Recently, we asked Jimmy Gauff, an Executive Search Partner on the Bolster team, to share his thoughts about executive search. Throughout Jimmy’s career, he’s forged relationships with some of the most impactful executives, founders, and venture capitalists in the enterprise software landscape. Now, he uses his expertise to help Bolster clients find top GTM leadership talent.
Bolster: Why is traditional search broken?
Jimmy: It’s transactional, expensive, and hit-or-miss on results. Building long-term relationships and maintaining those relationships is becoming increasingly rare in executive search. Clients are paying 6 figures per search to have a 50% success rate with the executives they hire, all because the search partner didn’t take the time to truly understand the business or the founder’s needs.
B: How do you think about finding the perfect candidates for a position?
J: Look beyond the LinkedIn profile and logos, get to know people for who they are, and emphasize culture fit early. Find an executive who both aligns with the team’s personas and can bring a diversity of experience and opinions to the table. Think about the 3-5 needs in the business/function over the next 24 months and rigorously pattern-match those with candidates who have seen “the movie” before.
B: Complete this sentence - “Reach out to me if…”
J: You want to talk GTM talent, connect with a human-first search partner, or want more context on why my clients say I’m the best recruiter they have ever worked with.
Bolster combines the power of experienced recruiters (like Jimmy) with our unique, AI-driven platform to surface the best candidates and deliver a superior executive search experience. We’d love to support your search. Book a time to chat with Jimmy or another member of our team.
