Case study 5

Title of Search

Recruitment of Vice President, Sales – Tech Start-Up in Background Screening & Risk Management

Client

Rapid-Growth SaaS Start-Up in Background Checks, Due Diligence, and Risk Intelligence

Assignment Profile

Recruit a dynamic Vice President, Sales to build and scale a high-performance go-to-market organization. The ideal candidate needed a strong track record of enterprise software sales leadership, experience selling into compliance, HR, and legal buyers, and the ability to drive growth in an early-stage, investor-backed environment.

Search Strategy

Targeted Talent Pools:
 Identified and mapped sales leadership talent across SaaS companies focused on background screening, identity verification, regtech, and enterprise risk. Included adjacent sectors such as HR tech, legal tech, fintech, and cybersecurity, where GTM motions and buyer personas overlapped.

Candidate Profile Focus:
 Targeted experienced sales leaders who had successfully built enterprise and mid-market sales teams in Series A to Series C venture-backed companies. Prioritized those with experience launching new products, entering new verticals, and establishing repeatable sales processes.

Key Competency Areas:

  • Proven success leading and scaling B2B SaaS sales organizations, ideally in compliance, risk, or trust-related tech
  • Experience selling into legal, HR, compliance, or procurement functions within enterprise and upper mid-market segments
  • Deep understanding of complex sales cycles, consultative selling, and value-based messaging
  • Track record of building pipeline, hiring and developing high-performing sales teams, and delivering consistent revenue growth
  • Familiarity with usage-based pricing models, product-led growth support, and CRM/sales enablement infrastructure

Experience Requirements:
 10–20 years of progressive B2B sales experience, including 5+ years in VP-level leadership roles within early- to mid-stage SaaS companies. Demonstrated ability to operate in dynamic, fast-paced environments with limited structure. Previous ownership of $20M+ ARR targets preferred.

Organizational Fit:
 The role reported directly to the CEO and sat on the executive leadership team. Cultural fit was paramount—seeking a leader who could inspire, collaborate cross-functionally, and execute with urgency while building a strong sales culture from the ground up.

Results

  • Developed a target list of over 125 sales leaders from B2B SaaS firms in trust and safety, identity, background screening, and adjacent risk/compliance technologies.
  • Conducted in-depth outreach and interviews with over 50 candidates, evaluating for hands-on leadership, GTM strategy development, team-building capability, and fluency with enterprise buying behaviors in regulated industries.
  • Presented a final shortlist of 6 highly qualified executives, including former VPs and CROs from compliance tech, regtech, and identity verification start-ups.
  • Successfully placed a VP, Sales with experience building a 40-person GTM team and driving revenue from $7M to $35M over three years at a Fintech software company. The candidate brought deep domain knowledge, a strong playbook for pipeline creation, and a reputation for leading with transparency and urgency.
  • Within the first 6 months, the new VP revamped the company’s sales compensation plan, implemented a scalable Salesforce architecture, hired the first wave of regional AEs, and increased qualified pipeline by 3x—setting the company on course to double ARR within the next 18 months.