From University Spin-Out to IPO Readiness: Building the CEO, Sales and Finance Leadership of a VC-Backed Dutch Sensing Company

The Challenge

• Amsterdam-based fibre-optic sensing company, Netherlands
• Three executive hires
• September 2023 → October 2026
• VC Value Creation: Science-to-Business Transition to IPO Readiness

The company makes fibre-optic sensing systems for underwater security and energy. Its products monitor harbours and the seabed, listen from towed arrays behind submarines and unmanned vessels, and track the condition of substations and high-voltage cables. Customers include navies, defence agencies and energy operators. It started as a Dutch university spin-out in 2011, now employs about 110 people and has raised about €42M in equity and debt.

Three leadership gaps opened over 3 years:

• Leadership: a new CEO, in 2023
• Sales: a VP Global Sales to build an international sales organisation
• Finance: a CFO to prepare the company for a possible IPO

Each brief asked for hardware or government-market experience on top of a standard executive record. In our view, that pairing narrowed every pool.

They turned to The Big Search.

Phase 1 - Setting the Direction: Chief Executive Officer

• September 2023 → December 2023
• VC Value Creation: Science-to-Business Transition Phase

When the new CEO joined in March 2024, the company had about 45 people.

Executive Search Across Technology Scale-Ups, Corporate Ventures and Optics Companies

We went after leaders who had already run a business like the client's: complex products sold to enterprise customers, at a similar funding stage. The search had three hunting grounds:

• Technology scale-ups with complex products (ideally hardware), enterprise contracts and €10–100M in total funding
• Successful corporate ventures with the same profile
• Optics technology companies

127 candidates went onto the search pipeline.

First shortlist

74 days from kick-off

The client was scoring our first candidates 13 days after kick-off. Of the 127, we researched 92: 20 went onto the Tier 1 longlist and 26 onto Tier 2. The client approved 35% of Tier 1, a tighter filter than on either of the later searches. On one software-heavy candidate, its review team wrote that hardware is very different and some experience is needed.

We contacted 66 candidates and held 53 interviews. 4 made the shortlist, all 4 met the client, 1 received an offer and 1 was hired, 90 days after kick-off.

The Placed Candidate: A Founder and Product Chief Who Scaled 3D Printers and Served as a Marine Officer

He combined founder, product and military experience. He founded an access-control software company, ran it for 13 years and sold it to a global software major in 2011. He then spent 4 years as Chief Product Officer of a Dutch 3D-printer maker. Most recently he was CPO of a Dutch SaaS scale-up while its ARR doubled ahead of a private equity sale.

• Physical products at scale — his product strategy took the 3D-printer maker from small local player to global leader in professional desktop 3D printing, with a 10-fold rise in revenue.
• Devices and software together — he ran milestone governance across hardware and software launches, the same product mix the client sells.
• Defence credibility — captain in the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps, active and reserve, until 2020.
• Based in Amsterdam — Dutch, Amsterdam-based, with professional German.

Phase 2 - Taking Sales International: VP Global Sales

• January 2026 → April 2026
• VC Value Creation: International Expansion Phase

By January 2026 the company had won a contract on a European navy's submarine programme and closed a €17M equity round.

This was a repeat engagement. The CEO we placed in 2023 reviewed the candidates himself.

Executive Search Across Photonics, Sensing, Defence and B2B Technology Sales Leadership

The research covered photonics, metrology and test-and-measurement companies; sensor and LiDAR makers used to multi-million programme deals; defence and surveillance groups; industrial IoT companies; international sales heads at large technology groups; and fast-growing B2B software companies in Northern Europe.

• Scaled international B2B technology sales, ideally in hardware
• Ran sales cycles longer than 12 months with several decision-makers
• Turned individual sellers into structured international teams
• Sold into defence, civil surveillance or critical infrastructure
• Opened new regions, ideally the Middle East or South-East Asia
• Knows the Dutch and wider European market

We undertook an exhaustive mapping exercise across these markets, identifying 4,187 candidates. 140 went onto the search pipeline.

First shortlist

33 days from kick-off

Of the 140, 106 sat on the Tier 1 longlist and 34 on Tier 2. The client approved 66% of Tier 1, which tells us the targeting was close. We contacted 77 candidates and 46 replied (60%). 35 got to the scheduling stage and 27 to a consultant interview, an interest rate of 35%. 9 made the shortlist and 6 went on to client interviews.

The CEO's verdict on the eventual hire was plain: he met the commercial requirements without doubt, though he had no order-book or government tendering experience. He received the only offer and was hired 91 days after kick-off.

The Placed Candidate: A Security Software Sales Leader Who Already Ran the Middle East and Asia-Pacific

He spent 8 years at a European cybersecurity software company. He led the Netherlands and Benelux from 2018, and from 2023 he ran sales across North-East Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.

• Revenue growth — he helped grow his last company from €6M to about €70M in annual recurring revenue.
• Multi-region leadership — he has run sales across three regions at once, two of them outside Europe.
• Adjacent sector — cybersecurity sits next to the client's security and critical-infrastructure markets.
• Growth and M&A — he combined product-led and sales-led growth and brought acquired businesses into his sales team.
• Based in Amsterdam — Dutch and Amsterdam-based. He started in July 2026.

Phase 3 - Preparing for Capital Markets: Chief Financial Officer

• May 2026 → October 2026
• VC Value Creation: IPO Readiness Phase

In January 2026 the company closed €25M of venture debt from the European Investment Bank, its largest financing yet. Two months later the CFO who ran that phase handed over as planned. He reported that revenue had more than quadrupled in 2 years.

The board and management wanted IPO execution experience from a CFO who would also run finance hands-on, from building the team to order-book revenue and manufacturing scale-up.

Executive Search Across European and UK Hardware, Defence and IPO-Stage Finance Leadership

We ran three research projects. Two covered sector fit, one of them focused on Dutch profiles: hardware and sensing scale-ups, defence and dual-use companies, PE-backed industrial groups, energy and subsea technology, and robotics. The third went after the IPO credential: B2B technology companies listed in Europe in the last 5 years, and pre-IPO B2B scale-ups.

• Board-level CFO at a Series B or later B2B technology company
• IPO execution, including IPOs postponed or still pending
• Equity and debt fundraising, with direct investor relationships
• Built a finance function from the ground up
• Hands-on operator; pure investment bankers were out
• Ideally long-cycle B2B, hardware, industrial or defence-adjacent experience

We undertook an exhaustive mapping exercise across Europe and the UK, identifying 19,666 candidates. 374 went onto the search pipeline.

First shortlist

41 days from kick-off

Of the 374, 241 sat on the Tier 1 longlist and 131 on Tier 2, and the client approved 63% of Tier 1. Most CFOs answered and few were interested. We contacted 185 and 137 replied (74%), but only 55 got to the scheduling stage and 42 to a consultant interview, an interest rate of 23%. 12 made the shortlist and 6 went on to client interviews.

The client's Chief People Officer made the same point on three of the first five candidates we presented: their IPO exposure appeared to be readiness work and transaction support rather than leading a full IPO. 1 offer followed, and the client hired its CFO 98 days after kick-off.

The Placed Candidate: A Former Army Major With Sensors, Subsea and Defence Finance Behind Her

She spent almost 15 years at a global sensors and connectivity group and a subsea fibre-optic cable maker, moving from treasury and FP&A to divisional CFO and VP Strategy. Since October 2025 she has been Group CFO of a European defence technology company. She starts in October 2026.

• Sensors P&L — VP Finance and CFO of the group's sensors division from 2020 to 2022.
• Subsea fibre — Managing Director of Finance at the cable maker, whose fibre-optic systems sit on the seabed, like the client's harbour and seabed sensors.
• Same buyers today — her current company sells to European defence ministries, as the client does.
• Military credibility — a former Australian Army Major, she served in Iraq and worked alongside Dutch, British and US forces in Afghanistan.

In our view, hardware companies that sell to governments rarely find a candidate who has done every part of the job. The hire comes down to which gap the business can carry, as it did on the sales search.

Across 3 years we placed a CEO, a VP Global Sales and a CFO. After the first hire, the client came back twice.

Our read on the market: European CFOs who have led a full IPO and also know hardware and defence are a very small group.

If your company is moving from research to revenue and the leadership team hasn't caught up, let's talk.