The questions we ask before the search starts.
Every retained search we run begins by establishing facts — what the role actually demands, what the business is ready for, and what getting it wrong would cost. These are the same diagnostics, made available on their own. Use them with us or without us.
Before you approach a single candidate.
Three of the four sit at the front of our own process. Run them in any order — each one stands on its own and takes minutes, not meetings.
The CTO Phase Assessment
Which phase is your technical leadership actually in — Groundwork, Ascent, Ridge or Summit — and where AI sits in your product today.
- Your Phase and AI-maturity read on screen immediately
- A one-page brief on what the next phase demands
Your Job Survey report
The step that starts every retained search we run: get every stakeholder agreed on the job in writing, before a single candidate is approached.
- Run across founders, board and investor
- The same process behind our 12-month retention record
The Bad Hire Calculator
What a mis-hire at this level really costs you — direct and indirect, not just the recruitment fee. Grounded in Leadership IQ research.
- Your own number in under two minutes
- Direct, indirect and opportunity cost
For the person on the other side of the table.
We are asked as often by technology leaders where they genuinely sit as we are by boards what they need. This is the same framework, turned around.
The CTO Phase Assessment — for CTOs
Eight questions on what you have actually done, not what your title says. Find the phase you genuinely operate at, and which roles are worth your time.
- Series A-ready or Series C-ready — honestly assessed
- The roles worth targeting next, and the gap to close first
Already clear on where you sit? See the current opportunities we are retained on.
A diagnostic is not a pitch.
The most common reason a technology leadership search fails is that nobody established the facts first — the founders, the board and the investor each had a different job in mind. These tools settle that early, which is the same reason 96% of the people we place are still in role at twelve months. If the result tells you the hire can wait, that is a useful answer too.
Ran one and want to talk it through?
Fifteen confidential minutes on what the result means for your search — with Warren Beazley, not a researcher.