From Founder-Led Growth to Commercial Scale: Building the Marketing and Customer Success Leadership at a Private Market Intelligence Platform

The Challenge

Founded in Amsterdam and backed by a €10M Series A raised in 2022, this platform had grown to more than 10,000 users on product quality alone. It sits at the centre of the private markets intelligence world: 100% of MBB and Big-4 advisory firms use it, and its clients represent more than $1 trillion in PE capital under management.

That kind of growth without a matching commercial infrastructure creates a specific problem. The product had earned its position; the go-to-market function hadn't been built to match it. Two hires were identified as the priority:

• Build a proper marketing function for a subscription platform selling into the world's most demanding institutional buyers
• Protect and grow a revenue base built on the firm's most complex, highest-value accounts

Neither profile was standard. The client base is PE firms, M&A advisors, hedge funds, law firms, and global consultancies, so a marketing leader without fluency in that world, or a CS leader without enterprise relationship experience inside financial data businesses, would not last in the role.

Overview of the two executive searches

Between May 2024 and December 2024, The Big Search, led by Partner and SaaS Practice Head Ilya Grigorev, ran two commercial searches: a VP of Marketing and a VP of Customer Success. The hires were sequenced deliberately, marketing first to build the go-to-market engine, then customer success to secure the revenue base. Both searches closed. Client NPS: 9/10 (VP Customer Success search).

Phase 1 - Building the go-to-market function: VP Marketing

• May 2024 → September 2024
• Commercial Infrastructure Phase

At the point of this search, the business had product-market fit and a client base any SaaS company would envy. What it lacked was a marketing function capable of taking that product to a wider institutional audience. The mandate: hire a VP of Marketing who could build a demand generation engine, own the brand, and operate with the authority of someone who understood the PE and M&A world, because that's who they'd be marketing to.

A generic enterprise SaaS background wouldn't work here. The audience, language, buying cycles, and competitive signals inside private markets intelligence are distinct, so the search had to target people who had built marketing functions specifically inside financial data and intelligence businesses.

Executive search in UK financial data and intelligence

The hunting strategy targeted marketing leaders at B2B financial data companies in London, specifically those with:

• Experience building marketing functions for subscription platforms selling to institutional financial services clients
• Track records inside PE-backed data businesses at growth stage
• Direct audience overlap with the client's buyers: PE firms, M&A advisors, investment research houses, and management consultancies

Target companies mapped included Third Bridge, AlphaSights, RFi Global, PEI Group, Acuris, Mergermarket, S&P Global Market Intelligence, and Preqin, among others.

We mapped 152 candidates across the UK financial data and intelligence market.

First shortlist

37 days from kick-off

Twenty-five candidates reached consultant interview from the 152 mapped, a strong conversion rate at that stage, but only 7 reached the client. The brief required financial data domain knowledge, subscription marketing experience, and enough seniority to own a function from scratch. Most candidates had two of those three. The 37 days reflect the time it took to find the seven who had all of them.

The placed candidate: a profile in financial data marketing leadership

11 years of B2B marketing leadership built entirely inside PE-backed financial intelligence platforms.

• Financial data DNA — 11 years building marketing functions exclusively inside PE-backed financial intelligence businesses
• Built from scratch — created product marketing functions at two separate businesses with no inherited infrastructure, including a full rebrand and a 12-person team on a £1.5M budget at a global investment research firm growing 30–40% a year
• Subscription model expertise — proven demand generation for platforms serving institutional financial services buyers at scale
• Audience fluency — deep familiarity with the PE, M&A, and investment research world the client's users operate in every day

Phase 2 - Securing the revenue base: VP Customer Success

• October 2024 → December 2024
• Commercial Infrastructure Phase

With marketing leadership in place, the second hire addressed the other side of the commercial equation. The client's revenue base included the most demanding accounts in financial services: global PE firms, top-tier M&A advisors, hedge funds, and international law firms. Managing those relationships needed someone who had operated at that level before and understood what those clients expect from a financial intelligence provider.

The brief called for enterprise account management experience from inside a financial data business, the commercial maturity to own revenue retention at scale, and the ability to build and lead a CS team as the business grew.

Executive search in UK financial data and intelligence

The hunting strategy targeted CS and relationship management leaders at financial intelligence businesses in London, specifically those with:

• Enterprise account management at scale inside financial data, analytics, or intelligence businesses
• Revenue accountability across institutional clients: PE firms, investment banks, hedge funds, and advisory firms
• Proven ability to lead and grow customer success teams
• Track record inside PE-backed or high-growth data businesses

Target companies included Acuris, Debtwire, ION Group, GLG, Evalueserve, S&P Global, PitchBook, and Refinitiv, among similar platforms operating at enterprise scale.

We mapped 170 candidates across the UK financial data and intelligence market.

First shortlist

11 days from kick-off

Fifty-six candidates made the initial Tier 1 sift from the 170 mapped, 6 went to consultant interview, and 3 reached the client. The targeting was precise enough that most of the filtering happened before the first conversation began. A decision followed within a single round of client interviews. The search closed in 52 days.

Client NPS

9/10

The placed candidate: a profile in enterprise financial intelligence leadership

15 years inside the exact client universe this business serves.

• Revenue at scale — $300M revenue responsibility and 96% customer retention across 5,000+ enterprise accounts, as Global Head of Relationship Management leading a team of 75 across EMEA, APAC, and the Americas
• Domain depth — 15 years at the closest competitive reference point to the client's own business model and customer base
• Team builder — grew and led teams of 75 and 30+ at two separate businesses, both from scratch, including building a Munich office from the ground up after an acquisition
• Client universe fluency — an entire career managing the exact buyer profiles, PE, M&A, hedge fund, law firm, that the client serves

Two mandates, seven months, two commercial leaders hired from the narrow slice of the market that actually fits: people who had spent their careers inside financial intelligence businesses managing the exact clients this platform serves. The VP Customer Success search closed in 52 days at a 9/10 client NPS. The VP Marketing search took longer because that combination of private markets knowledge and subscription marketing leadership is genuinely rare. Both delivered.

The lesson is targeting. When the brief is precise enough, the right candidates surface quickly. When they don't, the market is usually thinner than it looks, and the search has to widen before it narrows again.

If you're scaling a founder-led platform and the commercial leadership layer hasn't kept pace with the product, let's talk.