Indian and GCC startups are professionalising
Growth-stage capital is normalising. Founders are hiring CFOs, CHROs, VP Engineering and VP Sales leaders — often for the first time.
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Startups.
Founder-grade leadership hiring for companies where the next hire defines the next stage.
01 / Overview
The practice.
Startups is the practice we treat as a co-founder, not as a vendor. We work with VC-backed and PE-backed companies across SaaS, fintech, consumer, D2C, healthtech and climate, and the brief is almost always to find the first non-founder leader for a function — and to get it right the first time.
The cost of getting a startup leadership hire wrong is usually a year. The cost of getting it right is often the next stage of the company. Our practice has been built around that reality.
02 / Market landscape
What the market is doing.
The forces shaping leadership demand in Startups right now.
Operators over advisors
Founders increasingly want operators who have scaled before, not consultants who have advised on scaling. We map for builders, not strategists.
Equity is central to the conversation
ESOPs, cliffs, accelerations and exit mechanics are now as central as compensation. Both sides need coaching through these structures.
Cross-border hiring is the norm
India ↔ UAE ↔ Singapore ↔ Toronto moves are increasingly common for senior startup leadership. We run integrated cross-border briefs every month.
03 / Talent landscape
"The best startup operators are deeply networked, slow to move, and motivated by ownership and ambition as much as compensation. Our process is founder-led, fast and conviction-driven."
04 / Roles we place
The mandates.
Representative roles across 5 role families.
Executive
- · CEO
- · COO
- · President (for founder-led businesses)
- · Chief of Staff
Finance & people
- · CFO
- · Chief People Officer
- · Head of Finance
- · Head of FP&A
- · Head of Investor Relations
Engineering & product
- · VP / SVP Engineering
- · Chief Product Officer
- · VP Product
- · Head of Design
- · Head of Data
Commercial
- · VP / SVP Sales
- · Chief Marketing Officer
- · Head of Growth
- · Head of Customer Success
International
- · Country Heads — UAE, Singapore, US
- · Market Heads
- · Regional CEOs
05 / Our approach
How we hire for Startups.
Founder-aligned search
We treat the founder as the brief. Stage, capital, culture and ambition all change what 'great' looks like — we calibrate accordingly.
Stage-appropriate seniority
We resist hiring leaders who are two stages ahead of the company. The wrong-size leader breaks the team faster than no leader.
Equity and structuring fluency
We coach both sides through ESOPs, cliffs, accelerations and exit mechanics — so the deal closes and stays closed.
Investor-aware references
We back-channel reference candidates with their existing investors and board members where relevant — with permission and care.
06 / Methodology
Our 5-step process.
The way we run a sector search end to end.
- 01
Founder brief
We sit with the founders and lead investors to define what 'great' looks like for the role and the stage.
- 02
Stage-aware mapping
Targeted mapping across operators who have scaled at the company's specific stage and capital structure.
- 03
Founder-led outreach
Outreach positioned as founder-to-operator, not search-firm-to-candidate.
- 04
Capability and culture assessment
Structured leadership interviewing, board-aware referencing, and founder-fit calibration.
- 05
Closure & integration
ESOP modelling, structured first-90-day plans, and integration support through the first quarter.
07 / Capabilities
What we deliver.
- First leadership hires for founders
- VP / SVP functional leaders
- CXO and President search
- Independent board and advisor search
- International market leaders
- Talent due diligence for investors
- Founder coaching on org design
- Cross-border senior hiring
08 / Cross-border
India · UAE · Singapore · Canada.
Our offices in Gurgaon, Mumbai, Bangalore, Dubai, Singapore and Toronto operate as a single team for cross-border startup hiring. We routinely place Indian leaders into UAE, Singapore and US roles, and bring diaspora operators back into Indian growth-stage companies.
09 / Case snapshots
Recent work.
Anonymised to protect client and candidate confidentiality.
First CFO for a Series C SaaS unicorn
Mapped 80 candidates across IPO-track CFOs; closed in 12 weeks with founder-aligned ESOP structure.
VP Engineering for a Series B fintech
First non-founder engineering leader; closed in 9 weeks; engineering attrition halved over the following year.
Country Head — UAE for an Indian SaaS company
Hired a local UAE-based leader with India fluency; full GTM team built in 6 months.
10 / Outcomes
Track record.
130+Startup leadership searches
45+First non-founder hires
12Sectors served
91%Two-year retention
11 / FAQ
Questions, answered.
- Do you work with pre-Series A startups?
- Selectively — typically for founder coaching on org design and first leadership hires where the brief is critical.
- Can you support international expansion hires?
- Yes. We routinely place Country Heads for the UAE, Singapore and the US for Indian startups going global.
- Do you support investor-led talent due diligence?
- Yes — pre- and post-investment talent due diligence for VC and PE investors.
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Looking for a leader in Startups?
A sector lead from our Startups practice will be in touch within one business day.