The technical read on the person you are about to make CTO.

What we assess

• Whether the work on the curriculum vitae is the work they did. Our most frequent finding is a genuine achievement with the candidate's share of it overstated — rarely disqualifying, and always worth knowing before an offer goes out.
• Judgment under your constraints. Someone who scaled a system with forty engineers and no budget ceiling may be wrong for your problem, and that is a different question from whether they were good at theirs.
• How they hire, and how they fire. Most of a technical leader's output is other people, and this is the part a normal process examines least.
• What they do not know, and whether they will say it in front of a panel. Someone who cannot name a gap to you will not raise a risk to the board.

How it runs inside your process

• Ninety minutes with each finalist, built around your actual constraints rather than a generic architecture exercise.
• Backchannel references with engineers who reported to them — not the executive peers on the candidate's list. This is where the information is, and it is the step most processes skip.
• A written assessment per candidate, ranked, with the specific risk each carries and what containing it would ask of you.
• A conversation with the board to defend the findings, including the one we would not hire.

When you do not need us

• You have a strong technical person internally who is not a candidate. Use them — they know your constraints better than we will.
• It is a first engineering hire rather than a leadership one. Different assessment, cheaper.
• You have already decided. We are glad to be a second opinion, but we will not be the justification for a conclusion already reached.

What you get

• 01

  A written assessment per finalist, ranked, with each candidate's risk stated plainly.

• 02

  Backchannel reference notes from people who reported to them.

• 03

  The questions your board should ask before signing, and the answers that should stop it.

• 04

  A view on whether the role as written is the role you need to fill.

Questions

What is technical leadership due diligence?

An independent technical assessment of the people shortlisted for a senior engineering role — CTO, VP Engineering, Head of Platform — run inside the recruitment process on behalf of whoever is making the decision. It answers whether the candidate did the work they describe and whether that work predicts success under your constraints. It is distinct from a reference check, which verifies employment rather than judgment.

How is this different from an executive search firm?

A search firm sources the shortlist and is usually paid on placement. We assess the shortlist and are paid whether or not you hire anybody. The two are complementary — several of our engagements come alongside a search firm rather than instead of one.

Do you replace our own technical interview?

Only when you have nobody who can run one, which is why most companies call us. Where you do have that person we work alongside them — and where the two assessments disagree, that disagreement is the most useful thing you get.

How long does it take?

One to two weeks from finalist shortlist to written assessment. We can compress that when an offer deadline demands it. Backchannel references are the part that cannot be rushed without losing their value.

Is the candidate told?

Yes, always, for the assessment conversation. Backchannel references follow whatever your process and jurisdiction permit, and we will tell you where we think a line is.

Track record

Operating and board-adjacent roles across 21 companies since 2013 — we have hired these people, been these people, and occasionally had to replace them.

The other services