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Executive Search · Startup & Scale-up

Startup & Scale-up Executive Search

The Quantum Club places leadership and operating talent for venture-backed startups and fast-scaling brands, from confidential C-suite searches to the teams behind breakout growth. Exclusive mandates on a No Cure, No Pay model, with confidentiality by default.

Hiring leadership for a scale-up

At the scale-up stage a single leadership hire can decide the next round, or undo it. The people who can operate at that altitude are scarce, employed, and cautious about who they talk to. Reaching them takes discretion and a credible, warm approach, not a public search.

The first executive bench

Scale-ups usually reach a point where the founders can no longer hold every function themselves: the numbers become strategic, growth needs an owner, and operations need someone who is not also selling. That is when the first executive bench is hired, and the right profile depends on the trigger. A CFO hired to raise capital is a different person from one hired to steady a business under pressure. The Club scopes that trigger at the brief, because it defines who belongs on the slate.

What to settle before you brief

Three things are worth naming before a scale-up search: the trigger for the hire, whether a raise, a scale or a turnaround; who needs to know about it, from the board to the team; and the stage and size at which the hire must already have operated. An operator who scaled a Series C company is not automatically right for an earlier one, and the reverse is just as true. Naming the stage keeps the slate honest.

What the network covers

Executives the Club has placed have come from technology companies such as Apple, Google, Netflix, Tesla and ASML, across product, growth, content, engineering and operations, not only from the luxury houses. Behind them sits a network of 1,000+ members worldwide, admitted on track record and fit, so a scale-up slate is drawn from people already known to the Club rather than from a cold search.

Confidential by default

Leadership searches at this stage are often sensitive: replacing an executive without signalling it, hiring for an unannounced initiative, or keeping a competitive move quiet. Stealth, NDA-backed searches are the default, with no public listing and identities protected until trust is established. The Club has run a confidential leadership search for a Series-C fintech without a single public listing; the specifics stay inside the room.

What a wrong leadership hire costs

Gallup estimates that the cost of replacing an individual employee can range from one-half to two times the employee's annual salary. At leadership level in a scaling company the real cost can be wider still: lost momentum, a team that has to reset, and a plan that slips. That is the case for a success-only model, under which the search costs nothing unless it produces a hire you choose, and the placement is backed by a guarantee laid down in your agreement.

Speed without shortcuts

A senior search typically takes two to four months from brief to signed offer, depending on the scarcity of the talent, the clarity of the brief, and how fast decisions are made. ClubAI scores fit across 1,000+ members the moment a brief lands, so the early weeks of cold research are largely removed. It's why a new role goes live in six minutes, not six days. The pace after that depends mostly on how quickly the company decides.

Proof with venture-backed and scaling brands

Beyond the confidential fintech mandate, the Club placed a Head of Growth and a CFO for the founders' group behind Dore & Rose and Hears, led by Bob Verlaat and Nick Nijhof, who were named to Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe; Forbes' profile puts Hears' first-year revenue at $7M. It also placed 15+ roles for Meroda Cosmetics, the fastest international grower in the 2025 CrossBorder Top 30. Discretion and outcomes, together.

Seats the Club has filled

  • CFO

    Brought in when the numbers become strategic: a raise, a scale past the founders' own control, or a business to steady.

    Placed for Dore & Rose Meroda Cosmetics How to Hire a CFO

  • Head of Growth

    Takes growth off the founders' desk and owns it end to end.

    Placed for Dore & Rose Meroda Cosmetics

  • Confidential leadership hire

    A senior seat filled without a single public listing; the specifics stay inside the room.

    Placed for A confidential Series-C fintech

  • Creative bench

    The team behind the leaders: creative strategy, social commerce and art direction, built at the pace of the scale.

    Placed for Meroda Cosmetics

Selected work

A confidential Series-C fintech

Confidential leadership search · zero public listings

Dore & Rose

Head of Growth and CFO placed for the founders' group, shared with Hears · stocked by 150+ luxury retailers, including Nordstrom

Hears

Head of Growth and CFO placed for the founders' group, shared with Dore & Rose · per Forbes, $7M in revenue in its first year

Meroda Cosmetics

15+ roles placed for a CrossBorder Top 30 breakout

How the search runs

  1. Brief

    A strategist replies within 24 hours and scopes the mandate in confidence: the stage, the trigger for the hire, and who needs to know about it.

  2. Map in silence

    ClubAI scores fit across the network and the strategist curates. Approaches are personal and off-market, and every one is confirmed with the principal first, so nobody's time is wasted.

  3. Shortlist

    You meet a short, pre-qualified slate of people who have operated at the altitude the seat needs, each supported by a Talent Concierge through the process.

  4. Close

    The Club runs the offer strategy and the close and stays with the hire through onboarding. The risk stays with the Club: the fee is owed only when your chosen candidate signs.

Terms of engagement

The model
No Cure, No Pay. Nothing is owed for the search itself: no retainer and no upfront payment.
When a fee is owed
Only when a candidate you chose signs. Every further hire of a candidate the Club introduced, even for a different role, is its own placement with its own fee.
The fee
25% of the agreed gross annual salary, holiday pay included and variable bonuses and one-off payments excluded, unless your agreement fixes another rate. Partner rates are agreed per engagement. Amounts are exclusive of VAT.
The guarantee
Its terms are laid down in your agreement. It is honored as a free replacement search or as a credit against your next placement, never as a cash refund, and is claimed in writing within fourteen days of the employment ending.
Payment
Invoices are payable within 14 days of the invoice date, unless your agreement says otherwise.
Ways in
Club Promo, a complimentary slate of five candidates for one mandate; Club Partner, the flagship engagement with a dedicated strategist; Elite Partner, by invitation, at a reduced fee.
First reply
Within 24 hours of a brief, in confidence.

The full terms are set out in your agreement and the deposited General Terms & Conditions (in Dutch).

Frequently asked

Do you recruit executives for startups and scale-ups?

Yes. Leadership and operating hires for venture-backed startups and fast-scaling brands, including confidential C-suite searches.

Can a leadership search stay fully confidential?

Yes. Stealth, NDA-backed searches are the default, with no public listing and identities protected until trust is established.

How long does a scale-up executive search take?

Typically two to four months, though a pre-vetted network can compress the early weeks; a partner strategist replies within 24 hours to scope the brief.

When should a scale-up hire its first CFO?

When the numbers become strategic rather than operational: raising capital, scaling past the founders' own financial control, preparing for M&A or a sale, or steadying a business under pressure. The trigger defines the profile, so name it in the brief.

What does a scale-up executive search cost?

No Cure, No Pay: nothing for the search and no retainer. A fee is owed only when a hire you chose signs: 25% of the agreed gross annual salary unless your agreement fixes another rate, with partner rates agreed per engagement. The guarantee is as laid down in your agreement, honored as a free replacement search or a credit against your next placement, never as a cash refund.

What does a bad leadership hire cost?

Gallup estimates that replacing an individual employee can cost from one-half to two times their annual salary; at leadership level the lost momentum can add to that. A success-only model means the search itself costs nothing unless it produces a hire you choose.

Sources

Cited by the case studies under Selected work

Hire through the Club.

A partner strategist replies within 24 hours, in confidence.

Request a brief See the work