Case Studies

A partner-led search either changes the trajectory of a business or it does not. The cases below are drawn from real mandates in the sectors we serve — healthcare technology, financial services and fintech, legal technology, and tax and accounting technology.

Client engagements are confidential. Identifying details have been altered, and outcomes are reported with client permission or in aggregate.

Selected mandates

Chief Commercial Officer — Healthcare Technology

A venture-backed clinical analytics company whose enterprise pipeline had stalled, after the previous commercial leader eroded clinical trust with health-system buyers. The board needed a commercial chief the clinical community would take a call from.

Client Challenge:

Enterprise sales had stalled after a commercial leader hired from outside healthcare over-promised to health-system buyers and eroded hard-won clinical trust. The anchor account was up for renewal.

Our Solution:

A confidential search for a commercial chief with genuine health-system credibility — fluent in clinical workflows and known to buyers. The lead partner personally mapped commercial leadership across provider and payer technology, engaged leaders who were not actively looking, and referenced finalists through back-channel conversations with clinical buyers.

Outcome:

An accepted offer inside the board's timeline, the anchor account renewed, and enterprise pipeline rebuilt on credible terms. The hire remains in post.

Chief Compliance Officer — Fintech

A growth-stage payments infrastructure company preparing for sponsor-bank diligence and licensing expansion. The founding-stage compliance function had been outgrown, and the next examiner would notice.

Client Challenge:

The company had outgrown its founding-stage compliance capability at exactly the point sponsor-bank diligence and licensing were intensifying. The wrong hire — either too heavy or too light — would show up in the next examination.

Our Solution:

A first senior compliance hire able to stand up to examiner scrutiny without slowing the business, and willing to build at growth stage. Partner-led mapping spanned sponsor banks, fintech operators and regulatory advisory; candidates were assessed for examination experience and builder mindset in equal measure.

Outcome:

The appointee passed sponsor-bank diligence early in their tenure and gave investors a compliance story that strengthened the next funding round.

CEO Succession — Legal Technology

A private equity-backed legal technology platform mid-way through a founder-CEO transition, with revenue concentrated in clients personally loyal to the founder. Any hint of the search reaching the market would move the numbers.

Client Challenge:

A founder-CEO transition after acquisition, with revenue concentrated in clients personally loyal to the founder. Any leak would damage retention and the sponsor's investment thesis in the same quarter.

Our Solution:

A fully confidential external search run in parallel with internal candidate assessment — one scorecard, no leaks, board alignment across sponsor and independent directors. The market was mapped across adjacent legal and compliance software; the external candidates and the internal contender were benchmarked on identical criteria.

Outcome:

A successor announced with the founder's endorsement, no client attrition through the transition year, and the sponsor's investment thesis intact.

Chief Financial Officer — Tax & Accounting Technology

A growth-stage compliance software company preparing for institutional investment. The board needed its first institutional-grade finance leader — investor-ready reporting, controls, and a credible equity story — on a compressed timeline.

Client Challenge:

Preparing for institutional investment without institutional-grade finance leadership in place. Reporting, controls and the equity story all had to withstand diligence, and the raise timeline did not move.

Our Solution:

A CFO combining SaaS metrics fluency with the rigour of a regulated, compliance-driven market, on a confidential and compressed timeline. Partner-led search across SaaS finance leadership in compliance-adjacent software, with referencing focused on investor-diligence experience.

Outcome:

The appointee led the company through a successful raise and installed the reporting discipline institutional investors expect.

Speak with a senior partner

Every mandate opens with a partner conversation and an Appointment Diagnostic. If a search is not the right answer, we will say so.
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