VENTURE CAPITAL & GROWTH EQUITY — PORTFOLIO TALENT
Your portfolio companies need operators. We find them at scale.
Vice Presidents of Engineering. Heads of Sales. Product leaders. Directors of Marketing. Revenue leaders. The mid-level and senior hires that determine whether a portfolio company hits its milestones or misses them. KeyHires gives your fund a scalable way to place critical talent across your entire portfolio.
The KeyHires Platform
KeyHires combines proprietary data, AI-powered evaluation, and multi-channel outreach into a single platform built for modern talent acquisition.
Not reliant on LinkedIn alone, our large and substantial data sets power every campaign — ready to launch in one week. We offer unique technical capabilities including managed texting campaigns, custom scripts for 1st through 3rd degree connection outreach, and embedded generative AI tools for insight-based candidate analysis.
With 20+ API integrations, the platform connects directly to your existing talent management ecosystem.
Core Capabilities
OUTREACH & CAMPAIGNS
Broadcast campaigns, email (personal + work), texting, request-connect with encrypted custom links
AI-POWERED EVALUATION
AI candidate evaluation with custom prompts, ASC generation from recorded interviews, KeyHires Rating™
DATA & INTEGRATION
2M+ companies, 4M+ contacts, 1,350+ segments, 20+ APIs, talent management system integrations
DELIVERY & ADVISORY
White-labeling, style sheets, auto-populated reqs, talent mapping, industry comparisons
WHAT WE ARE SEEING
The hiring landscape has shifted.
Hiring experienced supervisors and managers in industrial manufacturing has gotten materially harder. Here's what's driving it.
01
Early-stage companies don't have recruiting infrastructure
A seed or Series A company typically doesn't have a dedicated recruiter, let alone a talent team. When they need a VP of Sales or a Head of Product, the founder is running the search — usually while also running the company. The quality and speed of the hire suffer.
02
Platform teams have limited bandwidth
Most fund talent or platform teams are small. They can advise on hiring strategy and make introductions, but running full searches across a portfolio of 15–30 companies isn't realistic with a team of one or two people.
03
Retained search doesn't fit every hire
Traditional executive search works well for C-suite roles but is often too expensive and too slow for the volume of director and VP-level hires that portfolio companies need to make, especially in the first year after a raise.
04
The cost of a wrong hire is high at this stage
At a 40-person company, a VP or director who isn't the right fit has an outsized impact — on execution, team morale, and the company's ability to hit milestones. The smaller the company, the more each senior hire matters.
05
Experienced startup operators are a competitive talent pool
Industrial hiring is geographic. The production managers, maintenance leads, and quality supervisors you need typically work within a commutable radius — often at a nearby competitor. Reaching them requires proactive outreach, not job postings.
06
Talent support is more valuable when it's operational, not just advisory
Introductions and advice are helpful. But what portfolio companies actually need is someone who can run the search — source, screen, evaluate, and deliver a shortlist. That's a different capability than most platform teams are resourced to provide.
Operators & Functional Leaders in Our Network
VPs of Engineering. Heads of Sales. Product leaders. Marketing directors. Revenue leaders. Operations directors. Customer success leaders. Our proprietary database spans the full landscape of venture-backed operating talent — the people who've scaled functions before and can do it again.
Tailored Features
Three engines working as one
Each pillar of the platform is independently powerful — together they create a talent acquisition machine.
01
Outreach Engine
Multi-Channel Sourcing
Coordinated outreach at scale across email, InMail, and SMS with sequenced follow-ups and compliance built in.
KEY FEATURES
- Broadcast campaigns (email + InMail + SMS)
- Email delivery (personal + work)
- Texting campaign management
- Request-connect with encrypted links
- 1st, 2nd, 3rd degree connection scripts
- Personalized outreach sequencing
02
AI Evaluation
Candidate Assessment & Scoring
Custom scorecards per position, auto-filled from recorded and AI-summarized candidate conversations.
KEY FEATURES
- Custom Assessment Scorecard generation
- AI-assisted evaluation w/ custom prompts
- KeyHires Rating™ (proprietary scoring)
- Recorded interview summaries
- Generative AI insight analysis
- Candidate data capture (phone, email, LinkedIn, education, employment)
03
Data & Delivery
Infrastructure & Advisory
Deep data resources and white-label delivery that makes the platform yours.
KEY FEATURES
• 2M+ companies, 4M+ contacts
• 1,350+ company segments
• 20+ API integrations
• White-labeling capability
• Style sheets + auto-populated job reqs
• Talent mapping & industry comparisons
• Marketing support ($150/hr)
Engagement Models
Choose how you work with us
Whether you want full platform access on day one or a flexible token model, you choose how to run it — and scale up or down as hiring demands shift.
Entry
Augmented staffing
Full-service recruiting support powered by KeyHires technology. A dedicated team embeds with your Talent Acquisition function to manage campaigns, sourcing, and candidate evaluation end-to-end.
Target
SaaS platform
Self-service access to the full KeyHires platform with all features below. White-labeled to your brand with campaign management, AI evaluation, and data tools.
Marketing support available for an additional fee.
Activating Passive Talent
Campaigns Built For Candidates Who Lead With Mission.
The best startup directors and VPs aren't on job boards. They're heads-down, scaling a function at their current company. Reaching them requires credible, personalized outreach that earns a conversation.
Broadcast campaigns to both personal and work addresses. Sequenced follow-ups with open and reply tracking across the full candidate funnel.
InMail campaigns, connection requests, and custom scripts that reach into 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree networks for targeted outreach.
Texting
Managed texting campaigns on your behalf. Direct candidate engagement at scale with response tracking and compliance built in.
Employer Branding
Creative campaigns that position your firm as the employer of choice. Go beyond job descriptions — tell the story of your projects and your culture.
AI-Powered Evaluation
Every candidate scored. Every position calibrated.
Our AI evaluation engine processes and evaluates candidate data against your specific technical requirements — no generic rankings.
- KeyHires builds a custom scorecard for every position, auto-populated from candidate interviews.
- Embedded generative AI tools with unique prompts enhance insight-based analysis of every candidate against your specific requirements.
- The KeyHires Rating™ is a proprietary scoring algorithm combining multiple data points with AI agents to rate individual candidate fit and quality — a unique adaptation designed for contact-level precision.
- Interview recordings are processed and summarized automatically, generating structured ASC (Assessment Scorecard) documents that eliminate manual note-taking and ensure consistent evaluation.
Implementation
From kickoff to candidates in weeks, not months.
01
Launch & Configuration
WEEK 1
Collaborate during the launch process to configure the platform, build custom scorecards per position, set up white-label branding, and define target profiles and outreach strategy.
02
Data & Campaign Build
WEEK 2
Assemble large data sets from 2M+ companies and 4M+ contacts. Configure outreach campaigns across email, texting, and LinkedIn. Build style sheets and auto-populated job requisitions.
03
Active
Outreach
WEEK 3+
Execute multi-channel campaigns at scale. Manage texting, email, and request-connect outreach. AI tools evaluate incoming candidates and generate scorecards from recorded interviews.
04
Ongoing Optimization
ONGOING
Refine campaigns using analytics and performance data. Ongoing talent advisory including talent mapping and industry comparisons. Marketing support as needed.
Ongoing During Engagement — Client Collaboration:
We work alongside your Talent Acquisition team on all aspects of sourcing, evaluation, and candidate management throughout the engagement.
PROVEN ACROSS THE SECTOR
Placements From Directors Through Managers.
Select engagements that demonstrate our depth placing operators and functional leaders into venture-backed companies — from Series A through growth stage.
Funding Circle is a London-based lending platform providing financing to UK small businesses. Publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: FCH), the company sold its U.S. business to iBusiness Funding in 2024 to focus on the UK market.
POSITIONS PLACED:
- Vice President of Engineering
- Chief Financial Officer
SoFi is a San Francisco-based financial technology company offering lending, banking, and investment services through one digital platform. The company is publicly traded on Nasdaq under the ticker SOFI.
POSITIONS PLACED:
- Creative Director
- Vice President of Lending
GoodData, now GoodData.AI, provides AI-powered analytics that help businesses make decisions and embed insights into customer-facing applications. Its backers include Andreessen Horowitz, Intel Capital, General Catalyst, Tenaya Capital, and TOTVS.
POSITION PLACED:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Senior Vice President of Sales
- Vice President of Human Resources
- General Counsel
BUILT FOR VC PORTFOLIOS
Your hardest roles. Our deepest reach.
Where KeyHires delivers the highest impact for your organization's talent acquisition needs.
30+ Days Unfilled
Roles posted for a month or more with no quality pipeline movement. Our data depth breaks through where job boards stall.
Hard-to-Fill Positions
Specialized, niche, or senior roles where passive sourcing and multi-channel outreach are the only way to build a qualified slate.
Confidential Searches
Sensitive hires that cannot be posted publicly. White-labeled, encrypted outreach keeps every search discreet.
High-Volume Campaigns
Reach hundreds of qualified contacts quickly with personalized, multi-channel outreach managed on your behalf.
- YOUR point of contact
The people who know your industry.
Let KeyHires power your hiring.
With AI-driven candidate evaluation, multi-channel outreach, and proprietary talent intelligence, we deliver faster access to the specialized talent your organization needs through a platform that is white-labeled to your brand and integrated with your existing systems.
