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Comment by ChicagoDave | Hacker News Reader

Yeah there’s a recruiting firm that literally hires ex-CEOs, puts them on the bench, then searches for their next “assignment”. They pay these people to golf until they place them.

https://www.heidrick.com/

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There's multiple of these for executives. We tried using one at my last company to find a Sales exec (I think they would have been c-level). I was part of the interviewing process and what we found out was that we absolutely needed the ideas and practices these candidates had and simultaneously couldn't afford them at even half their asking price. It was a real conundrum and the company more or less failed 18 months later after management decided "doing nothing" was the right decision.

I worked at one company hire a part-time CFO. Apparently part time execs are thing - late in their career and established and successfully to think about retiring, but don't want to get out of the game completely. Or to be e.g. a CFO for 3-4 startups at once. Not sure if that exists for sales, but I thought it was a neat idea.

Usually referred to as "fractional" roles - often used for senior advisors and executive board level posts, and for CxO roles that aren't central to the business (eg. CFO for non-finance companies, CTO/CIO for non-tech companies).

I wouldn't expect to see it for sales so much, as it would mess with the incentive structure and you kind of want your salesfolk to be "all in". Same goes for CEO or COO - they might have a small portfolio of non-exec board memberships (or similar) on the side, but it's hard to do a good job if your primary focus is split between multiple distinct businesses.

Yeah, Fractional C-levels are definitely a thing. I've served as a fractional CTO before. It can be really helpful for a small-to-mid size company trying to grow, but not nearly as effective as a full time exec doing the same tasks. Not having someone dedicating all of their time to understanding the company and the problems that need to be solved really limits how useful they can be.

From experience I can say that people at level (particularly in sales) are very good at selling themselves - following through and delivering on those promises can be a very different thing.

Side note: I interviewed at Heidrick two weeks after 9/11. Manager said they had several employees quit on the spot. They offered terrible compensation so I passed.

What did 9/11 have to do with it?

Sorry. Their office was in the Sears (Willis) Tower.

It's common for VCs to do the same as "entrepreneur in residence"

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