CTO Search: Scaling a SaaS Platform Through Hypergrowth
A technology leader who had already run the scale the business was about to hit — found by searching adjacent verticals rather than direct competitors.
The brief
A private-equity-backed SaaS business had grown from forty engineers to two hundred in eighteen months and had no technology leader above the VP line. The board wanted someone who had already taken a platform through the scale the company was about to hit.
The search
The Position Profile weighted platform re-architecture and hiring at pace above domain familiarity, which widened the field considerably. Research covered adjacent verticals rather than direct competitors.
The outcome
The shortlist came from adjacent verticals — infrastructure and marketplace businesses that had already absorbed the same growth curve — rather than from direct competitors, where the same profile costs more and moves slower. Weighting scale experience above domain familiarity is what made that possible, and it is the decision most technology searches at this stage get wrong.
What we track on a search like this
- Time to shortlist — measured from Position Profile sign-off, not from the first conversation.
- Shortlist depth — a short list of genuine finalists rather than a long list to filter down.
- Retention at twelve months — reviewed with the client a year after the start date.
Representative engagement. Client and candidate details are withheld for confidentiality.