Best executive search firms for startups and growth companies (2026): who to call, and how they charge
Executive search firms run the search for a VP, a C-level leader or a board director. The usual arrangement is a retained fee for the work of the search. For a startup or a growth company, the useful split is a firm that lives in technology leadership, a firm built for venture-backed companies, and a firm that recruits for the funds behind those companies.
None of these firms publishes a dollar fee. Retained search is the usual model, and the number comes out on a call. For individual engineering, product and sales hires on contingency, use the tech recruiting agencies list. This page is the leadership search.
Key takeaways
- Riviera Partners places product, engineering, IT, AI, data, security and design leaders, and reports 1,800+ clients since 2001.
- Daversa Partners and True Venture Studios work with founders and venture-backed companies. True says its venture practice identifies a placement in an average of 21 days.
- SPMB, Kindred Partners and Bespoke Partners recruit leadership for companies moving from startup to scale, with Bespoke focused on software and SaaS.
- CPI (Career Partners Inc.) is a New York firm that recruits investment professionals and operating leaders for funds and their portfolio companies.
- Ask for the fee, who owns the search, the off-limits list and the replacement terms before the first slate.
Technology leadership search
Use these when the hire is a technical or product leader at a startup or a growth-stage software company. They are retained search firms, and none of them publishes a fee.
Riviera Partners
Executive search firm for technology leadership since 2001, placing product, software engineering, IT, AI and data, security and design leaders. It works with startups, private equity backed companies and public companies, and also runs Paragon for technical team builds. Riviera reports 1,800+ clients.
Best for: CTO, VP Engineering, CPO and AI leadership searches
Fees: Fees not published; contact the firm.
Daversa Partners
Executive search firm that says it works for founders. Its site highlights building the leadership team at OpenAI and shows work across industry, stage and function.
Best for: Founders hiring a leadership team at a venture-backed company
Fees: Fees not published; contact the firm.
Kindred Partners
Executive search firm for privately held technology companies, including enterprise, consumer and healthcare technology. Kindred says it has completed 2,000+ searches and helped 1,000+ portfolio companies over 20+ years, with a senior leader managing each search.
Best for: Leadership hires at privately held technology companies
Fees: Fees not published; contact the firm.
SPMB
Executive search firm, 40+ years old, that describes its work as the intersection of innovation and scale: helping startups reach scale, and helping scaled companies keep innovating. Its investment practice also recruits for venture capital and private equity firms.
Best for: Startups that have traction and need executives who have scaled a company
Fees: Fees not published; contact the firm. San Francisco phone listed on the site.
Venture-backed and software leadership
These firms recruit across functions, including go-to-market and finance, for venture-backed companies and software portfolio companies. Hunt Club states that it works on retained search. The others do not publish terms.
True Venture Studios
Boutique executive search practice inside True, launched in 2026 for founders and venture-backed companies. True describes itself as the sixth largest executive search firm. Venture Studios covers executive searches across functions from inception to late stage, including AI, fintech, healthcare and life sciences. True says the practice identifies a placement in an average of 21 days and that 51% of engagements come from repeat clients.
Best for: Venture-backed companies that want a dedicated venture team inside a large firm
Fees: Fees not published; contact the firm.
Hunt Club
Retained executive search and team buildouts for VC-backed and PE-backed companies. Candidates come through introductions from its Expert Network, with software mapping who knows whom. Published work includes CRO, CMO and finance leadership placements.
Best for: C-level and VP hires at investor-backed companies
Fees: Retained search; fees not published.
Bespoke Partners
Executive search firm focused on software and SaaS, recruiting CEOs, boards and functional leaders in finance, go-to-market, technology and people. It works with private equity and growth-stage software companies, caps recruiters at 6 searches, and says a placed candidate who leaves inside a year triggers a new search.
Best for: Software and SaaS leadership, including private equity portfolio companies
Fees: Fees not published. The firm describes a success retainer and a one-year replacement if the hire leaves.
Heidrick & Struggles
Global executive search firm with a venture capital practice that recruits CEOs, C-suite executives and board directors for venture-backed companies, from early growth through later stages. The practice works with founders, investors and boards.
Best for: CEO, C-suite and board searches at venture-backed companies
Fees: Fees not published; contact the firm.
Investment firms and their portfolio companies
CPI is a New York executive search firm with a narrower brief than the technology firms above. Call them when the hire is an investor or an operator inside a fund or a fund's portfolio company.
CPI (Career Partners Inc.)
New York executive search and recruiting firm for investment professionals at private and public investment firms. Clients run from first-time funds to established firms across private equity, hedge funds, credit, real estate, venture and growth capital. Searches run from pre-MBA analysts to senior partners. The firm also recruits operating leaders at the fund and at portfolio companies, including CFOs, COOs, investor relations and corporate development. CPI's site says a team of 53 people works from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia and St. Louis, and that it assesses 3,000+ pre- and post-MBA candidates a year. The New York office is at 10 East 40th Street.
Best for: Venture, growth equity, private equity and hedge funds, plus operating roles at portfolio companies
Fees: Fees not published; contact the firm.
Fees are from each firm's own site as of November 2026. Where a firm does not publish a number, the card says so. This is an opinionated list, not a paid ranking, and nobody paid to be on it.
Executive search firms compared
| Firm | Best for | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Riviera Partners | CTO, VP Engineering, CPO and AI leadership searches | Not published |
| Daversa Partners | Founders hiring a leadership team at a venture-backed company | Not published |
| Kindred Partners | Leadership hires at privately held technology companies | Not published |
| SPMB | Startups that have traction and need executives who have scaled a company | Not published |
| True Venture Studios | Venture-backed companies that want a dedicated venture team inside a large firm | Not published |
| Hunt Club | C-level and VP hires at investor-backed companies | Retained, not published |
| Bespoke Partners | Software and SaaS leadership, including private equity portfolio companies | Not published |
| Heidrick & Struggles | CEO, C-suite and board searches at venture-backed companies | Not published |
| CPI (Career Partners Inc.) | Venture, growth equity, private equity and hedge funds, plus operating roles at portfolio companies | Not published |
Fees as published on each firm's own site in November 2026. "Not published" means the firm does not list a number.
How retained executive search is paid
A retained search firm is paid to run the search, usually in stages, and works the role exclusively. Hunt Club says it is retained. Bespoke Partners describes a success retainer and a one-year redo if the hire leaves. Riviera, Daversa, True, SPMB, Kindred, Heidrick and CPI do not publish a fee schedule.
Contingency recruiting, where the fee is a percentage of salary and nothing is due until someone starts, is a different product. It shows up on the tech recruiting agencies list, where Coastal Recruiting publishes 25% of first-year base salary. For a VP or C-level hire, a retained firm is the usual choice because the search needs a committed team and a closed process.
How to choose an executive search firm
Match the firm to the seat. A firm that fills VP Engineering roles every month is a poor default for a hedge fund partner search, and a fund recruiter is a poor default for a startup CTO.
- Ask for three placements at companies your stage, and call those clients.
- Get the fee, the payment schedule, the exclusivity and the replacement terms in writing.
- Ask who on the team will actually run the search, and how many other searches they are carrying.
- Ask how candidates are sourced, and which companies are off limits.
- Agree on a slate date and on how fast you will give feedback.
After the search, when the new leader needs a system
A search firm fills the seat. The CRM, routing, enrichment and outbound the new leader walks into are a separate build. OneGTM does that build for early and growth-stage teams. Executive search stays with the firms on this page.
Details are on the RevOps agency and outbound agency pages.
- Pipeline stages in the CRM do not match how the team actually sells.
- New leads sit in a queue because nobody owns routing.
- Outbound still lives in a spreadsheet and a shared inbox.
- The incoming CRO or VP Sales will spend the first quarter cleaning data.
Executive search firms FAQ
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