By Brian Mitchell, Managing Partner & CEO When I first started my sales career in the 90’s (yes, I’m friggen old, it is what it is), I read a book called Selling to VITO. VITO was an acronym for Very Important Top Officers. VITOs are influential decision-makers, the holy grail of the entry level AE. Read More

By Brian Mitchell, Managing Partner & CEO I’m getting a lot of the same questions from people I talk to. The questions are wrapped in concern. Candidates between opportunities want to know if new roles are drying up. Hiring managers want to know if the scarcity of good candidates are now more abundant. Our own Read More

Brian Mitchell, Managing Partner & CEO. Unless you just sold your company after several years of hard work and are now counting your millions while on sabbatical, the experience of being “between opportunities” can be frustrating and possibly a little scary. As an executive recruiter for the past 12 years, I’ve inherently spoken with many Read More

By Brian Mitchell, Managing Partner & CEO. Founders are not always great managers and are often not great evaluators of talent. Sorry, but it’s true. They may be brilliant at product, finance, operations, commercialization, or technology, but that doesn’t always equate to attracting, onboarding, and retaining outstanding talent. And no matter how unique your product/tech/solution Read More

By Brian Mitchell, Managing Partner & CEO Every day I receive a dozen or so inbound inquiries from mid to senior career professionals at an inflection point. They’re somewhere between “starting to consider” or “actively looking” for what’s next in their career path. The expertise and levels vary from board members and CEO’s to VP’s Read More

By Brian Mitchell, Managing Partner & CEO The CHRO owns human resources, sure, but that’s not what they “do” for the company. Benefits administration and HR operations are important yet tactical necessities that fall under the CHRO umbrella as they should. Attracting talent at all levels and functions is part of the overall strategy of Read More

By Brian Mitchell, Managing Partner & CEO My eldest daughter, Maddie, came home from college this week. She’s a junior at the University of Alabama….ROLL TIDE! She recently switched her major from doubling in elementary education and special education to social work. She’s recently been articulating her realization of simply not wanting to be a Read More

By Brian Mitchell, Managing Partner & CEO Why is it oftentimes, in both personal and professional scenarios, many people won’t just say “no” when they don’t agree, can’t comply, don’t have time, or are simply no longer interested?  Which is more rude – swiftly being clear on a decision that you disagree and/or won’t do Read More

By Brian Mitchell, Managing Partner & CEO I work with a lot of investors seeking CEO/GM operators to lead their portfolio companies as well as those CEOs seeking key executives to take on critical leadership functions on the senior management team. The CEO for a startup is much different than the CEO of a 200M Read More

CEO succession is paramount to the long-term success of any company that intends to exist beyond a single generation. Additionally, a CEO of a startup is often not the best CEO at 100M or to lead an IPO and public entity. But transitioning from one leader to another is one of the most challenging tasks Read More