Giving a $20B Live-Shopping Platform's German Business Its First Marketing and Launch Leaders

The Challenge

• US live-shopping marketplace, Germany
• 3 hires from 2 parallel executive searches
• May 2026 → September 2026
• VC Value Creation: International Expansion Phase

Our client runs a live-shopping marketplace: sellers host live auctions and buyers bid as the stream runs. Sales on the platform reached $8B in 2025, more than double 2024's $3B, and an October 2025 round valued the company at $11.5B.

Germany was a priority market in its European expansion. A Berlin team of about 17 was already trading, but nobody owned marketing or new category launches. In spring 2026 the company opened several German roles at once and briefed us on the two senior ones:

• Buyer demand: a Head of Marketing to win first-time buyers and build a brand in a country with no live-shopping habit.
• Category launches: a Head of Launch to pick the categories, launch new verticals from zero and lead a team of launchers.

We later filled a third German role, Category Lead, from the Head of Launch shortlist.

Live shopping has no established Western playbook, and German consumers are slow to trust new platforms. The client wanted German speakers who had personally built something from nothing.

They turned to The Big Search.

Phase 1 - Owning Buyer Demand: Head of Marketing, Germany

• May 2026 → July 2026
• VC Value Creation: International Expansion Phase

This was a repeat engagement: we had been placing people in the same German team since 2023. The marketing role had no incumbent and no local playbook. The hire would own Germany's buyer growth number from day one.

Executive Search Across German Consumer Platforms and Marketplaces

We built one 287-company target list for both searches, covering live commerce, consumer marketplaces with German operations, community platforms, consumer tech and fintech scale-ups, and creator businesses. For marketing we put full-funnel owners first, people who had run acquisition, brand and community in one remit. From late June we added German speakers in London, and in July those in Dublin and Amsterdam.

• Country-level marketing ownership for Germany, with a growth number to show for it
• Two-sided or community platform experience
• Hands-on across paid, creator, partnership and event channels
• Has led a team of at least 3 direct reports while still doing the work
• Fluent German and English, Berlin-based or willing to move
• Nobody currently at an advertising agency

We undertook an exhaustive mapping exercise across Germany, London, Dublin and Amsterdam, identifying 218 candidates.

First shortlist

16 days from kick-off

56% of the people we contacted replied and 24% wanted to talk; 64 never answered. The deciding line was a growth number the candidate had owned in Germany, and 12 people made the shortlist. The client then ran 6 interviews between 5 June and 20 July, from a first call with its German GM to a meeting with the VP of Marketing in Berlin and a principles interview with the Chief Revenue Officer. The Head of Marketing was hired on day 82. The GM's view: "I can tell that you go really deep with the candidates and really try to get to know them and make a very thoughtful recommendation, which I appreciate."

Client NPS

9/10

The Placed Candidate, Head of Marketing: A Platform Creative Lead Who Had Already Chosen to Own a Brand

About 20 years in brand strategy: a decade at agencies in Berlin and London, then more than 8 years at one of the world's largest technology platforms, rising from EMEA creative strategist to running its DACH creative team. In 2023 they moved to a German fintech unicorn to run brand and product marketing for Germany, because they wanted to own one brand end to end. They told us the client's model added "a human touch and local culture to the world of commerce".

• Germany ownership — ran German brand and product marketing at the fintech from 2023.
• Platform fluency — 5 years leading a global platform's DACH creative team.
• Ownership by choice — left agency and platform work to own one brand, the shift this role needed.
• Local — Berlin-based, fluent in German and English.

Phase 2 - Building the Category Launch Team: Head of Launch and Category Lead, Germany

• May 2026 → September 2026
• VC Value Creation: Category Expansion Phase

The first Head of Launch for Germany would choose the categories, launch new verticals from zero (sellers, buyers, community events) and write a playbook other European markets could reuse. A genuine zero-to-one launch was the deciding line, and German fluency was mandatory. In August, mid-search, the company raised $545M at a $20B valuation.

Executive Search Across Consumer Marketplaces, On-Demand Platforms and US Growth Companies

Alongside strategy consultancies and consumer VCs, we worked the shared list with a wide title net (launch, expansion, growth, new verticals, category management), because the skill set sits across all of them. We added London, then German speakers in Dublin and Amsterdam, where only about 1 in 12 profiles scored as native German. In August we added 90 US-headquartered growth companies like the client (marketplaces, direct-to-consumer brands, fintech), on the view that anyone who had run a market launch for one of them had already done this job.

• A launch of a product, category or market from zero, not just scaling one that already existed
• Native or professional German and lived knowledge of DACH consumers
• 10+ years in consulting, VC, PE or consumer tech expansion
• A player-coach who has built a team
• Within reach of Berlin or London

We undertook an exhaustive mapping exercise across Germany, London, Dublin, Amsterdam and 90 US growth companies, identifying 390 candidates.

First shortlist

16 days from kick-off

57% of the people we contacted replied and 23% were interested; 108 never answered and 31 more were lost to relocation or timing. By 7 July one finalist had completed all four client steps (German GM, behavioural interview, live case review, CRO), but the client kept interviewing for the Head of Launch seat.

The Head of Launch came from the US-company pool. They interviewed with us on 12 August, completed the client's four steps and references by mid-September, and were hired on day 146. The July finalist was hired too: on 10 September the client offered them a different German role, Category Lead, and they were hired on day 133, 13 days before the Head of Launch. The German GM called us "really good sparring partners going through this". The GM's one critique was how to find target companies more creatively, adding that the company hadn't solved that internally either.

Client NPS

9/10

The Placed Candidate, Head of Launch: A Former BCG Project Leader With Three Builds From Scratch Behind Them

After BCG, they built a US home retailer's EU exclusive-brands team from scratch (10+ people) and launched 20+ flagship brands, ran a live-entertainment platform's DACH and Nordics region, and in late 2025 launched a Nordic experiences marketplace in Germany. When we met, they were personally pitching small independent providers to join that platform, the seller-side work this role starts with. Asked about stepping from two GM titles to a Head of title, they said they wanted to learn from a sharp team and earn more scope quickly.

• Repeated zero-to-one builds — an EU brands team built from scratch, a live-entertainment region grown to 14 countries, a German marketplace launch.
• Seller acquisition, done personally — signing up sceptical small operators was their day job.
• Native German — 9 years in Berlin.
• The background the brief named — strategy consulting before operating.

The Placed Candidate, Category Lead: A Health-Tech Strategist Who Spent 3 Years Launching a New Product in Germany

Nearly 7 years at a European e-health scale-up, the last 3 leading the zero-to-one German launch of a new practice-management product, after consulting and M&A work. After their first interview for the Head of Launch role, the German GM told us this candidate was specific, gave clear examples of how they influenced the business and listened to customers, and came across as hands-on.

• German launch from zero — 3 years taking a new product to market.
• Expansion — led a US market-entry assessment, working between Berlin and New York.
• Marketplace roots — started out with a category and project management internship at eBay.
• Wants to drive — told us they wanted to start something and own what they build.

A country team without a marketing or launch leader needs people who have already built from zero in that market. Few have, and fewer will move.

We ran 2 searches in parallel from May 2026 and closed them with 3 hires. The marketing search hired its Head of Marketing on day 82. The launch search hired its Head of Launch on day 146 and, from the same shortlist, a Category Lead on day 133. The client scored both searches 9/10.

Fewer than 1 in 4 people we contacted wanted to talk, and the Head of Launch came from a pool we only added in the summer.

If you're building a country team and need people who have launched in that market before, let's talk.