◆CoS Search for Post-Raise Founders

Your next hire
should multiply
everything.

ChiefHires places elite Chiefs of Staff with scaling founders who need to reclaim their time and focus on the work only they can do. Fast, flat fee, no guesswork.

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The Problem

You just raised.
Now everything
is on you.

Closing your round was the milestone. But the day after the wire hits, every bottleneck in your business becomes visible and most of them lead back to your calendar.

The Chief of Staff is not a nice-to-have. It is one of the most consequential senior hires a founder can make and it needs to happen early. A great CoS builds the infrastructure your company runs on: the systems, rhythms, and operational clarity that make every other hire easier, faster, and more likely to succeed. They connect your vision to the organization's execution. They are the integrator between you and your team, between strategy and daily reality.

Done right, your CoS also becomes your force multiplier on AI. They are the operator who knows where the leverage is, what to automate, and how to wire new tools into your business before your competitors notice. This is not a support hire. It is a strategic one.

Most recruiting firms handle this search the way they handle every other search: job boards, resumes, percentages, and a handshake. That is not fast enough, and it is not precise enough for a hire that will either unlock your next phase or quietly cost you six months.

The First Hire Protocol™

A search built for
founders who can't
afford to get it wrong.

Most searches optimize for speed or volume. The First Hire Protocol™ optimizes for signal, isolating the exact operator profile that fits your company's stage, your leadership style, and where your leverage gaps actually live.

01 · DIAGNOSE

The Leverage Audit

We map your actual time allocation against where your leverage is being lost. This isn't a job description exercise. It's how we define what your CoS must own on day one.

Week 1
02 · SOURCE

Deep-Network Search

We reach the candidates who aren't applying anywhere. Former operators, ex-consultants turned builders, and high-velocity generalists who want to bet on the right founder.

Weeks 1–2
03 · ASSESS

The Operator Screen

Every finalist goes through a structured screen built around execution instinct, ambiguity tolerance, and founder-operator dynamics. Not just resume signal.

Weeks 2–3
04 · PRESENT

Three at a time. Always the best.

We send you three candidates per round, not thirty. Why? Because volume is noise. We do the full screening so you only see the absolute top of the pool. If the first three don't feel right, we go again, no questions asked, another three, until you find your person.

Week 3–4

The Smarter Way

Founders shouldn't have to
DIY their most important hire.

Traditional recruiting comes loaded with friction: percentage-based fees that spike with comp, slow timelines, generic processes, and the expectation that you'll do half the work yourself. Most founders either overpay for a mediocre search or spend weeks running it on their own.

ChiefHires removes all of it. One flat fee. A proven process. Candidates who are already screened before they reach you. We handle everything so you can stay focused on the work that actually needs you.

$22,250 Flat fee, all-inclusive
vs. 20–25% What traditional recruiters charge of first-year salary
30 days Target time from kickoff to signed offer
3 Candidates presented. Curated, not dumped.
Founders working

The Offering

The First Hire Protocol™

One flat fee.
No surprises.

A complete, done-for-you Chief of Staff search from leverage audit to signed offer. Priced transparently so our incentives are aligned with yours: finding the right person, not the highest-comp one.

$22,250 flat fee · all-inclusive · no percentage of salary
Start Your Search →

Why ChiefHires

Built differently,
on purpose.

ChiefHires is backed by a team of strategic operators with firsthand Office of the CEO and startup scaling experience. Our search methodology is informed by organizational psychology principles and built for the specific dynamics of the founder-CoS relationship. We don't just find great candidates. We find the right one for your stage, your culture, and the leverage gaps that matter most right now.

CoS-only focus

We don't place VPs, SDRs, or executive assistants. The Chief of Staff role is its own discipline. We've built our entire sourcing network, screening process, and evaluation framework around it.

Aligned incentives

Flat fee means we're never tempted to present a higher-comp candidate to inflate our payout. We win when you hire someone exceptional. That's the only way we get referrals.

Stage-specific

Post-raise and growth-stage companies have different CoS needs than Fortune 500s. We know the profile that works at your stage: adaptive, high-EQ operators who thrive in ambiguity.

Three at a time, not thirty

We send you three candidates per round, each thoroughly screened, because precision beats volume every time. If the first round isn't the one, we go again at no extra cost until we find your match.

The Operator Screen

Our proprietary evaluation goes beyond pedigree. We assess execution instinct, ambiguity tolerance, founder-CoS chemistry, and the specific leverage gaps your company needs filled.

90-day guarantee

If your new CoS doesn't work out within 90 days, we restart the search at no additional cost. We stand behind every placement because we only present candidates we'd bet on ourselves.

Is This You?

ChiefHires is built
for a specific founder.

You're a great fit if…

  • ✓You've recently closed a Seed, Series A, or Series B round
  • ✓You're doing $500K–$10M ARR and scaling fast
  • ✓Your calendar is the bottleneck for the whole company
  • ✓You know you need a right hand, but you don't have time to run the search yourself
  • ✓You want someone to own execution so you can focus on vision
  • ✓You've thought seriously about this hire. You just need help finding the right person.

This isn't the right fit if…

  • ✗You're pre-revenue and can't yet support a senior hire
  • ✗You want to run an open search yourself and just want sourcing help
  • ✗You're hiring an EA or operations coordinator (different role, different firm)
  • ✗You need a hire in under two weeks
  • ✗You're not ready to move quickly once you find the right candidate

What to Expect

From first call to
first day. In 30 days.

Kickoff Call

We learn your business, not just the role

A focused intake call to understand your company, your vision, your gaps and goals, and exactly what the right CoS needs to own from day one.

Calibration Call

Review top profiles together within 48 hours

Within 48 hours of intake, we'll do a quick calibration call to walk through selected candidate profiles together. You give feedback, we calibrate, and the search sharpens fast.

Shortlist

Three vetted candidates, each with a written brief

You see the top three. No resume dumps, no guesswork. Each candidate comes with a clear rationale for why they made the cut and how they map to your specific situation.

Offer and Close

We're with you across the finish line

Interview and offer coaching and post-hire support to help your new CoS hit the ground running. Most searches close in under 30 days. If the first round of three isn't the one, we go again at no extra cost.

FAQ

Questions founders
actually ask.

Most recruiting firms are generalists running a volume game. They post your role, send you a stack of resumes, and collect a percentage of salary, which means they're financially motivated to inflate comp, not optimize for fit. ChiefHires is CoS-only, flat-fee, and built around a structured evaluation process designed specifically for the founder-operator relationship. You get fewer candidates, each one vetted properly, with a clear written rationale for why they made the shortlist.

Percentage-based fees create a conflict of interest: the recruiter earns more when the candidate earns more. That's not aligned with your goal of finding the right person at a fair comp. Our flat fee of $22,250 means we're incentivized by one thing only: a placement you're genuinely happy with. That's how we earn referrals, which is how our business grows.

Not at all. Post-raise is our sweet spot because that's when the need for a CoS becomes most urgent, but we place Chiefs of Staff across all stages. We work with founders, CEOs, and non-CEO executives at bootstrapped companies, venture-backed startups, and scaling businesses who are ready to make this hire and want it done right. If you're at a genuine inflection point and need a great operator by your side, we'd love to talk.

Our target is 30 days from kickoff call to signed offer. The Leverage Audit and sourcing run in parallel in the first two weeks. You'll have your shortlist of three candidates by week three, and most founders close in the fourth week. Speed depends on how quickly you can move through interviews on your end. The faster you can engage, the faster we can close.

If your new CoS doesn't work out within 90 days of their start date, we restart the search at no additional cost. One replacement search is included in your original flat fee. We're confident in our screening process, but we know that even great matches sometimes don't stick, and we won't leave you without a solution if that happens.

Book a free 30-minute discovery call. We'll talk through where you are, what's driving the need for a CoS, and whether ChiefHires is the right fit for your situation. No pitch, no pressure. If it's not the right time or the right match, we'll tell you. If it is, we can move quickly.

Get Started

The right CoS changes
everything. Let's find yours.

A 30-minute call is all it takes to know if ChiefHires is the right fit. No pitch, no pressure. Just a direct conversation about your search.

Book a Free Intro Call

$22,250 flat fee · 30-day placement target · 90-day guarantee