This is a profile image of Paul Roche

Paul Roche

Senior PartnerBay Area

Leads McKinsey’s global Software Practice, advising online and IT services companies on go-to-market, performance-improvement, and M&A strategy

As the global leader of McKinsey’s Software Practice, Paul serves a variety of online, IT services and high-tech companies. He specializes in go-to-market, pricing and service operations. Paul also advises companies on corporate strategy, including M&A and the integration and separation processes.

His recent work includes:

  • putting in place new pricing approaches and structures to improve margin and adapt to software and services industry changes
  • developing a new CRM and digital analytics platform to help predict future purchasing behavior for a global online retailer
  • leading reorganizations and lean process redesign efforts for several high-tech companies to inject accountability into the organizations at a lower cost
  • advising multiple Fortune 100 companies on the divestiture of business units to reshape their portfolio and improve performance; supporting companies in separation, value capture and post-deal strategies
  • spearheading post-merger integration in finance, sales and marketing, and other functional areas

Paul joined McKinsey in 1992 and has served high-tech companies in the software, hardware, IT services, and storage subsectors.

Published work

From product-led growth to product-led sales: Beyond the PLG hype,” McKinsey & Company, August 2023

The art of software pricing: Unleashing growth with data-driven insights,” McKinsey & Company, June 2023

Cracking the code on digital talent,” McKinsey & Company, April 2023

Private equity turns to resiliency strategies for software investments,” McKinsey & Company, March 2023

Growth sprouts for SMEs in e-commerce,” McKinsey & Company, June 2022

SaaS and the Rule of 40: Keys to the critical value creation metric,” McKinsey & Company, August 2021

Unleashing developers’ full talents: An interview with Twilio’s CEO,” McKinsey & Company, April 2021

The next software disruption: How vendors must adapt to a new era,” McKinsey & Company, June 2020

Advanced analytics in software pricing: Enabling sales to price with confidence,” McKinsey & Company, June 2018

"Introducing customer success 2.0: The new growth engine," McKinsey & Company, January 2018

Past experience

AT&T Bell Laboratories
Software designer, Member of Technical Staff

Education

University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School
MBA and Palmer scholar

Stanford University
MS in electrical engineering

Cornell University
BS in electrical engineering