The Company: Series C fintech company, 200+ employees, expanding into new markets. Needed a Chief Revenue Officer to lead GTM strategy and scale the sales organization.
The Challenge: Role had been open for 8 months Internal referrals exhausted, no strong candidates Board pressure mounting, revenue targets at risk Required someone with enterprise sales experience + startup agility + fintech domain knowledge Compensation expectations misaligned with market reality How We Partnered: We didn't just post the JD and source candidates. We rebuilt the role from scratch.
What we did:
1. Reframed the competency map: Shifted focus from "fintech experience required" to "B2B SaaS sales leader who can learn fintech"—opened up a much stronger talent pool
2. Targeted passive executives: Focused on VPs of Sales at late-stage startups who were ready for the CXO step but weren't actively looking
3. Repositioned compensation: Showed market data proving their initial offer was 20% below market for this profile. Restructured equity component to make total comp competitive
4. Managed the process: Coordinated interviews across 3 time zones, facilitated reference checks with former colleagues, advised on final negotiation strategy
The Outcome:
28 days from engagement to offer acceptance (not 8 months) Presented 4 highly qualified candidates, all worth interviewing The hired CRO is now driving expansion across 3 new markets Promoted to the executive committee within 12 months Built and scaled a sales team from 8 to 35 reps Company hit 150% of revenue target that year
Key Insight: Most executive searches fail because the role definition is wrong, not because the talent doesn't exist. We fixed the input before optimizing the output.

The Company:
Mid-market B2B services company, 180 employees, growing 40% YoY. Needed to scale hiring across multiple departments simultaneously.
The Challenge: Hiring outcomes were inconsistent—some great hires, frequent mis-hires No structured process—every role felt like starting from zero Hiring managers had no interview training or evaluation framework CEO spending 40% of his time on hiring firefighting 18-month retention was only 68% (industry benchmark: 85%+) Time-to-hire averaged 52 days (too slow for growth pace)
How We Partnered:
We didn't just fill their open roles. We rebuilt their entire hiring system.
What we did:
1. Standardized competency frameworks across departments (what does "good" actually look like for each role?)
2. Created interview scorecards so every hiring manager was evaluating candidates consistently
3. Trained hiring managers on structured interviewing and unconscious bias
4. Built talent pipelines for recurring roles (sales, engineering, customer success) so we weren't starting from scratch each time
5. Embedded weekly syncs to maintain momentum and course-correct quickly
5. Established feedback loops to learn from every hire (what's working, what's not)
The Outcome:
Time-to-hire dropped from 52 days to 16 days (3x faster) Hiring manager satisfaction went from 61% to 96% 18-month retention jumped from 68% to 89% CEO now spends <5 hours monthly on hiring oversight (down from 40+ hours) Filled 32 roles across 8 departments in 6 months The system is now self-sustaining—they can hire confidently even when we're not actively engaged
Key Insight:
Most companies don't have a "finding candidates" problem. They have a "evaluating and deciding" problem. We fixed the system, not just the symptoms.

The Company:
Post-Series A SaaS startup, 18 employees, preparing to scale aggressively after fundraise. Needed to build engineering, product, sales, and ops teams simultaneously.
The Challenge:

• Aggressive growth targets: 18 to 50 employees in 90 days
  
• Zero margin for error—every mis-hire would delay product timelines
  
• Founder bandwidth completely maxed (fundraising + product + existing team management)
  
• Needed to hire across 5 different functions at once
  
• Limited employer brand (small startup, not well-known)
  
• Competing with larger companies for the same talent
  

How We Partnered:
We deployed as their full talent acquisition team.
What we did:

1. Created parallel pipelines across all 5 functions (engineering, product, sales, ops, marketing)
   
2. Used AI-sourcing to generate 10x candidate volume, then applied rigorous human vetting to protect quality
   
3. Coordinated all interview scheduling so the founder wasn't bogged down in logistics
   
4. Positioned the opportunity around impact and growth (not just compensation) to compete with bigger brands
   
5. Managed offer negotiations and onboarding logistics end-to-end
   
6. Maintained weekly strategy syncs with the founder to adjust quickly based on what was working
   

The Outcome:

• 27 hires in 75 days (ahead of the 90-day goal)
  
• All high performers—no regretted hires at 12-month mark
  
• /b>100% of engineering hires are still with the company after 18 months
  
• Founder stayed focused on product and fundraising (not drowning in hiring)
  
• The team they built took them to Series B ahead of schedule
  
• Company now has in-house recruiters, but we still handle leadership and specialized roles
  

Key Insight: Speed doesn't have to compromise quality. It requires system discipline, parallel processing, and refusing to shortcut the vetting stage.

The Company: Established auto components manufacturer, 800+ employees across 3 facilities. Family-owned business transitioning to professional management. Needed a VP of Operations to modernize production and drive operational excellence.
The Challenge:

• Role vacant for 11 months with zero viable candidates
• Required rare combination: manufacturing expertise + digital transformation mindset + change management capability
• Previous two internal hires had failed
• Traditional compensation structure unattractive to high-performers
• Cultural resistance to "outsider" leadership

How We Partnered:
We treated this as a strategic headhunting assignment, not a posting-and-sourcing exercise.
What we did:

1. Mapped competitive intelligence: Identified 12 target companies (automotive Tier-1 suppliers) and profiled their operations leaders
2. Reframed competency profile: Shifted from "auto components required" to "process manufacturing + lean/Six Sigma + digital transformation"—opened up adjacent industries
3. Built direct outreach strategy: Leveraged warm referrals through industry associations to reach passive candidates
4. Repositioned the opportunity: Focused on transformation impact rather than compensation
5. Restructured compensation: Added performance-linked variable pay tied to operational KPIs

The Outcome:

• 42 days from engagement to offer acceptance (not 11 months)
• Presented 3 finalists—all with proven operational transformation track records
• The hired VP (former Plant Head at Tier-1 supplier) has:
  • Implemented lean manufacturing (OEE improved 68% to 84%)
  • Reduced cycle time by 22%, defect rates by 35%
  • Built high-performing ops team and navigated cultural transition successfully
• Still with company after 20 months (strong retention in high-churn industry)

Key Insight: Hard-to-fill leadership roles require headhunting discipline, not job posting strategies. Success comes from targeted research, relationship building, and reframing opportunities for passive candidates.