--- title: "Best Executive Search Firms for Startups (2026)" description: "Executive search firms for startups and growth companies: Riviera, Daversa, True, SPMB, Hunt Club, Kindred, Bespoke, Heidrick and CPI in New York." url: https://getaob.com/executive-search-firms --- # 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](https://getaob.com/recruiting-agencies) list. This page is the leadership search. By [Garrett Wolfe](https://garrettawolfe.com), founder of OneGTM (Clay Artisan Solutions Partner) and former GTM engineer at Unify. Updated November 4, 2026. 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](https://www.rivierapartners.com/?utm_source=onegtm&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=executive-search-firms) 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](https://daversa.com/?utm_source=onegtm&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=executive-search-firms) 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](https://www.kindredpartners.com/?utm_source=onegtm&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=executive-search-firms) 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](https://spmb.com/?utm_source=onegtm&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=executive-search-firms) 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](https://trueplatform.com/true-venture-studios/?utm_source=onegtm&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=executive-search-firms) 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](https://www.huntclub.com/?utm_source=onegtm&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=executive-search-firms) 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](https://www.bespokepartners.com/?utm_source=onegtm&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=executive-search-firms) 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](https://www.heidrick.com/en/industries/venture-capital?utm_source=onegtm&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=executive-search-firms) 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. Choosing tools for an outbound build? Send me your current stack and what you want it to do. I'll tell you what I'd keep and what I'd change. Get a stack review ## 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.)](https://www.cpiny.com/?utm_source=onegtm&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=executive-search-firms) 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](https://getaob.com/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. ## Related lists Individual contributor and early leadership hiring is on [tech recruiting agencies](https://getaob.com/recruiting-agencies) and [engineering recruiting firms](https://getaob.com/engineering-recruiters). Quota-carrying sales roles are on [GTM and sales recruiting agencies](https://getaob.com/gtm-sales-recruiters). Finance, legal, and life sciences leadership specialists are on [finance and fintech recruiters](https://getaob.com/finance-recruiters), [legal recruiting firms](https://getaob.com/legal-recruiters), and [healthcare and life sciences recruiters](https://getaob.com/healthcare-recruiters). Outsourcing the function is on [RPO firms](https://getaob.com/rpo-firms). Counsel for the company, which is not a search, is on [startup law firms](https://getaob.com/startup-law-firms). ## 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](https://getaob.com/revops-agency) and [outbound agency](https://getaob.com/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. Book a call ## Executive search firms FAQ ### What are the best executive search firms for startups? For technology leadership, Riviera Partners, Daversa Partners, Kindred Partners and SPMB recruit at startups and growth-stage companies. For venture-backed leadership across functions, True Venture Studios, Hunt Club, Bespoke Partners and Heidrick & Struggles have dedicated practices. CPI (Career Partners Inc.) in New York recruits investment professionals and operating leaders for funds and portfolio companies. None of them publishes a fee. ### How much do executive search firms charge? Retained executive search firms rarely publish a dollar fee. On this list, Riviera Partners, Daversa Partners, True, SPMB, Kindred Partners, Bespoke Partners, Heidrick & Struggles, Hunt Club and CPI all require a conversation for pricing. Hunt Club states that it works on retained search. Contingency recruiting, paid only when you hire, is a different model and is covered on the tech recruiting agencies page. ### What is the difference between retained search and contingency recruiting? A retained firm is paid to run the search and usually works the role exclusively. A contingency recruiter is paid only if you hire a candidate they introduced, so several firms can work one role at once. Retained search is the usual choice for a VP or C-level hire. Contingency is common for individual engineering and sales roles. ### Is CPI a New York executive search firm? Yes. CPI (Career Partners Inc.) is based in New York, with an office at 10 East 40th Street, and also has people in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia and St. Louis. It recruits investment professionals for private equity, hedge funds, credit, real estate, venture and growth capital, plus operating leaders at funds and portfolio companies. ### When should a startup use an executive search firm? Use one for a VP, C-level or board hire where a wrong pick costs a year, and when your network cannot reach the people you need. For a founding engineer or an account executive, a contingency recruiting agency or a hiring platform is usually the better fit. ### How long does an executive search take? True Venture Studios says it identifies a placement in an average of 21 days. That is the firm's number for its venture practice, and other firms do not publish a comparable figure. Senior searches often run longer, and slow feedback from the hiring team is a common delay. ### Does OneGTM do executive search? No. OneGTM is a GTM engineering firm. We build CRM, routing, enrichment and outbound systems. We do not recruit executives. Coastal Recruiting, a OneGTM client, is a contingency recruiting firm and is covered on the tech recruiting agencies page. Have the leader, and need the CRM and outbound they will run? ## Related - [Best tech recruiting agencies](https://getaob.com/recruiting-agencies): Tech recruiting agencies, search firms and hiring platforms for startups, with published fees. - [Best GTM and sales recruiting agencies](https://getaob.com/gtm-sales-recruiters): GTM and sales recruiting agencies for SaaS and tech, including UltraTalent, with the fee models they publish. - [Best finance and fintech recruiters](https://getaob.com/finance-recruiters): Finance and fintech recruiters for banks, funds, and startups, with what they publish on fees. - [Best legal recruiting firms](https://getaob.com/legal-recruiters): Legal recruiting firms for law firms and in-house teams, and how placement fees work. - [Best fractional CMO, CRO and sales leader firms](https://getaob.com/fractional-executive-firms): Fractional CMO, CRO and sales leader firms and marketplaces, with the fees they publish. - [Best law firms for startups](https://getaob.com/startup-law-firms): Law firms for venture-backed companies, and how startup legal work is billed. - [Best healthcare and life sciences recruiters](https://getaob.com/healthcare-recruiters): Healthcare and life sciences recruiters for pharma, biotech, and medtech, with how search is paid. ## Get a RevOps and outbound review Tell me what you're building. I reply the same day. Book a call at [getaob.com/#contact](https://getaob.com/#contact) or email [team@getaob.com](mailto:team@getaob.com).