For independent executive search consultants

A global firm’s engine room.
Behind your name.

A senior team and an AI copilot take on the mapping, outreach, pitch prep and client updates. Win the pitch. Shortlist in days. Hold a higher fee.

Start a search Your research teamReal people on every search

A long shadow: your firm's townhouse, casting the shadow of a global firm's tower, with you talking to a client and a candidate in front of it

What it adds up to

  • 48h

    From brief to longlist

  • −50%

    Time to shortlist

  • 80+

    NPS across mandates

  • 1,000+

    Placements to date

  • SOC 2

    Type 2 certified · Trust center

The work around the work

One week in an independent practice.

You didn’t go independent to do this.

The craft is the part only you can do. It’s also the smallest part of your week.

An independent consultant's week: a few blocks of the craft, and the work around it filling the days, the evenings and the weekend

The craft Reading people, advising clients, closing.

And the work around it

  • Pitch preparation A market view for work you haven’t won yet.
  • Market mapping Every company, then everyone who’s held the seat.
  • Outreach Written, sent, chased, then chased again.
  • Client updates The weekly deck, finished at midnight.

What we take on

In the order a mandate needs them.

Four services, one platform, and your week back.

This is the work that fills your evenings and weekends. Now one team and one platform carry it, start to finish.

The same week with the work around the work lifted out: dashed outlines where it was, the evenings and the weekend clear, and the craft left standing

We take on

  • Pitch preparation The market view, ready before you pitch.
  • Market mapping Every company mapped, every name checked.
  • Outreach Written in your voice, sent and chased.
  • Client updates A weekly deck, portal and market overview.
  • The platform Every search in one place, with an AI copilot.

What stays yours The judgement, the relationships and the fee.

The team

The team behind your name.

Venture capital. Private equity. The Fortune 500.

Our team has delivered mandates for leading names in all three.

  • Research

    Chosen for judgement, trained in our method: every company mapped, every name hand-checked.

  • Talent operations

    Outreach in your voice, every reply chased, every interview scheduled, so no candidate goes cold.

A few of the team on Topliner searches

What actually changes

What changes on your next mandate.

  1. 01Before the pitch

    Pitch with the market already mapped.

    You’ll know who runs the function at each company, how their teams are built and who has just moved, before the client asks.

  2. 02Weeks one to three

    Your longlist, two days after the brief.

    We map every company and everyone who has held the role. Our researchers pick the longlist by hand, and outreach goes out in your voice.

  3. 03Every week after

    Clients see the work, so the fee holds.

    Every week, your client gets an update deck and a portal with every candidate, plus a written reason for each one ruled out.

The platform

The system behind the four services.

One place for the whole search, and a copilot at every step.

Every project, company and candidate lives on one platform, with an AI copilot beside you from the brief to the shortlist.

  1. Projects Each search in its own room.
  2. Companies AI agents check each company.
  3. Candidates and scoring Everyone who held the seat, in tiers.
  4. Copilot Ask in plain English, company by company.

Drawn from the product; names are bars.

The network

A small number of firms, by invitation.

Independent. Not isolated.

Topliner is also a private network of elite independent search firms — people running the same race, sharing the work, the standards and what they know.

  • Referrals A mandate you can’t take goes to a peer, not a rival.
  • Standards Shared method, offsites, and peers who know the work.
  • Knowledge Market insight and lessons, passed between firms.
Independent, not isolated: distinct firms, each its own engraved rosette, joined by referrals

Your first week

Build the firm that comes out ahead.

We take on new partners a few at a time, so the standard never slips. Tell us what you are working on this month, and we will show you exactly what the first week would look like.

Our researchers will walk you through it.

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