Your 100-day plan lives or dies on the first three hires.
Portfolio company executive search and operating-team build-outs for PE firms and the platforms they back. We install the discipline that makes thesis execution predictable.
The thesis works on the model. It works in the IC memo. It runs aground at the first leadership hire that misses.
Most search firms working with PE are selling speed and rolodex. Both matter. Neither is enough. The hire has to operate inside the value creation plan - and that requires a different screen than “find a strong CFO.”
We work alongside the operating partner to design the role for the thesis, build the screen that predicts performance against the plan, and stay engaged through the integration window where most installs unwind.
“Your IC memo isn’t going to lead the company. The first three hires are.”
THE KIND OF QUESTION THE INTERVIEW ASKS
“Walk me through the first 100 days of your last operating role. What did the plan assume, what did you find, and what did you change in month two?”
Hold-period fluency
We work alongside the operating partner to design the role for the thesis and screen against the portfolio company’s actual operating environment - not the deck, and not a generic executive profile.
First-three-hires discipline
The engine turns the 100-day plan into role outcomes before the search opens, and keeps the decision on schedule when “one more candidate” threatens the hold period.
Confidential-search capability
Confidential retained search is standard operating procedure. Company name is disclosed at mutual-interest threshold - not at first contact. The process runs on your timeline.
You have watched a hold period absorb a wrong operating hire.
In executive search since 1999
Retained and project engagement models
Replacement guarantee on retained searches
The thesis assumes the operating team. The engine turns the 100-day plan into role outcomes before the search opens, screens candidates against the portfolio company’s actual operating environment - not the deck - and keeps the decision on schedule when “one more candidate” threatens the hold period.
Qualigence installs the hire. LLI installs Guide Leader around it. One system, two doors.
- 01
Run the Diagnostic
The 23-question hiring-discipline diagnostic surfaces your exact gap in about ten minutes.
- 02
Strategy Call with a Practice Leader
A Practice Leader maps the gap to a solution - retained search, RPO, or Staffing - on your live requisitions.
- 03
The Install on Live Searches
The 6-Step Performance Engine™ runs on the open seats that matter most. Standards hold. Hires produce.
THE STAKES
Every month the operating seat stays wrong, the hold period does not pause - the thesis just gets harder to return.
INSTALLED HERE
Operating teams staffed to the thesis inside the window. A 100-day plan executed by leaders who were screened against it before the offer went out.
- CEO (post-close transition or growth replacement)
- CFO (PE-experienced, value-creation aligned)
- COO / President
- Chief Revenue Officer
- VP Finance / Controller
- VP People / CHRO (post-close build)
- Portfolio Operating Partner support hires
- Carve-out / integration leadership
- Add-on integration leadership
Can you run confidential searches on behalf of a portfolio company?
Yes. Confidential retained search is standard operating procedure. The process runs under controlled disclosure - the operating partner is fully briefed, candidates are not told the company name until a mutual-interest threshold is met, and the search runs on your timeline, not the candidate's.
How do you ensure the search fits the value creation plan, not just the job description?
The search starts with the thesis, not the JD. We work with the operating partner to translate the 100-day plan into role outcomes before the first candidate profile is built. Every screen tests against what the plan actually needs the hire to produce - not what the predecessor did.
What happens if the operating hire misses?
Retained searches carry a replacement guarantee. More importantly, the integration check at 30, 60, and 90 days is designed to surface drift before it becomes a firing decision. If the install starts sliding, we name it early - not at month six.
Stop hoping. Install the discipline that makes the next portfolio hire produce.
23 questions. About ten minutes. A scored read of where your hiring breaks.
