the same craft: how to turn a go-to-market motion into a system, how to read a pipeline, and how to know when a business is worth holding and when it is worth selling.
Today I operate a private portfolio of companies and work directly with a small number of founders and revenue leaders as a fractional CMO, fractional CRO, and advisor. I treat revenue the way an investor treats a portfolio, a set of mechanisms you can measure, weight, and rebalance, which is also the subject of my forthcoming book, Revenue Portfolio Theory.
I am based in Columbus, Ohio, where I live with my family. When I am not in the work, I am usually on a golf course, thinking about probability, or trying to be home for dinner.
A few ways the work shows up.
Operating
Building and holding a private portfolio of cash-flowing companies, with the discipline to sell the ones worth selling.
Advising and leading
Fractional CMO, fractional CRO, and advisory work with a small set of founders and revenue leaders.
Writing and speaking
Revenue Portfolio Theory, plus keynotes and workshops on revenue, AI, and how buyers decide.
For event organizers and media
Grab a bio, the facts, and assets below. For interviews, podcasts, or stages, reach me at [email protected].
Short bio
Copy readyZach Strauss is an operator, GTM architect, and author. He has founded, scaled, and exited three companies and earned four Inc. 5000 honors. Today he operates a private portfolio and works with founders and revenue leaders as a fractional CMO, fractional CRO, and advisor. He is the author of the forthcoming book Revenue Portfolio Theory.
Long bio
Copy readyZach Strauss is an operator, go-to-market architect, and author based in Columbus, Ohio. He began his career in Fortune 500 enterprise sales, where he learned that revenue is built on human decisions, not dashboards. He went on to found, scale, and exit three companies, one to private equity and two strategic, and to earn four Inc. 5000 honors. Today he operates a private portfolio of cash-flowing businesses and works directly with a small number of founders and revenue leaders as a fractional CMO, fractional CRO, and advisor. He approaches growth the way an investor approaches a portfolio, a set of revenue mechanisms to measure, weight, and rebalance, which is the foundation of his forthcoming book, Revenue Portfolio Theory, from ClosedWon Press. He speaks to audiences of founders and revenue leaders on revenue strategy, AI-native go-to-market, and the neuroscience of how buyers decide.