Know who to hire next, and what to pay them.
A session with me on where your company's at and the senior people you'll need as you scale. I've made these hires as a founder and filled them as a headhunter, so I've sat on both sides of the table. You'll leave with a written plan you can take straight to your board.
Get it wrong and you lose a year.
Get your first senior hires right and you've got an unfair advantage. Get them wrong, though, and the cost can run well past the salary.
I've seen all kinds of situations: investors pushing a candidate they know while they're dangling a cheque, or founders taking on someone who's a great person but has never worked at a startup. I can advise on situations like these, but the real value of the session is mapping out what the next 6 to 18 months should look like from a hiring perspective to ensure you're in the best possible position to grow.
What we cover
- Where you are now. Your stage, runway, the team you've got, and the work you're doing yourself that someone else should ultimately own.
- The next 6 to 18 months. Which senior roles open up, in what order, and what should trigger each one.
- Your next senior hire. Full-time or fractional, the salary and equity ranges, and what they should have achieved after a year.
What you get
A full written plan, within two working days.
It covers the functions you'll need, the seniority of each, whether full-time or fractional works best, and the trigger for each hire.
How it works
- Before. You fill in a short form covering your last round, runway, team, where your week goes and the hire that's on your mind. I'll do my homework beforehand, so we don't spend the session on background.
- The session. We go through everything, map out the senior hires ahead and work through the next one in detail.
- After. Your plan lands within two working days, ready for the board, and I'll check in a few weeks later to see how it's going.
Who you'll be talking to
I co-founded Apex Rides, raised over £8m and grew the team to 30+. Every senior hire came through me.
Before that, I spent years in finance search in London, interviewing thousands of candidates along the way. I run every review myself, and only take on a handful each month alongside my searches.
Is it for you?
It's for you if:
- You run a venture-backed UK consumer brand, usually between seed and Series A.
- A senior hire is on the cards in the next 6 to 12 months, or should be.
- You'd like a second opinion from someone who's made these hires as a founder.
It's probably not for you if:
- You're pre-funding and can't pay a senior salary yet.
- You need a junior or technical hire.
- You've already picked your person and just need them signed.
£500
Refunded if the plan isn't useful. If you use Suma for a search within six months, the £500 comes off the fee.
It's free for portfolio companies of Suma's partner funds, so do mention your investor.
Book a review
Tell me a little about the company and I'll come back to you in the next few days with times, the intake form and, if one's needed, a payment link.