Meet BetterCloud’s New Chief Revenue Officer, Meric Turkoglu

Our new Chief Revenue Officer Meric Turkoglu brings nearly 20 years of experience driving revenue growth at enterprise giants and high-growth startups. With a proven track record of leading winning sales teams in fast-growing markets, it’s no surprise he describes his approach as “all gas, no brakes.”

And he’s not slowing down anytime soon. We sat down with him to discuss the massive opportunity ahead, the sales culture he’s creating, and his vision for accelerating BetterCloud’s next phase of growth.

Meric holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Santa Clara University and an MBA from John F. Kennedy University. 

Tell us about your background. 

I was born and raised in Turkey. I studied mechanical engineering—I come from a line of engineers in my family—but I was envious of my friend who studied business. So after I got my MBA, I worked in the restaurant business for many years, but eventually I pivoted to sales. 

I’ve spent the last 18 years in sales, building and scaling vertical sales teams across six different tech companies. Most recently I came from Informatica, where I built and ran a high-velocity go-to-market (GTM) motion across all digital sales and scaled all business development teams. The company went through a successful IPO in 2021. 

Prior to Informatica, I was at Proofpoint, where I ran GTM during an incredible hypergrowth phase right after they went public.

What attracted you to BetterCloud? 

It starts with our founder/CEO, David [Politis]. A founder/CEO has a different level of ownership, pride, and passion for the business, which I found very appealing. The total addressable market size is huge as well. There’s certainly a lot of room to capture market share, because there’s a universal need for efficient, secure user lifecycle management.

We are facing economic headwinds, and there are a lot of things outside our control, but we have an amazing company with a distinct value proposition. I’m a true believer that the best opportunity comes when people least expect it.

When money is free flowing and every company is doing well, that’s not where the most exciting opportunity is. The biggest opportunity is one where you can stand out from the crowd.

What excites you the most about the opportunity here? Why is it an exciting time to be in the SaaS management space? 

In terms of BetterCloud, we have the right people, the right culture, and the right focus in place to build something very special.

In terms of the SaaS management market, SaaS adoption has accelerated wildly in recent years. But in this uncertain economic environment, IT is facing pressure to be more efficient with their time and resources. As a result, the ability to automate user lifecycle processes and day-to-day operations across the entire SaaS stack is a huge opportunity for IT. Our value really resonates. Boosting operational efficiency and employee productivity are all priorities for companies right now, and it creates a massive opportunity for us.

What are your ambitions for the CRO role?

As CRO, I oversee all global efforts for the sales, business development, channel, account management, and value and solution engineering teams. 

BetterCloud is the clear market leader in SaaS management platforms, and as a company, we want to continue our dominance. We’ll accomplish that by providing predictable revenue through accelerating growth. We want to deliver maximum stakeholder value, both externally to customers and investors, and internally to our own people as well. 

To do that, we have to create a culture of accountability and operational discipline, so we can continuously improve what we do. Operational discipline means doing the right thing every day—and doing it right the first time. A lot of people don’t do that because it’s hard.

But if we get into an operational rhythm where we do the right things consistently, that is the key to growth and properly scaling. Everything needs to be about scale.

In these times of economic uncertainty, the role of CRO is more important than ever. We have to find the opportunity by identifying, quantifying, and delivering distinct and differentiated value. Our value proposition aligns directly with the strategic needs of our customers: maximizing operational efficiency and accelerating employee productivity. We’re not selling software. We’re getting people to buy value.

What qualities do you value in a salesperson?

First, honesty and integrity. Are you willing to do the right thing, regardless of the consequences? 

Number two: Grit and attitude. Do you have the drive to succeed? Sales cycles have ups and downs. Do you have a resilient, positive attitude to persevere through challenging times?

Next, common sense. Do you have common sense to stay organized and help people around you, both down and across the organization? 

And finally, curiosity. The best salespeople ask the right questions to really discover and understand a customer’s needs, and in turn identify the maximum value BetterCloud can deliver. Curiosity drives them to ask powerful questions.

You’ve said your goal is to lead a “learning environment” that is fueled by teamwork. Can you share more about your leadership philosophy with us? 

If you’re not constantly learning, someone else is—and they’re passing you by. You always have to continuously improve yourself: how you sell, how you deliver value to customers. 

Teamwork fuels this learning environment. When you learn from each other and work together, you get an amplified effect, like 1+1 = 3. There is nothing we can’t achieve as a team. That’s how we’re going to continue dominating the SaaS management space. 

What’s the best sales advice you ever received?

My motto, both personally and professionally, is “Control what you can.” 

It’s easy to get bogged down by what you can’t control and make excuses and blame others. What’s hard is taking ownership. But if you do, you’ll rise to the occasion.

What do you do in your free time?

I either work or work out. It’s true that objects in motion stay in motion. I’m a big runner, and I also do CrossFit, triathlons, and archery. This year I started boxing as well. I love spending time with my wife and our 2-year-old hunting dog. We love to travel and explore new places, and we’re huge foodies.

You can read our press release announcement here.