Case
A first CPO for an international MarTech product: a stop list of 110+ people and a market report in a month
In a month we gave the client a full picture of the CPO market, and the company redefined the role: it hired a Product Lead instead of a CPO.
An international MarTech product with 100+ people needed its first CPO, working in close tandem with the CEO. The client had searched on its own for six months, and the stop list had more than 110 people the CEO did not want to consider. In a month NEWHR agreed a long list of 82 people with the CEO, ran 8 interviews and delivered a market report, after which the company redefined the role.
Request and constraints
The company's first CPO. Product strategy had historically been the CEO's responsibility, so the role needed someone ready to work in close tandem with the CEO.
- Experience in English-speaking markets and fluent English, with Russian as the main language.
- Not from Big Tech or large corporations.
- Not only B2C and not only mobile; B2B experience not limited to enterprise.
- Strong analytics and confident use of AI tools in the product.
- A limited budget.
Why it was hard
The client had already searched for six months
NEWHR joined after six months of the client's own search.
A stop list of more than 110 people
The CEO knew these people and did not want to consider them.
The CEO took part in every stage
Product strategy was the CEO's area, so the CEO took part in filtering candidates at every stage.
A limited budget
At the same time, the experience requirements were high: English-speaking markets, B2B and B2C, strong analytics and AI tools.
How we searched
The CEO took part in filtering at every stage, so we split the work into two steps.
First, we agreed the list of target companies and people with the CEO
In 2 weeks NEWHR built a first list: 56 people at Lead, Head and CPO level from the target companies. Over the following week, after the CEO's edits, the list was expanded and approved: 82 candidates.
Then we approached candidates from the approved long list
In 1.5 weeks: 30+ contacts and 8 interviews on NEWHR's side. 2 candidates were ready to be presented to the client.
Funnel
| Stage | Candidates | Conversion from previous stage |
|---|---|---|
| Approved long list | 82 | — |
| Contacts | 30+ | — |
| Interviews on NEWHR's side | 8 | — |
| Ready to present to the client | 2 | 25% |
Result
The client received a market report: how many suitable people there are, whom the company can realistically attract, and what the constraints are. As a result, the company redefined the role: instead of a CPO it hired a Product Lead, and the founder took over the CPO functions. Timeline: about a month.
We bring in NEWHR when we need an additional expert view on a hiring task. The NEWHR team understands our specifics very well and helps us assess the market correctly and see what we can really aim for. It is important for us to check against the market from time to time (with NEWHR's help) so that we make better-balanced decisions about growing the team.
International MarTech product