Business schools don’t teach revenue operations. That’s a problem when it’s one of the fastest-growing functions in modern organizations.

Taylor Thomson discovered this gap firsthand. After studying political science and economics at Davidson College, he moved through financial services and marketing technology roles without finding formal training for the cross-functional work he was doing. Traditional finance education didn’t cover it. Sales training missed the broader picture. Marketing courses ignored the operational infrastructure.

The solution came from an unexpected source: Pavilion, an invitation-only community of revenue executives. Thomson completed two of their programs—Revenue Operations Summer School in 2021 and the Rising Executives Course in 2022. These represented some of the only systematic training available for a job that barely existed five years ago.

“The biggest thing was understanding how to build a successful forecasting model and really drive outcomes,” Thomson explains. Revenue forecasting in complex organizations requires understanding how marketing activities influence pipeline months later, how sales cycles vary by deal size, and how client success affects expansion revenue. His professional development through these specialized programs filled gaps that traditional business education couldn’t address.

The Revenue Operations Summer School focused on building forecasting models, driving outcomes, developing operational cadence, and hiring RevOps talent. These aren’t topics covered in MBA curricula. They represent the connective tissue between functions that traditional org charts keep separate.

The six-month Rising Executives Course went deeper: developing a theory of business, building teams, understanding revenue channels, aligning revenue organizations, and storytelling with data. The curriculum explicitly addresses challenges that mid-level executives face when transitioning into strategic leadership roles.

For Thomson, who now leads revenue operations at WITHIN, these programs provided frameworks his undergraduate education and early career didn’t cover. He learned how to think across domains at Davidson. He learned how different business functions operate through work experience. But nobody taught him how to build infrastructure connecting these functions into coherent systems. Taylor Thomson’s recognition in Denver’s business community reflects how this combination of diverse experience and specialized training creates value.

This points to a larger problem in professional education. As business roles evolve faster than academic programs can adapt, professionals increasingly need alternative training sources. Pavilion represents one model: practitioner-led programs teaching skills that matter right now rather than waiting for universities to update their curricula.

The economics make sense too. Thomson’s Pavilion programs cost a fraction of an MBA while providing more directly applicable skills for revenue operations work. The community aspect also matters—connecting with peers facing similar challenges creates ongoing learning beyond any single course.

For professionals trying to move into revenue operations roles, Thomson’s path suggests seeking specialized training rather than expecting traditional degrees to cover these topics. The function is evolving too quickly for academic institutions to keep pace. Taylor Thomson’s work at WITHIN’s Denver headquarters demonstrates how this combination of unconventional education and practical experience produces results.

Organizations hiring for RevOps roles should look for Pavilion credentials or similar indicators of systematic training in the specific challenges these positions address. The alternative—hiring traditional finance people and hoping they figure out cross-functional coordination—rarely works. His documented methods for building revenue infrastructure show the value of specialized training combined with diverse experience.