The wrong leader
Resets the roadmap and drains the team. It surfaces a year later as a missed plan the board does not forgive.
Executive Search · AI and Engineering Leadership
The search you run when the hire can’t miss.
The specialist private equity operating teams and founders bring in when the cost of the wrong leader is measured in quarters, not fees. Every engagement is led personally, from first conversation to accepted offer.
Jason Crane
Founder and Lead Search Partner
You do not call me to fill a role. You call me when getting it wrong is expensive.
Why It Matters
One Hire Decides the Quarter
In a portfolio company, a single leadership seat carries the roadmap, the integration, or the AI mandate the thesis was built on.
The empty seat
Every week open pushes delivery and revenue right. Lost momentum is expensive to rebuild and obvious to the buyer.
The right leader
Changes what the company can do. Ships the roadmap and moves enterprise value on schedule.
Why One Operator
Large Firms Delegate Execution. Here, There Is No One to Delegate To.
At a global firm, the partner who wins the engagement hands the work to associates you never meet. This firm is built the opposite way.
Global Search Firms
Won by a partner, executed by associates
One of many open engagements
Measured in weeks
Generalists across every function
Leaders you first meet in a deck
CNA Search
Led personally, end to end
A small number of clients at a time
Shortlists in days
Depth in AI and engineering only
Vetted face to face before you
How an Engagement Runs
Conducted Like an Investment Decision
01 / THESIS
Define the outcome
What this leader has to change, and the cost of getting it wrong.
02 / REACH
Reach the unavailable
The best leaders are not looking. They are found through two decades of relationships.
03 / JUDGMENT
Assess on the record
A short list of the right people, assessed before your time is spent.
04 / CLOSE
To accepted offer
One point of accountability through offer and start. Most complete in under ten days.
48 HoursAI Engineer · Shortlist to Hire
10 DaysVP of Data Science · Completed
Selected Engagement
When the right person is already known, speed is preparation showing.
An enterprise AI platform needed a leader who had shipped agentic systems into production. The seat had sat open for months. The right person was already known. From open seat to accepted offer ran inside two days, and the roadmap moved that week.
The hire that can’t miss starts with one conversation.
Tell me what you are building and the seat that has to be filled. I will tell you whether I am the right person to find them, and how fast.
Discuss a Critical Hire