Our Story

Built for Technology Leadership Since Day One

Since 1998, we have focused on leaders who envision, build, and scale breakthrough technology products and services, or who lead technology transformations in global businesses.

While some search firms sought to become large generalists catering to high-flying international boards and CEOs, we built a boutique dedicated to the world’s most outstanding leaders of engineering, product, and design (EPD). We partnered early with the pioneers of rules-based algorithm-intensive software companies working in areas such as supply chain optimization, internet search, recommender systems, and fraud detection. That decision helped define the firm. It still does.

We also developed a disciplined way of operating to quickly earn trust in high-stakes hiring situations: the first VPE at a venture-backed company, a CPO restoring order after rapid growth, or a CTO modernizing global infrastructure under public scrutiny.

Rather than publishing aspirational values, we let our work speak for itself. Since 1998, our approach has been tested repeatedly by founders, investors, and boards with little margin for error. We believe sustained positive outcomes over time are the clearest evidence of sound operating principles.

A Long-Term Focus on AI & Applied Technology

Our work in AI is not recent positioning. It’s our history.

From the early 2000s onward, we partnered with companies building what are now considered core AI capabilities, from machine learning systems to large-scale data intelligence. Our first AI leadership placement at Google happened in 2006, when AI was still largely talked about as “search relevance” or “ranking” rather than a standalone function.

As AI matured, so did the brief. We supported companies building neural networks, deep learning capabilities, and foundation models. We’ve worked with clients across AI infrastructure, HardTech and AI applications in areas like climate, health, productivity and consumer.

Today, more than 80% of our recent searches are for AI-related leadership roles. We continue to recruit executives who can bridge advanced research and commercial utility applying AI in real products, under real constraints, at real scale.

This is why AI is not a bolt-on message for us. It’s an extension of what we’ve done for decades.

How We Work

What unites our work across venture, private equity, and corporate clients. It’s the standard we hold ourselves to.

We Specialize

We focus on Engineering, Product, and Design leadership. This is not a side offering. It’s the core of the firm.

We Stay Involved

Searches are partner-led. Senior people stay on the work. We do not pitch with one team and deliver with another.

We Are Research-Led

Roughly 30% of the firm is dedicated to research. That means we complement our ever growing network with original research. We actively map, interrogate, and source from across the market, including leaders other firms miss.

We Provide Structure

In venture, that means helping a first-time founder run their first executive search. In PE, that means giving investors a defensible, scorecard-driven shortlist tied to the value creation plan. In corporates, that means translating board-level pressure into an actual leadership profile that will succeed inside the organization.

We Measure Outcomes, Not Activity

8.8/10 avg. customer satisfaction (last 12 months’ results)

24 days avg. to identify the placement (last 12 months’ results)

90% of placements retained beyond one year (last 3 years’ results)

Let’s discuss your key leadership needs.