Ralph Protsik, Managing Director, on BSG Team Ventures' differentiation

BSG TeamVentures combines the best of national retained search in terms of thoroughness of search process with the speed, savvy, and personal attention required by rapidly growing companies. Our value to clients begins with four important differentiators—boutique service; sector expertise; entrepreneur leadership focus; and innovative search transparency and methodology.

Boutique service:

What this means?

• We take time to thoroughly understand our clients’ vision, mission, and culture.
• We meet with clients early and often and communicate regularly.
• We also work as a team to fill positions, yet keep our partners intimately involved in the search process.
• Finally, we take the time to help our clients be successful in other ways  beyond executive search — by identifying strategic partners, sources of  capital, or better ways of attracting and retaining talent.

What this means to you?

• We will be held accountable throughout a search—no run-arounds and cones of silence.
• Prospective candidates will not be unavailable because another partner in the firm has a candidate interviewing elsewhere, or because the firm has a vast number of "hands–off" agreements with companies in your sector.

Sector expertise:

What this means?

• We specialize in a small number of industries—technology, life sciences, information and media, for–profit education, and not–for–profits.
• Within these sectors we know the players and the vocabulary, read the journals, attend the conferences, join the panels.
• We begin most searches with a rich database of potential candidates.
• We also provide not just people but guidance to our clients and thus add value that generalist retainer firms cannot.

What this means to you?

• You won’t have to train us in the language and competitive landscape of your market.
• We "kick-start" most searches with known candidates and deliver a slate of qualified candidates in less time than it takes other firms.
• We also are able to provide you with valuable industry information that may guide your decisions on organizational structure, executive compensation, strategic partnerships, distribution channels, and funding.

Entrepreneurial leadership focus:

What this means?

• We focus on finding and assessing leaders who thrive in a dynamic and evolving business culture—those able to adapt to the special needs of early stage companies and intrapreneurial ventures.
• In our interviewing and referencing we look for those qualities in candidates that predict success in young, rapidly growing organizations––intelligence, learning agility, persistence, adaptability, and the ability to hold and communicate a vision.
• This doesn’t mean we work only with start-ups. Over the last decade we’ve learned that companies looking for more of the same are probably less a fit with us than those where there is change, invention, or reinvention. These can be million, or even billion, dollar companies––it’s more a "state of leadership."

What this means to you?

• We will not send you "hothouse executives"—those reliant on deep resources and best suited to optimizing (vs. building) a business. Instead, you can expect candidates who understand that resources, responsibilities, and business models often change in quickly growing organizations.
• We implicitly understand and respect your culture, and we recruit accordingly.
• As well, we offer experience with founder–driven cultures—and success finding the first non–founder leader to augment or replace a founder and founder team.

Search transparency and innovative metholodogy:

What this means?

• We’ve spent more than a decade evolving a unique search methodology, and wrapping an innovative technology toolbox around it.
• We’ve built an assessment process that we feel is unique in our industry.
• To make this process consistent, and transparent to our clients, we’ve then built a set of methodologies and technologies to support it.
• The "3D’s"of the BSG search process—Discovery, Documentation, and Delivery—are designed to identify, attract, and assess and select the short list of candidates who fit the requirements not only of the position, but also of your culture.

What this means to you?

• We guarantee results, pure and simple. This is why you pay for retained search.
• Because of the investment we have made in both our technology infrastructure and search methodology, we are able to source and evaluate candidates quickly and to present them in a manner that allows you to make the right decisions.
• Clients report that they feel in touch with the search throughout all stages––both in level of detail and supporting information. You always know where we (and you) are.