The Executive
Search Process

Before M Search opens a search, our founder and CEO spends focused time with the client's CEO and the relevant board members to define the mandate with precision. What does the hire own on day one? What are the explicit expectations at 90 days, 180 days, and the first annual review? Who does the hire inherit, and what decisions about that team are in scope in the first quarter? What does success look like by the end of the hold period or the next funding milestone?

Mandate definition is not a box to check before the real work begins — it is the real work. The companies that skip this step (or rush through it) end up evaluating candidates against criteria that don't match the actual job. That produces a hire who was excellent in interviews but wrong for the mandate. The second search costs twice as much and takes twice as long.

Within the first week, M Search develops the written search brief and runs a calibration call with the client — presenting the refined search logic and the brief for the role, and aligning on both before outreach begins. At this stage M Search also outlines the full interview process and the parties involved, and builds the scorecard and the presentation-round brief used in the later panel stages. The brief, the scorecard, and the presentation round are all designed off the same logic, so every stage of evaluation measures the same things.

The brief also includes the comp structure, equity package, and a clear articulation of why this company and this mandate are attractive to the right candidate. This matters because the best candidates aren't applying to job postings — they're being recruited from their current positions. The brief has to make the case for why they should move.

M Search maps the full candidate universe and the competitive landscape — identifying the specific people who have done the closest version of this mandate and reaching them directly. Senior oversight runs through the whole process, from research through candidate assessment, because the quality of the initial conversation determines whether strong candidates engage seriously.

Research for PE and VC-backed software GTM searches requires a specific network. The candidates who work well in these environments tend to know each other, and M Search's years of placements in this niche surface candidates who aren't visible in a general search.

Candidates who pass initial conversations are assessed using the FACT Framework — Functional Capability, Achievements & Attitude, Customer Domain, and Technical Acumen — with each dimension weighted to the mandate and cross-referenced against the scorecard co-designed with the client in week one. This is not a checklist; it is a weighting exercise. It runs as a structured series of conversations designed to surface specific evidence on each dimension.

Assessment includes structured interviews, reference conversations with operating partners or board members who have worked closely with the candidate, and in some cases work samples or scenario discussions. The goal is evidence, not impressions.

M Search jointly agrees upon a shortlist with the client — typically five to eight candidates — with detailed written profiles documenting each candidate against the FACT dimensions and the co-designed scorecard, plus an explicit recommendation. The presentation includes our CEO's reasoning, not just candidate bios.

M Search will also tell a client when the slate isn't strong enough to move forward, when the mandate needs to be adjusted to attract the right profile, or when a candidate who looks strong on paper has a specific gap that matters for this mandate. That kind of direct counsel is only possible in a retained engagement where the firm's incentive is a successful placement, not a completed presentation.

M Search manages the interview process — scheduling, prep, and calibration — including the later-stage panel and presentation round. After each round, M Search runs structured debriefs with both the client and the candidates to surface any misalignments before they become offer-stage problems. Panel feedback is collected in a double-blind way: the aim is not a consensus hire, but genuine consensus on the strongest performers.

The debrief process is one of the most underrated elements of executive search. Most firms schedule the interviews and wait for feedback. M Search actively probes both sides — what the CEO was concerned about, what the candidate's hesitations are — and addresses both directly before moving to offer.

M Search manages the offer process, including comp benchmarking, equity structuring guidance, and close. M Search runs the candidate side of the close directly, under our founder's oversight — which matters because candidates in final stages often have competing opportunities, and the quality of the close conversation determines whether the offer is accepted.

The average M Search search closes in 60–90 days from brief to accepted offer. Some searches move faster. PE-backed searches with board-level urgency can close in 45–60 days when the mandate is well-defined from the start.

M Search stays engaged long after the placement — checking in with both the client and the hire through the first 90 days, across the first year of employment, and really in perpetuity. The early check-ins exist to surface anything that needs addressing while there is still time to address it; the ongoing relationship is simply how M Search operates.

Most executive search firms consider the engagement closed at offer acceptance. M Search considers it closed when the hire is working. The 90-day check-ins exist because early misalignments — between the hire's approach and the CEO's expectations, between the inherited team and the new leader — are fixable at 60 days and very difficult to fix at six months.