Sounding Off With Corey Getzoff, Partner
Can you tell us about your professional background and how you ended up in search?
Corey: Like most people, I got pulled into search/recruiting unexpectedly. I began my career in sales, and made the transition to recruiting (for sales) in 2014. My now partner, and founder of Husk Talent, Ben Jaksich, was the one who hired me and together we spent the next eight years building a GTM search team at our previous firm.
When the opportunity came to build an executive search firm from the ground up, based on our unique understanding of the market, I couldn’t pass it up!
What unique challenges do Venture Capital and Private Equity-backed companies face when hiring revenue leadership talent, and how does Husk Talent address them?
C: Over 70%of early stage companies report challenges in hiring top tier GTM talent. Many of these firms struggle to strike the balance between hiring someone with experience scaling small teams, and someone who is still willing to roll up their sleeves and do a lot of the heavy lifting required in a growth-stage environment. We see a lot of companies that are post-investment, and need to move away from a founder-led function, or upscale their current leaders who might not be the best fit for the next stage of growth.
Since we are exclusively forced in GTM we always have a number of ideas from the jump. In addition to the IP between our ears we start a research intensive process centered around what our client’s ideal candidate looks like. While there are many things to consider, the most regular pieces we look at initially are industry, economic buyer, sales motion, maturity of the function and stage of the companies. Since a lot of our clients are first time founders, we always make sure we share superb candidates in addition to other data points so they can stay informed and be confident when they ultimately make a hiring decision.
How does your experience shape the way Husk Talent approaches executive search differently than larger, more traditional firms?
C: Ahh, the magic question! For one, we are exclusively focused in Go-to-market, only covering roles that touch revenue (sales, marketing, customer success and revenue operations). We’re also stage specific, focusing on companies that are experiencing a rapid phase of growth. This allows us to work efficiently when we kick off a project since we already have a strong understanding of the role and stage, and what type of talent would be a natural fit.
Our approach is also a bit different as a boutique firm. We have eight talented and experienced search professionals. We are partner-led, meaning there is a partner on every project who stays involved throughout. In addition to that we organize a pod around every search (Partner and Principal/Director). Everyone is involved in the research and screening process, meaning the people you are dealing with are the ones who are speaking and vetting the clients directly.
Lastly, I’d say we just know how to roll up our sleeves and do a lot of heavy lifting for our clients that some of our larger/older competitors might not be willing to do. When we take on a search, we map out the candidate pool and speak with anywhere from 30-50 candidates in the first few weeks. We present the best 10-15% of those to our clients, but also provide the data from the other conversations to give some perspective on the market as a whole. We don’t tell our clients what’s out there, we show them!
Outside of the process, what elements of your personality/brand do you instill in the company’s ethos?
C: I’d like to think I inject a lot of my values into Husk Talent, but we do have so many talented, incredible people working here that do the same, so it’s really an amalgamation of everyone’s vibes. But I do have some non-negotiables (shout-out “The Bear”).
Honesty: There’s no place in the industry for people who bend the truth for their own benefit. I’m a firm believer in paying in delivering good news fast, but bad news faster. We preach transparency with all of our investment partners, clients and candidates and I think that’s why many of our stakeholders keep working with us and have been for over a decade in some cases.
Optimism: The world of executive search can be a roller coaster…I think it’s important to push through the valleys with resilience and positivity, and the peaks will be that much higher (and more frequent). No one has a perfect track record in this industry, but the true professionals and ones who stand out are the ones that take negative news in stride and push through for a better result. Whether it’s a client shifting the role, or a candidate turning down an offer, these are all opportunities to show people what we’re made of. If it was that easy, everyone would be doing it!
Enough about work, what do you like to do in your spare time?!
C: Well, I’m a NYC resident and have been for 14 years and counting. I’m a huge NY sports fan (let’s go Giants, Yankees, Knicks and Rangers). When I’m not working you can probably catch me playing pickup basketball, trying new restaurants with my wife and friends, or going for walks in the Upper East Side with my mini-daschund, Frankie. Oh, and I love traveling and try to visit at least 1-2 new countries a year. Last trip was to Italy, and I have to say that if Lake Como had a better tech scene, I’d be setting up shop there in a second 🙂