Flexible Executive Search for Startups & High-Growth Companies
Search Sprints for VC-Backed Startups That Need Senior Talent Fast Without 90-Day, six-figure commitments.
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Recruiting With IC2
IC2's Search Sprints™ deliver flexible executive search for startups and high-growth companies that need senior leadership talent fast—without the inflexibility of traditional 90-day+ retained searches. Our sprint-based recruiting model lets VC-backed and PE-backed companies invest in 40-hour search increments, giving you complete control to pause, pivot to a different role, or continue as your business needs change. Traditional retained executive search firms lock you into 3-4 month engagements with fees of $50,000-$200,000+ upfront, regardless of whether business priorities shift. As a 25-year talent acquisition veteran who's written too many checks for searches that didn't cross the finish line, our founder built Search Sprints to solve this exact problem. Whether you're a Series B startup preparing for rapid scaling, a PE-backed company upgrading your founding team, or a CPO needing confidential succession planning, our agile executive search approach delivers the quality of retained search firms with unprecedented flexibility. You get access to former Heads of Talent but only pay for the 40-hour sprints you actually use. Start with one critical role. If priorities change midway through, pivot us to a different search. Found a strong candidate from your VC team but want to benchmark the external market first? Pause the sprint and resume when ready. This is executive search built for the speed and uncertainty of startup growth.
As a 25-year HR and TA veteran, I was always frustrated by executive search services that were high-quality but lacked flexibility. A lot can change in a typical 90-day search cycle, and I’ve found myself writing lots of checks for searches that did not cross the finish line.
How 40-Hour Search Sprints Work.
01
WHAT HAPPENS ON A SEARCH SPRINT
Search kick off (SKO) - where we establish the search parameters, the project cadence, milestones, and search deliverables.
System set up - access our real-time client portal where you can view search progress and where we manage prospects, calibrate candidates, and, if required, collect interview feedback.
Regular calibration points - typically, we calibrate/recalibrate every 20 hours to ensure laser focus on requirements.
02
HOW TO START/PAUSE/PIVOT
Send us a note, and we will stop the billing clock while keeping active candidates in the loop as appropriate.
Take any unused sprint time to another project or bank it for future use.
03
WHAT IS THE TYPICAL TIMELINE FOR A SPRINT
Depending on a client’s urgency, a sprint typically takes 2 weeks to complete.
Recruiting Reconnaissance
Our high-growth client had what they felt was a strong internal candidate covering the role on an interim basis, but wanted to ensure that they looked at the external market. For confidentiality and internal stability, they did not want to post the job, and the cost of a traditional executive search would be $150k+, so they engaged us to do a confidential search. After three sprints they had a strong benchmark of external candidates, one of whom they hired over the internal candidate. Through the external search process, they realized that they were hiring for what the job was today, not what it was going to be in 12 months, and that they needed to hire ahead of the role.
Research Only
Our client has a small but mighty recruiting team. They had a strong brand and attracted high-quality applicants to their posted jobs. However, sometimes this was not enough - especially for niche or senior-level hiring. They engaged us to do proactive research to identify high-quality senior-level talent, then depending on their bandwidth and confidentiality requirements either did the outreach themselves or had IC2 do the outreach for them. On average with this approach a 2 sprint investment resulted in a hire, but on occasions we pivoted to new searches part way through a sprint if priorities or candidate slates changed (that amazing referral that came out of nowhere!)
Succession Planning
Our high-growth client is operating successfully with “home-grown” founding leadership. However, as the company grew, some of the executive team and their direct reports struggled to keep pace with the rocket ship they had launched. The CPO and CEO recognized that they were entering a phase where they would need to potentially upgrade some of their founding talent, but they had not had the opportunity to build a strong bench. They engaged us to identify potential external successors for their most critical roles, where they had the lowest confidence levels in incumbents. This project delivered in its original intent, with succession plans being tapped for several critical roles. However, it also led to several advisory and coaching connections being made that helped incumbents stay in role and keep pace with role growth.
Frequently
Asked
Questions
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Search Sprints are priced per 40-hour increment, typically ranging from $10,000-$12,000 per sprint depending on role complexity and seniority. Unlike traditional retained executive search firms that charge 30-33% of first-year salary $120,000+ commitment on signing), you only invest in the sprints you use. Most executive hires require 3-4 sprints so $30,000-$48,000 total, and you can pause or pivot at any time without additional fees.
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Each sprint can include candidate research and identification (15-20 hours), outreach and screening conversations (10-15 hours), candidate evaluation and presentation (8-10 hours), and client debrief with recommendations (2-3 hours). You receive a prioritized candidate slate with detailed profiles, interview scorecards, and recommendations for next steps. Sprints typically complete in 2-3 weeks depending on role complexity and market availability.
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Yes, clients who are looking for a “top-up” search can make a hire with one sprint. This especially common when a client engages us for a “top-up” search, where they have a developed a decent slate of candidates themselves, perhaps from investor introductions, or from internal referrals, but the search team does not have the confidence that the search is going to land or that they have seen the best candidates in the market. A single search sprint with additional on target candidates, either brings them the candidate they hire, or gives them confidence in the candidates they already have.
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It varies significantly, but 90% of searches have been completed in four sprints or less.
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Absolutely. This is the core advantage of our flexible executive search model. If business priorities shift, budget freezes occur, or a strong internal candidate emerges, simply pause your sprint. Your remaining hours bank for future use—pivot to a different role, resume the original search when ready, or use the hours for succession planning research. No penalties, no wasted investment.
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Traditional retained search locks you into 90-120 day engagements with 30-33% of first-year salary fee ($200,000+), regardless of whether you hire. Search Sprints let you invest in 40-hour increments with complete flexibility to pause, pivot, or continue. You get the same quality—but with agility designed for startup speed and uncertainty. Pay only for what you use, change direction when needed.
OUR PARTNERS HAVE WORKED WITH THE MOST SUCCESSFUL GLOBAL COMPANIES.
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