HeadhuntWhat role are you filling?
Strategic context before contact details. We qualify the role before we qualify the lead.
What executive churn actually costs your cap table.
The industry average is 58%. Every departure at VP level or above costs 3× the hire's annual salary — recruiting fees, severance, institutional knowledge, team morale, and the six months of momentum you don't get back. Our reference-back methodology screens for cultural durability, not just competency. The operators we place are built to stay through the next funding round and the one after that.
A single VP departure mid-Series B can delay your close by 60–90 days. Boards notice.
Speed is a strategy when you're mid-fundraise.
When a VP of Engineering vacancy opens during a Series B process, the clock isn't measured in weeks — it's measured in board meetings. Our active network of 2,400+ pre-vetted operators means we're presenting qualified candidates in week one, not week four. We don't post and pray. We call the people who aren't looking, because the best operators never are.
The CFO who's navigated three Series B rounds isn't on LinkedIn. We know where they are.
A track record measured in companies that scaled.
Across 340+ placements, our portfolio companies have collectively raised $2.1B in follow-on capital after placing a Headhunt executive. We track outcomes, not just placements. Every hire goes into a longitudinal database that feeds our next search — what worked at a 40-person Series A in climate tech informs how we approach a 120-person Series B in fintech.
We track every placement for 36 months. Our reputation is only as good as our last hire.
The brief is the
product.
Most executive search firms start with a candidate database. We start with a 90-minute architecture session that produces a brief specific enough that the right candidate recognizes themselves in it.
“They presented three candidates. We hired the second one. She's still our CFO three years later.”
Role Architecture
Week 1Before we open a search, we spend 90 minutes with the hiring team dissecting the role — not the job description, but the actual problem the hire needs to solve. What does success look like at 6 months? At 18? What did the last person in this seat get wrong? The brief that comes out of this session is the document that guides every candidate conversation.
Network-First Sourcing
Weeks 1–2We don't post to job boards. Our 2,400+ operator network is built through 6 years of longitudinal relationship management. We call the CFO who just closed a Series C and ask who in their orbit is ready to lead their first company. We reach the CTO who's been quietly unhappy for 18 months. The best candidates are never applying — they're waiting to be asked.
Reference-Back Methodology
Weeks 2–3We reference candidates before we present them, not after. Every finalist has been spoken to by two former colleagues who reported to them, and two who managed them. We're looking for the gap between how someone presents and how they perform under pressure — at 2 a.m. before a launch, at 9 a.m. before a board meeting.
Structured Close
Weeks 3–4Offer negotiation is where searches die. We manage both sides of the conversation with full transparency — comp benchmarking, equity structure, start-date logistics — so the founder can stay focused on the business. Our 31-day median includes the close, not just the shortlist.
The hires that mattered.
“We lost our VP of Engineering 11 days before our Series B close. I called Headhunt at 7 PM on a Tuesday. They had three qualified candidates on my calendar by Thursday morning. We hired one. The round closed on schedule.”
“Every search firm we'd worked with before brought us people who looked right on paper. Headhunt brought us someone who'd lived it. Our CFO had navigated three down-round scenarios. She saw ours coming before we did.”
“The brief they produced before we'd even agreed on a fee told us more about what we were actually looking for than six months of internal discussion had. That document alone was worth the engagement.”
The 2024 Startup
Hiring Benchmark.
Compensation bands by stage and function. Time-to-hire benchmarks across 12 executive roles. Retention data segmented by search methodology. 47 pages of data your board will ask you about.
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