The Series B Leadership Build
A Series B company that has raised $15-25M typically needs to fill 3-5 VP roles within 12 months of closing the round. The board has funded a growth plan that requires leadership infrastructure the company doesn't yet have. The CEO is responsible for building that infrastructure while simultaneously running the business.
According to Series A Leadership Benchmarks 2026, the most common three-search configuration at Series B is VP Sales + VP Engineering + VP Marketing, run in that rough priority order with overlapping timelines.
Three-Search Coordination Parameters
The Sequencing Logic
The sequencing of a three-search engagement is not arbitrary. It is a deliberate decision based on revenue impact, CEO dependency, and candidate pool timing. VP Sales almost always starts first because it is the role most directly tied to the board's growth expectations. VP Engineering starts in week two or three — the sourcing timeline is longer for technical leaders, so beginning slightly later doesn't necessarily produce a later close. VP Marketing typically starts last because the marketing motion is usually downstream of a validated sales motion.
Separate brief ownership
Each of the three searches has a completely distinct brief, written and approved in isolation. The CEO approves each brief before the corresponding search opens. Briefs that bleed into each other — "someone who can do both sales and marketing in the early days" — produce candidates who can do neither well.
Staggered shortlist delivery
We stagger shortlist delivery by 10-14 days across the three searches. This prevents the situation where the CEO receives three sets of candidates simultaneously and lacks the bandwidth to evaluate any of them carefully. One shortlist review per week is manageable. Three simultaneous shortlist reviews is not.
Separate reporting and status updates
Each search gets a distinct weekly status update. We don't combine reporting because combined reporting creates false equivalence between searches at different stages — a fast search makes a slow one feel like it's progressing when it isn't.
Candidate pool management
A candidate who enters one of the three searches is temporarily excluded from the others. We don't pitch VP Sales candidates on VP Marketing simultaneously — it signals confusion about what the company needs and damages credibility with the candidate pool.
The Outcome: Three Hires or One?
Companies that coordinate three simultaneous searches through a single firm typically close all three within a 12-16 week window. Companies that run three searches through three different firms — or try to run all three internally — typically close one and let the other two drift for six months. The coordination overhead is the difference.
See: Running Simultaneous VP Searches | Majhi Search Framework | Startup Hiring Benchmarks 2026
"41 days. A $275K search. Two firms failed in 60+ days. That's not luck -- that's a different system."
-- Majhi Group placement record. Read the full process anatomy