The Cole Group has been a fantastic partner in helping build our leadership team. Having spent so much of my time recruiting, I can say, without reservation, that Jamie is A+. Because she takes the time to get to know your company, not just the management team but also the working team, Jamie has an amazing filter for "fit". As a result, she makes the process efficient without your feeling like you're missing out. Instead, she makes sure that upfront, you're clear about what the team needs and is/isn't looking for. On the other side of this, Jamie always plays the long game and never "sells" a candidate and admits when there isn't a fit despite her enthusiasm for a candidate or company. Her ability to hold two opposing ideas simultaneously and get to the best answer is what I admire most about her.
Tony Xu, DoorDash CEO
A board member recommended we work with The Cole Group. We worked with Rob & Gillian not just once, but twice already, for our CRO and SVP Commercial Sales roles. We've been very happy with the outcomes!!
Olivier Pomel, Datadog CEO
Matt and the Cole Group team were superb partners in recruiting Humu's stellar head of sales. We met candidates within weeks and closed the search within two months with the best sales leader I've ever met in my life. They have a structured, repeatable methodology that impressed me, even after my decade leading People Operations at Google and screening more than 3 million candidates per year. They were sensitive to the importance of diversity for Humu, and found a host of compelling candidates. And most of all, they acted with grace, integrity and humor throughout.
Laszlo Bock, Humu CEO and author, “Work Rules!”
I join your legions of fans and recommenders! I heard a number of great things about The Cole Group prior to engaging and they were all true. Jamie is a great communicator who invested the time to understand us as a company and what made our CMO role unique. It wasn't just a single conversation, but a regular one. You guys should change your name to Needle-In-A-Haystack, Inc., because that's what you do!
Jay Simons, Atlassian President (fmr) and Bond GP
Geoff and The Cole Group did a phenomenal job on our CMO search! We had a tough spec and a very high bar. Diligent, responsive and in tune to our needs and culture and we achieved a fantastic result. I can’t imagine a better process. I’d recommend them to any entrepreneur or CEO.
Tope Awotona, Calendly CEO
The Cole Group helped us find our COO, CRO, CMO and many other roles at Asana. They combine sheer competence with great communication. We were able to quickly align on a target profiles and they screened dozens of candidates to help us find a perfect match. Throughout the process, they drove cadence for both us and the candidates to ensure we kept momentum.
Dustin Moskovitz, Asana CEO
As much as it pains me to say this because I know it will give our hiring competition an edge against us, I'd give The Cole Group a 10/10. My experience with Matt was fantastic, especially compared with the other searches we've done in the past (for other roles). He knows the search space and so can give candid and proprietary feedback on the top candidates already, since they're already known entities to him. And on the candidate side of the experience, they really respect him and Cole group as they've built such a strong reputation working with the other top companies.
Howie Liu, Airtable CEO
If you have the opportunity to work with The Cole Group, you should! The Cole Group has been a strategic partner to us at Bill.com. They helped us make critical hires in sales and marketing as we were scaling our go-to-market. They took the time to learn the management team, the business and most importantly the culture. Jamie worked tirelessly combing networking, finding non obvious candidates, passionately selling the company and ultimately closing the best people. She was a trusted partner and member of the team.
Rene Lacerte, Bill.com CEO
Our entire team enjoyed working with the Cole Group. They were knowledgeable about the market, able to quickly engage with great candidates due to preexisting relationships they had, thoughtful with their advice on the pros and cons in terms of candidate fit and ultimately helped execute a very smooth closing process with our number one CMO candidate!
Eric Sager, Plaid COO
Cole is cool! We hired The Cole Group after a strong recommendation from my board. The experience looking for our CMO was great, super structured and strategic. We had a goal of finding a “unicorn” and we found him. I’m not sure it could happen without The Cole Group - we spoke with all of the best marketing leaders in the industry. 10/10!
Andrey Khusid, Miro CEO
We have worked with Cole on a few hires over the years, starting with our VP of Sales after our series A [and then our VP of Marketing]. Not only is Cole is hands down the most connected firm in the business, but they are so helpful in guiding you on exactly the right type of person you need for your company and stage, and then help you to find and close that person. I can not recommend Cole enough. If you get the chance definitely work with them!
Taylor Brown, Fivetran COO
The Cole Group is amazing. They develop a deep understanding of your business and culture, and aren’t afraid to challenge what you’re looking for. When I was the CEO of Polyvore, Jamie brought in longshot candidates that worked out fantastically. She was a real partner in recruiting our team. Thanks to Jamie, I found two people who I'd love to work with for the next 20 years.
Jess Lee, Sequoia Capital General Partner
The Cole Group is the go-to firm -- period. A trusted source told me if I needed a world-class CMO, to 'go with Cole' and she was right. Rob's advice and counsel on candidates and the process were invaluable as we navigated a very challenging spec. Given the rapidly increasing expectations of the marketing function, the CMO role is one of the most difficult leadership roles to fill. The Cole Group exceeded my expectations and found us someone great -- they get my strongest recommendation.
Dev Ittycheria, MongoDB CEO
The testimonials are all true - The Cole Group is just better than other search firms. You guys are much better - more collaborative, more playing from the same team, ultimately a way better experience. 10/10.
Christina Cacioppo, Vanta CEO
Cole Group was one of two firms introduced by our board and was an easy choice for us. They were phenomenal to work with and produced best in class results - exceeded my expectations. Great candidates, well run process - it’s a high bar! Kudos.
Clint Sharp, Cribl CEO
The best run search - extremely efficient with my time, fast calibration and a strong vetting of candidates prior to my chatting with them. The feedback you look for is night and day different from other firms. Natalia was extremely competent, resourceful and detailed. The Cole Group is expensive - very expensive - but 100% worth it for an A+ candidate and best in class process. Worth every penny!
Sid Gupta, Quince CEO
I’ve now had the privilege of working with multiple search leaders from The Cole Group. I can definitely say that it’s not just a team of champions, but a championship team. The best evidence of this is the quality of hires we make as a result of our partnership and collaboration. Their speed (pre-work and hustle of getting started fast), refinement (continuous adjustments to the candidate pool) and reach (ability to get anyone I wanted to speak to into the process) were fantastic, exceeding my experience in working with other firms. Investments with working with The Cole Group always yield high ROI outcomes. True partners. A role model for all executive recruiters!
Robert Chatwani, Docusign President
I’ve worked with other search firms - The Cole Group experience felt much more focused and tight. For our CRO search, Rob operated as if he were part of the team. He gave a personalized experienced, came with strong references from other founders and did a great job of setting expectations. 10/10!
Ilir Sela, Slice CEO
Cole operates on a COMPLETELY different level. I’ve worked with a bunch of exec search firms and many are great…. but with Cole, the quality of candidates, the depth and nuance of understanding our business, the process rigor - there’s no comparison. It’s outrageously expensive but you get what you pay for :). I’d come back in a heartbeat!
Emil Eifrem, Neo4j CEO
Working with The Cole Group was a phenomenal experience. They were professional, considerate and extremely effective. We got an incredible outcome, we got there quickly and we had fun doing it!
Jack Altman, Lattice CEO
Everyone I spoke with seemed to consider The Cole Group the best overall. Geoff and Matt were great, they seemed a lot smarter and more strategic than any other firms I spoke with. Great candidates, great communications, great process for running the search. We hired both our head of sales and head of marketing through them. 10/10!
Quinn Slack, Sourcegraph CEO
The Cole Group has a great reputation and were recommended by our investors. The process [for finding our CMO] was professional, short and we met fewer candidates than other searches. 10/10.
Oz Alon, Honeybook CEO
Best experience I have had with any recruiter. All candidates were high quality and “on profile”. Gillian was excellent and ran a great process. Great intake process at the beginning to ensure alignment. Nice job collaborating with the candidate during the close process. 10/10!
Ken Fine, Heap CEO
I always felt like we were in it together - Cole is an absolutely fantastic partner and I’d recommend you all in a heartbeat. The knowledge of the candidate pool, rigorous process, judgment and EQ - 10/10.
Karen Peacock, fmr Intercom CEO
The Cole Group is in a league of their own. Their unique relationship with entrepreneurs and candidates as trusted advisors makes them incredibly effective. Their passion and enthusiasm from kickoff through the close and beyond, even in difficult situations. Working with The Cole Group is a no-brainer.
Ping Li, Accel General Partner
The Cole Group team have been godsends! I am a huge Cole Group cheerleader - substantially stronger than other firms I’ve worked with. The depth of understanding, thought partnership, relationship building, hustle…I can’t thank you enough.
Rachel Carlson, fmr Guild Education CEO
Easily the best executive search we've done. Jamie was targeted and deeply thoughtful about the needs of the business and culture of the team. This let us hone in on a really well-curated set of candidates that were uniformly high quality and came into our process well-informed and interested in the opportunity. Essentially the opposite of the normal throw-it-against-the-wall approach.
Jay Kreps, Confluent CEO and Co-Founder
The Cole Group helped us with our CRO search, and we went back to them when we wanted to find a CMO. They are fantastic to work with—informed, thoughtful, and responsive. They really emphasized understanding both our business and culture needs, and brought us the right kind of candidates quickly and consistently.
Mikkel Svane, fmr Zendesk CEO
Matt took strong personal ownership over the timely success of our search from beginning to end. At the onset, Matt got us moving quickly by rapidly coming up to speed on the unique needs of our business and the cultural environment of our leadership team. Throughout the search, Matt demonstrated the strong relationships and knowledge of candidates across his network. He was further able to provide a balanced and independent perspective on each candidate, which helped our interviewing team better contextualize and organize our feedback to improve our evaluations. As we reached the finish line, Matt's ownership and guidance continued, contributing to extensive reference checks, compensation negotiation, and candidate close. We were very happy with the partnership :)
Bill Magnuson, Braze CEO
The Cole Group ran a great search for us and helped us land an outstanding sales leader. They spent valuable time up front in the process to really understand our company - the business model, the role, the company culture and the type of person we were looking to attract. Matt then delivered a pipeline of quality candidates and efficiently managed the process from screening right through to hire.
Lew Cirne, fmr New Relic CEO
Within a few days of kicking off, The Cole Group introduced two people who were perfect for our VP Sales role ! This experience was much better than any other firm we’ve worked with - the quality and calibration of candidates was a huge strength.
David Hsu, Retool CEO
The Cole Group did an amazing job for us -- tireless, thorough, and always on top of things. Matt introduced us to an impressive roster of candidates and helped us find someone who was a great leader and culture fit. Thanks again!
Ev Williams, Medium CEO
Matt and his team led a thorough, yet expeditious search for a CMO for us. They were awesome to work with, and I would highly recommend them to any software startup in the valley.
Aaron Levie, Box CEO
I have worked with many search firms - The Cole Group was much better in terms of guidance, speed and communication! Superb!
Chano Fernandez, fmr Workday co-CEO
The Cole Group is far and away the best executive search firm I have every worked with…and I have worked with a lot of them! :). I think the fact that you all see each search as unique, where you need to learn the profile and character of the company as you go thorugh the search, is just one of a kind. Most search firms just make you feel like they have binders of people they’re just going alphabetically on whoever is available. Cole is in it with you. 10/10.
Molly Graham, fmr Lambda School COO
The Cole Group is the best in the business, A++. Their network is unparalleled. I would invest in them if I could. But they won’t let me. Yet!
Waseem Daher, Pilot CEO
Best experience we’ve ever had. This is the 8th executive search we’ve done and by far it was the absolute best. Cole Group “got us”. We quickly felt Bridget would build the plan and candidate strategy to deliver, not just push candidates on us. You truly took the time to understand Axio’s value proposition, market dynamics and stage needs. 10/10.
Scott Kannry, Axio CEO
We evaluated the other boutique firms but we felt the authenticity and best fit with Cole. We appreciated the references, the recommendation from A16Z, and Brandon’s previous sales experience. Having gone through this experience for the first time, I’m now a believer and understand the value. We would never have met any of the candidates we were introduced to or had this kind of pacing. Exceeded my expectations on professionalism and pacing. Brandon was stellar. Well prepared for every meeting, great attitude and thorough. Top-tier. 10/10!
Ben Schaechter, Vantage CEO
Cole is the best at what they do and the only firm I recommend fully. They are highly recommended by VCs, other operators and candidates love working with them. The upfront work put in to establish a strong partnership at the beginning is key. Jamie and Kelly were able to help us actually figure out what we were looking for. Rather than just listen, I appreciate Cole’s ability to partner and advise through a difficult process they see every day. Kelly was an excellent partner and we closed our top candidate! 10/10.
Salman Kothari, Mux COO
Best exec search firm I’ve ever worked with - I’ll run all of my searches through Natalia and Jamie if I can. You understood our business and the function - it is evident you understand the nuances of sales and marketing. You never wasted our time, you have a personalized approach and a wonderful team. I have a hard time thinking of any areas of improvement! Thank you for all of the hard work.
Ale Resnik, Belong CEO
I really valued Matt’s counsel throughout the process [of bringing on a CMO to Bessemer Venture Partners]. The focus was on getting the right answer for BVP, not just ending the search. It was a great result and I enjoyed the process. I’d happily be a reference for Cole Group anytime - I’m extremely excited we worked with you guys! 10/10.
Ethan Kurzweil, Bessemer Venture Partners GP
I'm so excited about our new CMO. Thank you again for the hard work, thoughtfulness, and care you brought to this process. I really feel like The Cole Group understood and accentuated the best parts of what makes Automattic unique.
Matt Mullenweg, Automattic CEO
The Cole Group is the absolute best for GTM leadership hiring! It’s such a joy to work with every member of the team that I am genuinely sad when our searches are over! They care about making lasting hires and finding the right fit, rather than pushing candidates that don’t make sense for us. It’s a true partnership.
Mathilde Collin, fmr Front CEO
The Cole Group hit it out of the park for us. We gave them a tricky position that required a highly specialized skillset. They got it immediately and completed the search far faster than industry benchmarks. I was delighted, my board was delighted, and all in all I couldn't believe my good fortune. I attribute it to Matt's thoughtful, soft spoken, empathetic approach, and to his specialization and long experience around a few particular roles. Beyond the good outcome, he's a pleasure to work with: kind, incredibly responsive, and always willing to help out or provide advice even when he's not working on a search. I hardly want to recommend Matt – I'd prefer he remain a secret weapon.
Geoff Schmidt, ApolloGraph QL CEO
Definitely a super positive experience! You helped us think differently, you were quick and dedicated, honest and direct. You had great relationships with the candidates and were nothing but transparent with us [for our CRO search]. Nothing to improve. 10/10!
Ziv Paz, Melio Co-Founder and COO
I’ve known The Cole Group and their strong reputation for years. They helped us find the perfect CRO. They cleared common misconceptions about candidate profiles quickly and provided unique insight into the market and candidates. We aligned quickly on the right profile and executed. I wish I had more eloquent things to say - they are simply the beset. Hire them.
Sean Behr, Fountain CEO
The Cole Group is always the first call I make. I've partnered with them on some really tough searches and I've always had great results. Their passion and commitment to clients is unrivaled. They step beyond the role of recruiter and become strategic business partners. I can't recommend them highly enough.
David Hornik, Board member Splunk, Fastly, Bill.com, GitLab
Haven't the other testimonials on this page convinced you by now? Many recruiting firms are meh -- The Cole Group is great! We were very happy to have worked with them!
John Collison, Stripe President and Co-Founder
Working with Gillian and The Cole Group has been an incredible pleasure. I have never worked with a firm that operated as a top AE - pipeline sourcing, maturation and closing with such focus and velocity. The quality of candidates I met through the process was outstanding and your help to close was invaluable. I hope to work with you again in the future to close many more roles. You are incredible at what you do.
Vidya Peters, fmr Marqeta CMO
The Cole Group listens - other firms throw lots of candidates at you. They were substantially better than other firms we’ve worked with. They help discover what we truly need and focus on running a process that facilitates finding a fit. They were a pleasure to partner with, and they’ll be my first call for relevant searches in the future.
Alex Beller, Postscript President
The Cole Group is by far the best search firm, and I’ve seen them all. I was deeply impressed with their involvement, focus, quality and the process. I love the fact that they could knock on the table when I was about to make a mistake - a true partner!
Liron Damri, Forter President
The Cole Group's search for our VP of Sales was, by far, the best executive search I've been a part of. The kickoff was incredibly well organized, the Cole team was much impressively proactive in setting up our team for success, and as CEO I felt like I had to spend less time micro-managing the process. They were universally recommended by Accel, Greylock and Bain Capital (our board). They immediately connected us to world-class candidates. We went from kick-off to signing the perfect person stunningly fast.
Matt Martin, Clockwise CEO
There are two main investments when considering a search firm - money and time. The promised result is the right person quickly at the right price. This is exactly what we got and I couldn’t be happier with the output! The Cole Group is the gold standard - the team is incredible, they have a clear and efficient process, they feel like partners to the business and they’re incredibly responsive. Working with Bridget and Matt was incredible - I am looking forward to my next search with them!
Jonathan Widawski, Maze CEO
One of our investors introduced us to The Cole Group, and we really liked their focus and specialization. This was my first experience working with an executive search firm and it exceeded my expectations. Working with Geoff and Rob, they understood our unique culture, presented a number of candidates for comparison, gave us candid feedback about our own story and closed a great candidate. 10/10!
Brian Beyer, Red Canary CEO
Over the last 9 months I've worked with 6 different recruiters for exec hires, and my experience with the Cole Group for our CMO has been far superior and miles ahead of the competition. Ranging from quality of candidates, your ability to brief candidates and get them excited, to prep for interviews and the overall effort throughout the process is unrivaled.
Øyvind Reed, Whereby CEO
I wanted to thank Rob and the entire Cole Group. I have been thoroughly impressed end-to-end, from our first call where you were prescriptive about the process, to the rapid pipeline development, giving us helpful feedback, pushing back (in a friendly way), being flexible as our needs changed to making sure we were ready when our now-CMO showed up. I’m confident we made a good choice and you played a huge part in it. I recommend you to other CEOs! Thanks so much.
Nick Mehta, fmr Gainsight CEO
Matt is an unusually charismatic, soulful and effective executive recruiter. He is fun to work with; he is intuitive about the kind of person you really want to hire; he works extremely hard to source candidates personally; he never says die. I loved working with him and would recommend hiring him.
Glenn Kelman, Redfin CEO
Cole did a great job throughout the process, with a comprehensive and much higher level of knowledge than had been my experience with other firms. They provided helpful counsel and sourced the best possible candidates for the role.
Kipp Bodnar, Hubspot CMO
I am a massive promoter of Gillian and The Cole Group! It truly was a pleasure working with you. We went in looking for one exec and ended up with three – all through the new Zoom hiring funnel. I know you did a ton to get people thinking about what it looks like to move jobs during a pandemic and you helped the candidates work through that mentally. No small feat. Thanks for everything!
Dan Wernikoff, LegalZoom CEO
Jamie and The Cole Group are an amazing group to work with - my go-to firm for executive sales and marketing roles. They are honest and real, understand candidates’ motivations and passions and have an extensive network. Highly recommended!
Hilary Schneider, Shutterfly CEO
I had a great experience with The Cole Group as a candidate and it was clear they knew our organization. I could fully trust them to quickly find the best candidates quickly. They move fast, are super well connected and focus on high potential rather than just titles. The breadth of candidates introduced quickly was super impressive, especially given how constrained my criteria was. 10/10.
Tom Clayton, Bill.com CRO
Very impressed by the quality of the Cole Group network and robust process you brought to our CRO search! I have to say we recruited a GM [via another big search firm] and vastly preferred working with you guys. Better candidates, more proactive and tighter process. Cole Group felt like an extension of our team. I really appreciated how you operated as a true partner, helped flesh out what we were looking for in the first place! It made a huge difference.
Paul Maiorana, WooCommerce CEO
Matt's an unbelievably talented and insightful exec recruiter, operating with very high integrity and with the clear the objective to find you that one candidate you will fall in love with. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with him as he's smart and exceptionally high on EQ - a perfect combination in his line of work. I would wholeheartedly recommend Matt; he's nothing short of a rock star.
Steven Schuurman, Elastic CEO and co-founder
The Cole Group are absolute pros and I'd recommend them to any high growth tech company with cool products and great cultures. They helped us with several executive marketing and sales leadership roles and were focused on finding modern thinkers with similar values who fit exactly what we were looking for. Hire them!
David Hatfield, Lacework co-CEO
The Cole Group are the best in the business. They are total pros who work hard to understand the fit - from a competence and cultural perspective - and use that to present the highest quality candidates. Consultative throughout and always available to help!
Joseph Ansanelli, Greylock Partner
The Cole Group has been a fantastic partner for BlackLine. They rapidly found us numerous well-qualified CRO candidates that exceeded our expectations. They provided advice and guidance throughout the process and never lost patience with us. They helped us navigate to a successful conclusion. We will consider them first for any other searches that we have!
Therese Tucker, BlackLine CEO and Founder
The Cole Group exceeded my expectations in so many ways. Matt did way more than simply taking our requirements for the role and producing a pipeline of potential candidates. He took the time to understand the inner workings of our business and culture and helped us refine the requirements/role accordingly.
Sean Rad, fmr Tinder CEO