The Client:

A seed-stage cybersecurity startup, backed by Bowery Capital, had already interviewed several candidates for a new role that would serve as the primary technical contact for their client portfolio and internal engineering team. After two months, they had mixed results, including one job offer that was declined at the last minute. They were losing hope of ever finding the right candidate. That’s when they engaged our firm.

The Candidate:

To meet high expectations, the founders were looking for someone with proven leadership skills, a strong academic background in computer science and, ideally experience working for both an early-stage startup and a major cybersecurity tech company with significant hands-on software engineering abilities.

Our Approach:

After spending time with the founders, learning about the business, the role they were recruiting for and their team dynamics, we started our search. We approached over 90 candidates, screening, reference checking and vetting technical skills. We narrowed our search to the five strongest candidates and provided their resumes and our interview notes to the founders. Following an interview with the Co-Founder, CEO, and the engineering team, three were then shortlisted to be interviewed by board members and investors.

The Result:

The placed candidate met all of the required qualifications, with a solid academic background in computer science and mathematics, significant experience at a security startup, and strong recommendations from well-known leaders in the cybersecurity community.

This candidate was not actively looking for a new opportunity when we contacted them, but we coached the founders on how to properly sell the opportunity and secure candidate with an attractive equity offer, despite a lower starting salary than their current role.