Background
My first job out of college was as the first salesperson at a technology start-up. I traveled the country, convincing a very antiquated industry that our company had new technology that would change the game. It was fun and challenging, and the company grew from pre-revenue to over $100 million in ARR, with several liquidity events along the way.
Experiencing the start-up environment firsthand was invaluable, teaching me lessons on overcoming adversity, valuing teamwork, creating new categories, and working with a sense of urgency – all skills that are very transferable to executive search.
I randomly met a friend’s father at a baseball game; he was a Partner at Korn Ferry. We kept in touch during my tenure at the start-up and when I was ready for a new challenge, I called him for advice and asked if I could pick his brain about other opportunities in the market – naive to his plan to convince me to consider executive search as a career path. Ultimately, I was fascinated by the broad exposure to various spaces in the technology sector – vastly different from selling one solution or product repeatedly.
I was extremely fortunate to learn from two mentors at Korn Ferry. These Senior Client Partners were extremely generous with their time, teaching me the fundamentals of executive search.
Areas of specialism
Early in my career at Korn Ferry, my primary focus was large public technology companies, almost exclusively in the B2B Software space. These companies were global brands with needs across all functions. Working on engagements for product, engineering, finance, and HR, I realized that sales and marketing were the areas where I wanted to specialize.
Today, I primarily partner with software companies that are growth-oriented, private equity-backed, or venture-backed and mainly in the range from $10 million to $250 million ARR. The common denominator is that the company must be growth-focused and generally mid-market with ambitions of an exit. Partnering with companies in all different spaces over the past 15 years in executive search, I have been fortunate to work up and down the tech stack as the industry has evolved.
Traditional C-Suite engagements such as Chief Revenue Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, and President are not my only focus. I love to work on anything that touches revenue including leaders for RevOps, Customer Success, Alliances/Partnerships, etc that are often a layer down from the C-Suite but nonetheless are all essential cogs in the flywheel of a successful modern SaaS company.
What do you love about your role?
Executive search gives you the opportunity to interact daily with companies and people who are directly driving positive change in the world. It’s the luxury of seeing behind the curtain while helping to influence growth and positive culture change. Every day is like solving a puzzle while getting to meet amazing people.
My landmark placement or client
I have been fortunate to have made over 225 placements thus far in my career. With every engagement, there is optimism for impact, but realistically, a subjective measurement of true success. My favorite clients are the ones whose searches keep me up at night until we find the answer. They see the value we bring as a partner and don’t view us as a transactional vendor.
One client/placement that stands out was an earlier-stage software company (sub $20 million ARR) that was creating a new category in the RPA space. The Chief Executive Officer had big dreams and ambitions, and a vision of how the company would revolutionize a new market. We needed to find a Chief Marketing Officer who shared that vision, someone who would put ego aside and do the work. The Chief Marketing Officer we placed helped build a unicorn. Today, the company is public with revenues exceeding $1.3 billion and remains the undisputed leader in the space.
What does success look like for you in an Executive Search Process?
Executive search is a team sport. It’s imperative that you work with speed and efficiency. The pace is always dictated by the client and usually has a sense of urgency. An important goal is to have identified the likely candidate who will be the answer within the first thirty days after kicking off a project. To do this properly, it is important to have a foundation of research and market understanding before diving into outreach. Knowing the first ten sourcing calls within your personal network, in parallel with organizing the longer list of potential prospects, ensures that you will get off to a quick start. Identifying the right candidates is more important than unorganized high-frequency activity.
The advantage of executive search should be opening or unlocking talent that typically would not engage otherwise. However, because of the years, if not decades, of building strong relationships, the candidate trusts the partner and leans into an exploratory conversation. A successful engagement should have no more than five to eight candidates interviewed by the client. Ultimately, we should kiss all the frogs and only put forward the best potential fits based on our internal interviews and assessments that align with the client’s ideal profile.
What do you see as the greatest opportunity of the next decade?
We are still very much in the early chapters of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. The massive innovations to come will completely change the technology landscape. Functions that currently require numerous employees may be reduced to needing only one manager to oversee an entire group or division. Where human engagement remains necessary, such as in tiered technical support, we’ll likely see continued outsourcing to new geographies like Africa. Additionally, younger generations will fully embrace gig employment and may never adapt back to traditional in-person office culture.
What’s your favorite quote?
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” – Wayne Gretzky