We help founders hire the right product leaders.

We produce the evidence. Partners close with judgment. A specialist firm for Series A–C CPO, VP and Head of Product roles.

UK & EU • Retained and project engagements • No invented proof

VP Product
Series B • Fintech • London
91 / 100
Stage-fit & scope
Shipping DNA
Founder chemistry
Comp & ownership realism
SAMPLE Click to open full Fit Card

The wrong product leader is expensive in ways that don’t show up on a P&L for 18 months.

Stage mismatch

A brilliant 0-to-1 founder joins a Series C that needs process, delegation and platform thinking. Eighteen months later you are still paying for the gap.

CV theatre

Everyone has shipped “at scale”. Very few have shipped the right things at the stage you are actually in, with the constraints you actually have.

Chemistry is treated as luck

Most processes stop at “they seem sharp”. We measure how someone will actually work with this specific founder and board under pressure.

How we work

Four stages. Agents do the exhaustive work. Partners own the hard calls.

01

Brief & Spec

We run a structured intake with founders and key stakeholders. We produce a Product Leadership Spec that names the actual decisions the hire will own and the constraints they will operate inside.

02

Search & Fit Cards

We map the market and score every credible candidate against the four dimensions that matter for product leadership at your stage. You receive Fit Cards, not CVs.

03

Evidence & interviews

We run deep references and produce a Reference Dossier. We design the interview process and give you the Interview Kit. Partners sit in or debrief after every round.

04

Close & 90 days

We support offer design and negotiation. After the hire starts we run a 90-day loop with structured check-ins so early misalignments surface before they become expensive.

What you receive

Concrete artifacts. Not slide decks and shortlists.

01

Product Leadership Spec

The actual scope, decision rights, constraints and success criteria for the first 12–18 months. Signed off by founders and board before we start search.

02

Fit Cards

One page per candidate. Four scored dimensions with evidence, risks and a clear recommendation. Designed to be read in five minutes and argued over in ten.

03

Reference Dossier

Structured, attributable references from people who have seen the candidate do the job, not just “they’re great”.

04

Interview Kit

Exact exercises, questions and scoring rubrics for your process. Every interviewer knows what they are looking for and how to weight it.

05

Close support

Offer framing, compensation realism and negotiation support. We have seen what actually closes strong candidates at this stage.

06

90-day loop

Structured check-ins at 30/60/90 days with the new leader and key stakeholders. Early signals, not post-mortems.

This is not another search firm. It is also not a tool.

Traditional firm

  • Generalist partners
  • CVs + “they seem sharp”
  • Long cycles, high fees
  • No post-hire accountability

AI / marketplace tools

  • Volume over judgment
  • No real evidence layer
  • Zero skin in the outcome
  • You are still doing the hard work

TalentLayer

  • Specialist in product leadership only
  • Fit Cards with scored evidence
  • Partners own the close and the loop
  • Transparent process and pricing

Engagements

RETAINED
£95–145k
All-in for CPO / VP Product roles

Full mandate. Fit Cards, dossiers, interview design, partner involvement through close and 90 days. Typical timeline: 6–12 weeks to signed offer.

Best when you have a clear mandate and want the highest probability of the right hire.

PROJECT
from £28k
Fit Dossier or targeted search

You receive the same evidence layer (Spec + Fit Cards + Dossier) without the full retained close support. Useful when you have internal capacity or a narrower brief.

Often used as a first engagement before a retained mandate.

Who we work with

Founders & boards

We work with founders and boards who treat the product leadership hire as one of the highest-leverage decisions they will make in the next two years. Series A through C, primarily UK and EU.

We are expensive if you are looking for a warm body. We are cheap if you care about the cost of the wrong hire.

Product leaders

If you are an exceptional product leader looking for your next role, we occasionally take mandates where the fit is unusually strong. We do not run a database. We do not spam you.

If you want to be considered for future briefs that actually match your pattern, let us know.

Start a Brief

Tell us what you are trying to solve. This is the beginning of the Spec, not a sales form.

We’ll respond within 48 hours with a first draft Spec or clarifying questions.
Brief received. This is a demo — in a real engagement we would now produce a first Product Leadership Spec and schedule a 60-minute briefing call.

We are building this carefully. We are not a marketplace. We are not “AI-powered search”. We are a small specialist firm that uses systems and evidence so that scarce human judgment is spent on the parts that actually matter.

We will not claim outcomes we cannot yet prove at scale. When we have enough completed mandates with 12-month results, we will publish them.