After a round closes, the hiring plan doubles and there’s rarely a recruiting team to run it. The partner you pick will shape your next ten hires. Here are the four things I tell every founder to look for.
1. Work directly with the person you hire.
Many agencies win the search with a senior recruiter, then hand the actual work to junior recruiters or offshore sourcers. Ask who will run your search day to day, and whether you’ll be able to reach them directly. At Altius, I run every search myself, from kickoff to the signed offer, and you have direct access to me the whole way.
2. Insist on a fresh search for every role.
Some recruiters try to fit your role to candidates they’re already working with for other clients. Your role deserves a search built around your profile, your stage and your team. Altius starts every search from scratch, and on contingent searches finds the person who gets hired in about 10.5 days on average.
3. Pick someone who’s been there.
Startup hiring is different. Every hire changes the company, budgets are tight and roles evolve quickly. You need a talent partner who understands that because they’ve lived it. I recruited in-house at fast-growing companies, have made more than 400 hires over my career, and built Altius from scratch in 2023. Altius works only with Seed to Series B B2B SaaS companies.
4. Choose a partner as committed to your mission as you are.
A recruiter shouldn’t just be filling an opening. Look for someone aligned with your goals, who treats your team like their own and cares whether your hires stay. Nearly all of Altius’s business comes from clients who came back or passed our name along.
Questions to ask any recruiter
Who will run our search day to day? And will we have direct access to them?
Will you start a fresh search? Or will you send candidates you’re already working with?
Have you hired for companies at our stage? Ask for examples at Seed to Series B.
How do you measure success? Speed to the right hire matters more than the number of résumés.
What does it cost? Altius charges 15–18% of first-year salary on contingent searches, or offers a fractional recruiter for up to 15 hours a week.
Looking for a recruiting partner who’s been there? Book an intro call or learn more about how Altius works.
