Every executive search has a story, and this one nearly ended three times before finding its hero.
When two longtime clients approached us with their next big venture, a new HVAC startup, we knew it would be both exciting and challenging. They were not just hiring a leader; they were building a business from the ground up. Their first key hire would set the foundation for the company’s culture, growth, and long-term success.
They needed a General Manager with deep HVAC industry experience, the proper licenses, and the relationships to accelerate the company’s path to market.
We found those leaders, more than once. Three times, we reached the offer stage with exceptional candidates. And three times, the deal fell through.
It was not about compensation or culture fit. It was about comfort and risk tolerance. Each candidate had spent a decade or more building stability in established organizations. The idea of leaving that security for an early-stage startup, no matter how promising, felt like too great a leap.
For the founders, this was a test of patience and conviction. For our team, it became a valuable lesson in recruitment strategy, timing, and employer branding. We refined how we presented the opportunity, helped the founders strengthen their long-term vision, and continued searching for a leader who was ready to embrace both the risk and the reward of building something new.
On the fourth try, everything aligned. We found the right match: a leader who saw not uncertainty, but possibility.
That is the beauty and the challenge of startup executive searches. It often takes persistence, collaboration, and trust to find the one who truly believes in the dream before it becomes reality.
