Execution capability
Execution gap isolated to commercial team through blind consortium scoring
B2B SaaS · Series B
The challenge
The board had attributed the miss rate to market timing and competitive pressure. Internally, engineering, product, and customer success all believed they were executing well. The CEO suspected the issue lay in commercial execution but lacked the data to act without triggering defensive reactions from the sales leadership team.
What Wexler Gray surfaced
Execution Capability scored at 46 overall, but operator scoring showed a stark internal pattern: product, engineering, and customer success all scored above 70, while commercial team execution scored at 29 — a 41-point gap that the overall score had masked
Blind operator assessments independently identified the same root cause: the VP of Sales had built a culture of optimistic qualification that was consistently advancing deals to later stages before they were ready, distorting pipeline visibility and creating predictable late-stage losses
Commercial Clarity scored at 38 in the same cycle — operators noted the sales team could not articulate a consistent ICP or competitive differentiation framework when assessed independently from the leadership narrative
Outcome
The CEO used the Parallel findings as the basis for a restructured commercial review process, implementing stage-gate criteria and a revised forecast methodology. The VP of Sales was placed on a 90-day improvement plan with specific targets tied to forecast accuracy. Execution Capability recovered to 61 in the next cycle.
Engagement brief
Request the full engagement brief.
Available to PE operating teams and portfolio company leadership. The brief covers methodology, operator composition, and the full assessment output.