“Working closely with Matchstar when hiring for our new Corporate Sales team was a positive experience . Carolyne was very responsive and was able to come through with well-qualified candidates in an extremely short amount of time. She was friendly, helpful and responsive and we look forward to working with her again.”
All Regions
“I started working with Matchstar several years ago when they were introduced to me by a business associate who had recommended them. Our initial search was for CEO position for a start-up. They did an incredible job of helping us get the position filled and they stayed engaged throughout the entire process. Since then I have used Matchstar for several high level executive searches and then have consistently delivered, results at a good value, always exceeding my expectations. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to others.”
“Matchstar did an outstanding job on our search for an SVP of Sales. What I felt stood out about their approach was the degree to which they stayed true to their name: Carolyne and Tim got to know us, our needs, and our personalities to find a candidate who matched. They helped us hire for high performance and high fit.”
“Carolyne, Tim, and MatchStar have a been a great recruiting asset for a fast growing company like ours. They are professional and have a great network and a well-oiled process for finding good resources quickly. We look forward to working with them again in the future.”
“Matchstar has been a fantastic firm to work with! They spent the time to really understand my business and the exact profile that would fit my needs. Their business model is very well suited to venture backed companies in that they provide the advantages of a retained search without the risk. They did a great job in researching the market and helped proactively recruit one of our industry’s top executives who we expect to be a high impact player for our company. I would strongly recommend them to companies looking to add the executive talent to take them to the next level!”
“Our experience with Matchstar obliterated my past misgivings about engaging a retained search firm. We had been repeatedly disappointed in the past by recruiters who overpromised, underdelivered, yet still charged as if they HAD delivered. Not a good outcome for a small and fast-growing business, to say the least. From the outset, Tim and Carolyne’s adroit handing of our concerns set us at ease; the Matchstar process for ensuring that they understood our business challenges as well as our staffing opportunities made us hopeful once again; best of all, the candidates they delivered (including the winning candidate) were well-targeted and helped us see that recruiting firms could actually deliver a high-value outcome! We have been thoroughly satisfied with both the process we encountered and the new executive we have brought on board.”
“Carolyne is simply the best. In merely one week, she lined up more than eight high quality candidates for our position that have been open for five months. Her writing style greatly enhanced the visibility of our position, and the interview process led by her is very effective. Needless to say, we found our best match in the first eight… I would not hesitate to engage her and Match Star in the future.”
“I really enjoyed working with Carolyne, Tim and the MatchStar team. They very quickly found a superb candidate for us. Although in the end we hired someone from our own contacts, the quality of the candidates we saw was exceptional!”
“Matchstar ran a world-class recruiting process to help me fill a critical C level role. Their team was efficient, process-driven, and engaged from on-boarding to hire. Once the right connections were made, they gave me plenty of time and checked in with just enough to keep the process moving forward. When it came time to close the deal, they were very helpful in facilitating and my first experience in working with Matchstar was a big success!”
“Matchstar’s approach is noticeably and additively different. By forcing much more upfront thought on personal, attitudinal, and career fit objectives, Carolyne and her team put us all in a better position to find excellent rather than just ‘very good.’”
“MatchStar offers a program that is better suited than most traditional retained search firms for early and mid-stage start-ups. MatchStar does not lock the company into a big upfront fee. With MatchStar you can hire your best candidate and then pay for the service; thus, your start-up can better assure that it is spending limited funds only once you have success. I have found Tim and Carolyne very diligent in their efforts to source candidates that can help the firm fulfill its mission.”
“Carolyne and Tim, Just a short note of thanks for your help with eFolder’s SVP of Sales hire. He is working out extremely well. Really, it has been a perfect start, thus far. It was also a pleasure working with you during the process; it was methodical; organized; and successful. We really appreciate it.”
“As the head of product at Empowered Careers, a mobile education startup, I worked closely with Carolyne and Tim to build out my team and hire a director of product management. I was very impressed with the thorough analysis done upfront by Carolyne to truly understand the needs of the position. In addition, the quality of candidates I received from them was top notch. I ended up hiring one of those candidates. Carolyne and Tim were on top of providing reference checks and were very responsive throughout the process. Very professional experience. They would be an asset for any executive level hire in Startups.”
“I have known Carolyne and Matchstar for several years now. Carolyne does a great job in understanding and translating our requirements to potential employees. Taking the time to understand our business helps tremendously in providing focused and driven candidates.”
“I thought MatchStar was exceptional in the search they did for us and I would use their services again in a heartbeat. The candidates surfaced were first rate and the time-to-fill was about a month – start to finish, which was lightening speed. I look forward to working with Carolyne, Tim, and the MatchStar team in the future.”
“I’ve worked with many search firms over the years, but was intrigued by the uniqueness of the MatchStar Venture Search model. I met with Carolyne and Tim to learn more, and was impressed, not only with their approach, but with their extensive networks and relationships. Their compensation model was also a big plus, with the accompanied attitude that if they can’t get this done, we shouldn’t pay them. Rather than a lengthy sourcing process, they were out in the marketplace almost day one, providing me with regular updates, and the opportunity to adjust the search as necessary. Bottom line, we got our executive, a true rock star in the industry. Both Carolyne and Tim were helpful throughout the process, including through negotiations. I highly recommend them, and look for more opportunities to work together.”
“Carolyne and Tim make an awesome team. MatchStar has a unique approach to recruiting: unlike hundreds of other cookie-cutter recruiting firms, Carolyne first got to know our company, the specific requirements of the position and the personality fit. Based on these conversations, MatchStar crafted a kickass position description and a series of candidate questions to glean out the best possible matches. Carolyne did an outstanding job of driving the process and quickly bringing several possible candidates. She even proactively helped us locate another candidate quickly when the first one unfortunately did not work out. I highly recommend Carolyne and Tim. They are a great recruiting asset for any company.”
“Matchstar exceed my personal expectations and moved rapidly to fill a critical revenue generating role.”
“As the CEO of several organizations in succession, I’ve now worked with Carolyne and the Matchstar team for several years. They’ve always delivered on critical hires, on time and within budget. Highly recommended.”
“The MatchStar team did a phenomenal job quickly filling our CEO search. They produced a roster of highly qualified candidates within weeks, and worked at our pace to fill the job in less than two months. Their process was efficient and effective, keeping us informed along the way. I highly recommend them and am confident we will use them for future searches.”
“Carolyne and the team behind the scenes at Matchstar exceeded our expectations and found us our ‘rock star’. We went to them with an executive role requiring a unique combination of experiences and leadership attributes which we believed would be a rare combination. Their process very effectively sourced and sorted a strong pool of candidates much faster than we had anticipated. They were so fast, in fact, that it felt like we were slowing them down! We ended up with the perfect addition to our leadership team and couldn’t be happier.”
“I have worked with many executive search firms and recruiting companies over the years. MatchStar is on a different level. In order to be the best at what you do, you need to surround yourself by people who are the best at what they do. The MatchStar Team is at the top of their game and has consistently added extraordinary value in many ways to my company and subsequently my career. You are wasting valuable time if you are not working with MatchStar.”
“I have had the opportunity to work with the Matchstar team, Tim and Carolyne, and have been impressed with their advanced search model. The focus and personalized approach enables an efficient process for identifying a well qualified talent pool. We look forward to future opportunities to collaborate.”
“Matchstar delivered great results for us. Their search process combines a unique technology approach with a broad network of contacts and a true understanding of how to represent a high growth tech company. But most of all I appreciate how MatchStar maintained and enhanced our company’s brand and integrity.”
“Matchstar did a great job for me at Instantis in helping with a VP of Sales hire that turned out to be one of the best hires at the company.”
“I’ve had the opportunity to work with many retained search firms, and was really attracted to Matchstar based on their unique sourcing model, ability to generate lots of candidate flow, and commitment to getting great people. Tim and Carolyne really dug deep into finding the right cultural match, understanding our business, and getting to know our team. I’ve used them for mission critical exec positions (VP/C-level) and will continue to do so in the future. They are absolutely outstanding recruiters. I love them!”
“MatchStar has a unique model that is ideal for balancing cost and quality. The expert team is tenacious and has done a fantastic job honing in on finding candidates with depth in skill expertise, a track record of success and cultural fit for our organization!”
“I had the opportunity to engage Matchstar for several key executive positions. They had a very unique model for the search space, which generated an excellent pool of candidates very quickly. Carolyne and Tim were extremely professional, understood our particular needs really well, and were able to deliver successfully every time. I’d recommend them highly for any company looking for high impact players!”
“Several years ago, I heard about Matchstar and Carolyne from a CEO I respected. He felt that Matchstar/Carolyne had an entrepreneurial approach to finding top candidates. Having grown tired of the expensive and time consuming retained searches I was used to in Corporate America- I was open to change. Working virtually with Carolyn provided to be a great experience and my CEO friend was correct. Carolyne approached the search like an entrepreneur — she was professional, fast, efficient and did an excellent job of screening and finding candidates that fit what we were looking for across the US. I would recommend Carolyne to any organization that needs to fill a high level position, quickly without a long drawn out search.”
“I’ve worked with Matchstar for over 3 years, and have turned to Matchstar multiple times for sales, marketing, and technical leadership. Carolyne and Tim go above and beyond what is expected and required for a search, and goes the extra mile to really understand personalities involved, and what personality fit will work and be successful for a given search. Since personality type and fit is so crucial in a CEO-direct report relationship, this is really the kind of search where Carolyne shines above other recruiters and exec search firms who trade in volume…Carolyne, in contrast, trades in getting the personality and cultural fit right for senior execs and start-up CEOs. I look forward to working with Carolyne for many years to come on my exec team searches.”
“Carolyne and her team at Matchstar have performed several searches for me over the years and I am always amazed at the quality of candidates that are presented and more importantly the process that is utilized to land the perfect candidate for one of my companies. Matchstar’s model is perfectly suited for early stage technology companies and I have recommended them to many of my peers.”
Matchstar is the most powerful 3-partner search firm on the planet and WAY better than the leading search firms. I highly recommend them. They are also the most competitively priced and offer the most flexibility to early stage companies.”
“Matchstar were extremely easy to work with, guiding us every step along the way to finding a great candidate for the CEO position. The candidates presented were extremely well qualified, and the value delivered by Carolyne and team was self-evident. Thank you, Matchstar team, for helping us find a star of a leader!”
“Wow! That single word explains it all. Over the last 25 years, when hiring leaders, I very seldom have my expectations managed, let alone exceeded. Carolyne and Tim did both – consistently, with passion and with extreme competence. We didn’t have a particularly challenging set of criteria for our SVP Sales. But, the process that Carolyne shepherded us through was on-point and excruciatingly thorough, yielding some spectacular candidates. Ultimately, it was hard for us to make a selection, but we are wholly thrilled with both the executive whom we hired, and the cultural alignment that we were able to achieve, to boot. We couldn’t be happier or more satisfied. Tactically, I would advise that, if you are dedicated to a superior outcome and if it is that important to you, be prepared to fully immerse yourself in the process – your results will likely to be as successful as ours have been. Best of luck! “
“Matchstar is unique among search firms in my experience. Their model is much more similar to the start-ups and nimble organizations that are their clients – they launch searches within hours rather than days or weeks and keep a rapid-fire frenetic pace as opposed to the more deliberate, steady pace of other executive search firms. They are also willing to provide the client much more data and visibility into the overall search firm process which can lead to a more informed decision as a hiring manager.”
“Matchstar delivers quality people, and they bear the risk of the deal. Best recruiting process I’ve worked with.”
“Carolyne and the MatchStar team did a great job. We went through a methodical process to hone in our needs against her database of candidates. Once this was done we got a full set of qualified applicants with the right experience and background. The decision ultimately came down to the individuals personality and how they would fit in the organization. We will definitely use Matchstar again.”
“Matchstar quickly sourced a wide range of potential candidates. Carolyne, in particular, did a terrific job sourcing our final candidate (who was not looking for a new position). This final candidate not only ticked every important criteria on our list, he also had prior experience working with our lead customer and one of our strategic investors. He is already making an impact and I look forward to completing future searches with the Matchstar team.”
“Every interaction with Matchstar was a wonderful one, nothing short of great. The entire process, from start to finish, was a pleasure. Not only did they find me incredible candidate, they were flexible, creative, caring and enthusiastic. And let’s face it, they write the best job descriptions on the planet, bar none.”
“Matchstar did a terrific job! Their network made our search extremely fast and we now have an awesome candidate who is killing it! Would definitely recommend Matchstar and use the firm again.”
“The position I had in mind was quite broadly defined when we first encountered MatchStar. Even before I was presented with any candidates, working through their process really helped me pinpoint the exact needs of the role. The result was a great set of candidates to choose from, and a fantastic result. I would absolutely work with this team again!”
“Over the years, I have had the opportunity to work with Carolyne and Tim at Matchstar, addressing my company’s talent needs. Besides providing the most efficient, effective recruiting process out there, they offered a personal connection and partnership unlike any other. In part, because of this, together we explored new innovative, entrepreneurial initiatives addressing industry needs. Carolynr and Tim have the business and partnership model down pat.”
“We hired Matchstar for a reason. Not only did we enjoy the relationship we had with Carolyne and Tim, but also because of their model. By taking some of the risk upfront themselves, they sent us a very clear message: they believed in what they were doing and believed they could be an effective search firm partner. And “effective” they were. Within 10 days after initiating the search, we were talking to the executive we eventually hired; a really top-notch, rare-to-find choice that was also a great cultural fit. This speaks to the robust database of executives they constantly curate, their customer service mentality, their hard work, and their collective team effort to make you feel like you are the only client. I highly recommend Matchstar’s services and would absolutely hire them again!”
“We had the opportunity to work with Carolyne and Tim early on when just getting established in the Silicon Valley. They had a very intimate understanding of the needs of start-up companies and access candidates who had successfully dealt with our life cycle stage challanges. They were efficient, professional, and ultimatey successful in helping us fill our open position. I would highly recommend them to any early stage growth companies needing key execs to scale up.”
“MatchStar has been enormously effective for our company. Recruiting is an area where the experience of a contractor is of top priority and we have been extremely happy with the prospects that have been introduced to us. The partners at MatchStar took the time to find out exactly who we needed, and then sourced exactly the right professionals. I am happy to say that we will be continually looking to work with MatchStar as we expand our business.”
“I have had the pleasure of working with Carolyne, Tim, and the Matchstar team several times over the past few years. They were instrumental in sourcing a number of key players as we scaled up. They have a time-proven business model that works great for early stage companies. It’s fast, deep, and ultimately very successful. I’ve found them always at the top of the game in the exec search space, and I’d recommend them any CEO or Board looking for a great value and spectacular candidates.”
“Carolyne is one of the best professionals I have worked with. She has helped me locate and secure top talent that accelerated the company and shareholder value. Whether in marketing, professional services or sales, her network and ability to find great talent is unsurpassed. I have used MatchStar over the past 10 years while with several different firms. And I will again in the future.”
“When it comes to driving the details that determine whether a company is a good fit for an executive candidate and the candidate a good fit for the company, Carolyne has the know-how. It’s well worth the preparation and up-front effort with MatchStar, because while Carolyne might give you the benefit of the doubt, she takes very seriously her role in making a match that drives the best results for both parties.”
“When we needed to hire a CTO for our company, we didn’t even know where to begin on a job description – let alone a search. Lucky for us, the team at Matchstar was able to walk us through the entire process, and land us a CTO within 30 days. Here we are a year later, and could not be more happy with the fit, our CTO has worked out tremendously. I highly recommend the Matchstar team!”
“I worked with Matchstar on a difficult search that was very successful in the end. Their unique business model generated some fabulous candidates very quickly, and was really impressed with the way Carolyne and Tim took the time to understand our business and mission critical needs. They were instrumental in the entire process, particularly providing key information during the closing to insure the deal would happen. I would – and have – recommended them to several others as a fantastic search firm for high growth companies.”
“Good executive search is the result of art and science. It requires a deep enough understanding of the role to be filled (the science) with the ability to identify the combination of personality traits, experience, character, and passion that will make that role a success (art). Carolyne has perfected that combination, making it a pleasure to work with her on both sides of the equation. She helps employers understand what it is they are really trying to do beyond just fill a slot or build a team, then seamlessly manages the angst, decision-making process, negotiation, and finish line with candidates. Unlike many others, Carolyne then stays involved – actively finding ways to make her candidates successful in the roles they have taken. It is a win-win for everyone involved and an old-fashioned approach to the most critical aspect of any business: people. You can’t go wrong working with her.”
“Working with MatchStar Venture Search has been a pleasure and rewarding experience for me and my execs. At Serious they were able to find the right people for manager, director and VP roles. Fast and with little fuss. And their model makes them far more affordable than many others. I highly recommend MatchStar for filling crucial roles from mid level through execs.”
“I’ve had the unique pleasure of working with Carolyne and matchstar.com in two distinct ways. First, as a candidate who was placed within an executive role, and secondly, as a client who leveraged her recruiting network to hire top-tier talent. Carolyne’s process delves much deeper than other executive recruiting firms to uncover true staffing needs, and result in the perfect match. Like the best match-makers, she cuts through the piles of resumes that litter the world, to present perfect matches. I would highly recommend matchstar.com for any company who is looking for increase the caliber of their leadership talent.”
“I was delighted to work with Tim and Carolyne of Matchstar in our efforts to recruit a VP of Online Product Development. Matchstar was incredibly thorough in striving to understand all aspects the product role at our firm. They carefully vetted candidates as well, and are not focused on merely introducing prospects. They advise on each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately helped us to find right match. We would be happy to work with Matchstar again.”
“Carloyne, Tim, and the MatchStar team were wonderful to work with and brought two fantastic new hires to Singularity University. She took the time to really get to know the organization and worked collaboratively with us at every step. Carolyne was able to adapt to the changes we made to our specifications along the way, enabling us to hire the best possible candidates. I would recommend MatchStar enthusiastically.”
“After having experimented with close to a dozen recruiting firms, I have decided to go exclusive with MatchStar. The reason for that is the speed and efficiency of their recruiting model. Few weeks after a deep dive interview and a calibration call I had access to a database of ~200 targeted resumes and 67 six page questionnaires filled out by candidates addressing my specific requirements for the open position. Carolyne was very efficient helping me narrow down the pool and I ended up hiring not only one but two of the top candidates. I will be partnering with MatchStar for many years to come.”
“Working with MatchStar was a pleasure all through the process. They were quickly able to understand what we where looking for and turn that into an on-target profile description to be run through their efficient recruiting process. We were introduced to several good candidates and were able to successfully recruit the person we were most interested in. I am happy to recommend MatchStar to others looking for that special candidate.”
“I am writing to submit a vehement letter of recommendation regarding MatchStar. The MatchStar team has done so many things, and taken so many steps to help us grow our business, it is hard to find only a few salient points. Over the last several years, MatchStar has helped us immensely. The MatchStar team started by thoroughly analyzing our business, our immediate needs and our future needs and helped us gain alignment with the time and resources required for each. The team made excellent recommendations about our hiring strategy and our planning for growth that made sense and became more valuable as we grew. It was clear that they saw us as a partner, not just as a client; a great value-add in a sea of firms that say it, but don’t back it up with action. Key interviews were held, and key executives were pursued, and during the entire process, the theme of “best for our company” was the watchword – and MatchStar stayed true to this focal point. While great people had become involved, the business-minded view by MatchStar leadership helped us realize that ‘the best fit’ may not always look like the ‘best fit on paper’ – a key hallmark of custom-fitting our new team members to what our company is all about, internally and as well as externally. The street rumor is certainly true, the team at MatchStar knows everyone, who is anyone in Silicon Valley …and it shows. We couldn’t be more pleased with the incredible help, support, and guidance of MatchStar; we plan to work with them for many years to come.”
“Matchstar has a unique methodology to find a needle in a haystack. I have hired them recently for two of my portfolio companies. In one case they found me the very high profile COO I was looking for and in the other case, they helped me fill a four-people executive team for one of my incubated companies that is second to none in the industry. Just tell them who you want for your team and they’ll get you a gem!”
“Carolyne and the MatchStar team have an uncanny ability to intuitively find the right person for the right job. Under an extremely tight timeline, Carolyne found the precise candidate with the matching skill set at our planned compensation without the hassle of interview a large group of candidates. Well done!”
“With rapid growth at TraceGains we needed to ramp up quickly with capable hires. Matchstar placed 4 quality candidates with us in a short period of time. They listened to our needs and brought in people with matching skill sets.”
“Matchstar didn’t just find who I was looking for. They found who I really needed. A great executive recruiting firm, as well as counselor on building my executive team.”
“I have partnered with MatchStar at two different companies now to help me build out a world class enterprise sales organizations. There are a couple of reasons why I have had so much success with MatchStar. First, the attention they pay in the front end of the engagement learning about the company, the culture, the technology and most importantly the character of individuals I seek as a Sales leader is second to none. Second, the process they put potential candidates thru before me and my team ever meet them, gives us a great understanding of the specific strengths of a candidate before we ever meet them. Finding and recruiting top sales talent is not an easy thing and consumes valuable sales cycles from my best talent. Having a Partner like MatchStar that can identify and pre-qualify top talent has been hugely valuable to me personally and the companies I have had the privilege of leading.”
“We chose MatchStar for our SVP Sales search because we knew it would take some research to fill our unusual spec, and we wanted a faster, more capital efficient process than traditional retained search. As advertised, Carolyne and team quickly got us an initial slate of credible candidates that we winnowed to three and then via on-site interviewing to one. The full cycle was 63 days from kick-off to start date, which was substantially shorter than most retained searches I have done, but the quality of the process and results was just as high.”
“I wanted to take a moment to let you know how pleased we are with the search process your company provided. Our search was very specific, and working with Carolyne Connor allowed us to identify and “key into” exactly what we were looking for. On my initial call with her, she asked me 80 minutes worth of questions just to prepare. That call set the very specific tone for our search, and it was time well spent. Once your recruiting team started, it seemed to me that there were many contacts made in a very short time frame for our target prospects, and they were very specific. The success your team had in the first 60 days was too much for us to handle, so we, as the customer, had to slow you guys down!”
“I’ve worked with Matchstar for over 3 years, and have turned to Matchstar multiple times for sales, marketing, and technical leadership. Carolyne and Tim go above and beyond what is expected and required for a search, and goes the extra mile to really understand personalities involved, and what personality fit will work and be successful for a given search. Since personality type and fit is so crucial in a CEO-direct report relationship, this is really the kind of search where Carolyne shines above other recruiters and exec search firms who trade in volume…Carolyne, in contrast, trades in getting the personality and cultural fit right for senior execs and start-up CEOs. I look forward to working with Carolyne for many years to come on my exec team searches.”
“I’m extremely pleased with the work done by Matchstar to hire executives for Zadara. Carolyne did an hour interview with me to understand our company, product, and what I was looking for, and she quickly wrote an excellent job description that matched the interview. I was impressed with the network of candidates that MatchStar has built and how quickly they brought at least a dozen of potential candidates to the table. Their methodology to send questions to potential candidates helped us identify the top 3 possible matches, plus 3 additional for backup. Matchstar also helped us during the interview process, as well as crafting the offer. This is the first time I worked with MatchStar, and I have no doubt I will using them for any executive positions I may need in the future.”
“Carolyn, Heid, and Tim go the extra mile and work very hard to exceed expectations when doing recruiting. It is great to work with a team that is so excited and motivated to get you the perfect match. ZeroLag is lucky to have such a great recruiting partner as Matchstar!”
East Coast
“Working closely with Matchstar when hiring for our new Corporate Sales team was a positive experience . Carolyne was very responsive and was able to come through with well-qualified candidates in an extremely short amount of time. She was friendly, helpful and responsive and we look forward to working with her again.”
“Carolyne, Tim, and MatchStar have a been a great recruiting asset for a fast growing company like ours. They are professional and have a great network and a well-oiled process for finding good resources quickly. We look forward to working with them again in the future.”
“Our experience with Matchstar obliterated my past misgivings about engaging a retained search firm. We had been repeatedly disappointed in the past by recruiters who overpromised, underdelivered, yet still charged as if they HAD delivered. Not a good outcome for a small and fast-growing business, to say the least. From the outset, Tim and Carolyne’s adroit handing of our concerns set us at ease; the Matchstar process for ensuring that they understood our business challenges as well as our staffing opportunities made us hopeful once again; best of all, the candidates they delivered (including the winning candidate) were well-targeted and helped us see that recruiting firms could actually deliver a high-value outcome! We have been thoroughly satisfied with both the process we encountered and the new executive we have brought on board.”
“Carolyne is simply the best. In merely one week, she lined up more than eight high quality candidates for our position that have been open for five months. Her writing style greatly enhanced the visibility of our position, and the interview process led by her is very effective. Needless to say, we found our best match in the first eight… I would not hesitate to engage her and Match Star in the future.”
“I have known Carolyne and Matchstar for several years now. Carolyne does a great job in understanding and translating our requirements to potential employees. Taking the time to understand our business helps tremendously in providing focused and driven candidates.”
“I thought MatchStar was exceptional in the search they did for us and I would use their services again in a heartbeat. The candidates surfaced were first rate and the time-to-fill was about a month – start to finish, which was lightening speed. I look forward to working with Carolyne, Tim, and the MatchStar team in the future.”
“Matchstar exceed my personal expectations and moved rapidly to fill a critical revenue generating role.”
“As the CEO of several organizations in succession, I’ve now worked with Carolyne and the Matchstar team for several years. They’ve always delivered on critical hires, on time and within budget. Highly recommended.”
“The MatchStar team did a phenomenal job quickly filling our CEO search. They produced a roster of highly qualified candidates within weeks, and worked at our pace to fill the job in less than two months. Their process was efficient and effective, keeping us informed along the way. I highly recommend them and am confident we will use them for future searches.”
“I have had the opportunity to work with the Matchstar team, Tim and Carolyne, and have been impressed with their advanced search model. The focus and personalized approach enables an efficient process for identifying a well qualified talent pool. We look forward to future opportunities to collaborate.”
“Matchstar delivered great results for us. Their search process combines a unique technology approach with a broad network of contacts and a true understanding of how to represent a high growth tech company. But most of all I appreciate how MatchStar maintained and enhanced our company’s brand and integrity.”
“Carolyne and her team at Matchstar have performed several searches for me over the years and I am always amazed at the quality of candidates that are presented and more importantly the process that is utilized to land the perfect candidate for one of my companies. Matchstar’s model is perfectly suited for early stage technology companies and I have recommended them to many of my peers.”
Matchstar is the most powerful 3-partner search firm on the planet and WAY better than the leading search firms. I highly recommend them. They are also the most competitively priced and offer the most flexibility to early stage companies.”
“Matchstar is unique among search firms in my experience. Their model is much more similar to the start-ups and nimble organizations that are their clients – they launch searches within hours rather than days or weeks and keep a rapid-fire frenetic pace as opposed to the more deliberate, steady pace of other executive search firms. They are also willing to provide the client much more data and visibility into the overall search firm process which can lead to a more informed decision as a hiring manager.”
“Every interaction with Matchstar was a wonderful one, nothing short of great. The entire process, from start to finish, was a pleasure. Not only did they find me incredible candidate, they were flexible, creative, caring and enthusiastic. And let’s face it, they write the best job descriptions on the planet, bar none.”
“Over the years, I have had the opportunity to work with Carolyne and Tim at Matchstar, addressing my company’s talent needs. Besides providing the most efficient, effective recruiting process out there, they offered a personal connection and partnership unlike any other. In part, because of this, together we explored new innovative, entrepreneurial initiatives addressing industry needs. Carolynr and Tim have the business and partnership model down pat.”
“I have had the pleasure of working with Carolyne, Tim, and the Matchstar team several times over the past few years. They were instrumental in sourcing a number of key players as we scaled up. They have a time-proven business model that works great for early stage companies. It’s fast, deep, and ultimately very successful. I’ve found them always at the top of the game in the exec search space, and I’d recommend them any CEO or Board looking for a great value and spectacular candidates.”
“Carolyne is one of the best professionals I have worked with. She has helped me locate and secure top talent that accelerated the company and shareholder value. Whether in marketing, professional services or sales, her network and ability to find great talent is unsurpassed. I have used MatchStar over the past 10 years while with several different firms. And I will again in the future.”
“When it comes to driving the details that determine whether a company is a good fit for an executive candidate and the candidate a good fit for the company, Carolyne has the know-how. It’s well worth the preparation and up-front effort with MatchStar, because while Carolyne might give you the benefit of the doubt, she takes very seriously her role in making a match that drives the best results for both parties.”
“I’ve had the unique pleasure of working with Carolyne and matchstar.com in two distinct ways. First, as a candidate who was placed within an executive role, and secondly, as a client who leveraged her recruiting network to hire top-tier talent. Carolyne’s process delves much deeper than other executive recruiting firms to uncover true staffing needs, and result in the perfect match. Like the best match-makers, she cuts through the piles of resumes that litter the world, to present perfect matches. I would highly recommend matchstar.com for any company who is looking for increase the caliber of their leadership talent.”
“I was delighted to work with Tim and Carolyne of Matchstar in our efforts to recruit a VP of Online Product Development. Matchstar was incredibly thorough in striving to understand all aspects the product role at our firm. They carefully vetted candidates as well, and are not focused on merely introducing prospects. They advise on each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately helped us to find right match. We would be happy to work with Matchstar again.”
“Working with MatchStar was a pleasure all through the process. They were quickly able to understand what we where looking for and turn that into an on-target profile description to be run through their efficient recruiting process. We were introduced to several good candidates and were able to successfully recruit the person we were most interested in. I am happy to recommend MatchStar to others looking for that special candidate.”
“Matchstar didn’t just find who I was looking for. They found who I really needed. A great executive recruiting firm, as well as counselor on building my executive team.”
“I wanted to take a moment to let you know how pleased we are with the search process your company provided. Our search was very specific, and working with Carolyne Connor allowed us to identify and “key into” exactly what we were looking for. On my initial call with her, she asked me 80 minutes worth of questions just to prepare. That call set the very specific tone for our search, and it was time well spent. Once your recruiting team started, it seemed to me that there were many contacts made in a very short time frame for our target prospects, and they were very specific. The success your team had in the first 60 days was too much for us to handle, so we, as the customer, had to slow you guys down!”
West Coast
“I started working with Matchstar several years ago when they were introduced to me by a business associate who had recommended them. Our initial search was for CEO position for a start-up. They did an incredible job of helping us get the position filled and they stayed engaged throughout the entire process. Since then I have used Matchstar for several high level executive searches and then have consistently delivered, results at a good value, always exceeding my expectations. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to others.”
“Matchstar did an outstanding job on our search for an SVP of Sales. What I felt stood out about their approach was the degree to which they stayed true to their name: Carolyne and Tim got to know us, our needs, and our personalities to find a candidate who matched. They helped us hire for high performance and high fit.”
“Matchstar has been a fantastic firm to work with! They spent the time to really understand my business and the exact profile that would fit my needs. Their business model is very well suited to venture backed companies in that they provide the advantages of a retained search without the risk. They did a great job in researching the market and helped proactively recruit one of our industry’s top executives who we expect to be a high impact player for our company. I would strongly recommend them to companies looking to add the executive talent to take them to the next level!”
“I really enjoyed working with Carolyne, Tim and the MatchStar team. They very quickly found a superb candidate for us. Although in the end we hired someone from our own contacts, the quality of the candidates we saw was exceptional!”
“Matchstar ran a world-class recruiting process to help me fill a critical C level role. Their team was efficient, process-driven, and engaged from on-boarding to hire. Once the right connections were made, they gave me plenty of time and checked in with just enough to keep the process moving forward. When it came time to close the deal, they were very helpful in facilitating and my first experience in working with Matchstar was a big success!”
“Matchstar’s approach is noticeably and additively different. By forcing much more upfront thought on personal, attitudinal, and career fit objectives, Carolyne and her team put us all in a better position to find excellent rather than just ‘very good.’”
“MatchStar offers a program that is better suited than most traditional retained search firms for early and mid-stage start-ups. MatchStar does not lock the company into a big upfront fee. With MatchStar you can hire your best candidate and then pay for the service; thus, your start-up can better assure that it is spending limited funds only once you have success. I have found Tim and Carolyne very diligent in their efforts to source candidates that can help the firm fulfill its mission.”
“Carolyne and Tim, Just a short note of thanks for your help with eFolder’s SVP of Sales hire. He is working out extremely well. Really, it has been a perfect start, thus far. It was also a pleasure working with you during the process; it was methodical; organized; and successful. We really appreciate it.”
“As the head of product at Empowered Careers, a mobile education startup, I worked closely with Carolyne and Tim to build out my team and hire a director of product management. I was very impressed with the thorough analysis done upfront by Carolyne to truly understand the needs of the position. In addition, the quality of candidates I received from them was top notch. I ended up hiring one of those candidates. Carolyne and Tim were on top of providing reference checks and were very responsive throughout the process. Very professional experience. They would be an asset for any executive level hire in Startups.”
“Carolyne and Tim make an awesome team. MatchStar has a unique approach to recruiting: unlike hundreds of other cookie-cutter recruiting firms, Carolyne first got to know our company, the specific requirements of the position and the personality fit. Based on these conversations, MatchStar crafted a kickass position description and a series of candidate questions to glean out the best possible matches. Carolyne did an outstanding job of driving the process and quickly bringing several possible candidates. She even proactively helped us locate another candidate quickly when the first one unfortunately did not work out. I highly recommend Carolyne and Tim. They are a great recruiting asset for any company.”
“I have worked with many executive search firms and recruiting companies over the years. MatchStar is on a different level. In order to be the best at what you do, you need to surround yourself by people who are the best at what they do. The MatchStar Team is at the top of their game and has consistently added extraordinary value in many ways to my company and subsequently my career. You are wasting valuable time if you are not working with MatchStar.”
“Matchstar did a great job for me at Instantis in helping with a VP of Sales hire that turned out to be one of the best hires at the company.”
“I’ve had the opportunity to work with many retained search firms, and was really attracted to Matchstar based on their unique sourcing model, ability to generate lots of candidate flow, and commitment to getting great people. Tim and Carolyne really dug deep into finding the right cultural match, understanding our business, and getting to know our team. I’ve used them for mission critical exec positions (VP/C-level) and will continue to do so in the future. They are absolutely outstanding recruiters. I love them!”
“MatchStar has a unique model that is ideal for balancing cost and quality. The expert team is tenacious and has done a fantastic job honing in on finding candidates with depth in skill expertise, a track record of success and cultural fit for our organization!”
“I’ve worked with Matchstar for over 3 years, and have turned to Matchstar multiple times for sales, marketing, and technical leadership. Carolyne and Tim go above and beyond what is expected and required for a search, and goes the extra mile to really understand personalities involved, and what personality fit will work and be successful for a given search. Since personality type and fit is so crucial in a CEO-direct report relationship, this is really the kind of search where Carolyne shines above other recruiters and exec search firms who trade in volume…Carolyne, in contrast, trades in getting the personality and cultural fit right for senior execs and start-up CEOs. I look forward to working with Carolyne for many years to come on my exec team searches.”
“Matchstar were extremely easy to work with, guiding us every step along the way to finding a great candidate for the CEO position. The candidates presented were extremely well qualified, and the value delivered by Carolyne and team was self-evident. Thank you, Matchstar team, for helping us find a star of a leader!”
“Matchstar delivers quality people, and they bear the risk of the deal. Best recruiting process I’ve worked with.”
“Matchstar quickly sourced a wide range of potential candidates. Carolyne, in particular, did a terrific job sourcing our final candidate (who was not looking for a new position). This final candidate not only ticked every important criteria on our list, he also had prior experience working with our lead customer and one of our strategic investors. He is already making an impact and I look forward to completing future searches with the Matchstar team.”
“Matchstar did a terrific job! Their network made our search extremely fast and we now have an awesome candidate who is killing it! Would definitely recommend Matchstar and use the firm again.”
“The position I had in mind was quite broadly defined when we first encountered MatchStar. Even before I was presented with any candidates, working through their process really helped me pinpoint the exact needs of the role. The result was a great set of candidates to choose from, and a fantastic result. I would absolutely work with this team again!”
“We hired Matchstar for a reason. Not only did we enjoy the relationship we had with Carolyne and Tim, but also because of their model. By taking some of the risk upfront themselves, they sent us a very clear message: they believed in what they were doing and believed they could be an effective search firm partner. And “effective” they were. Within 10 days after initiating the search, we were talking to the executive we eventually hired; a really top-notch, rare-to-find choice that was also a great cultural fit. This speaks to the robust database of executives they constantly curate, their customer service mentality, their hard work, and their collective team effort to make you feel like you are the only client. I highly recommend Matchstar’s services and would absolutely hire them again!”
“We had the opportunity to work with Carolyne and Tim early on when just getting established in the Silicon Valley. They had a very intimate understanding of the needs of start-up companies and access candidates who had successfully dealt with our life cycle stage challanges. They were efficient, professional, and ultimatey successful in helping us fill our open position. I would highly recommend them to any early stage growth companies needing key execs to scale up.”
“MatchStar has been enormously effective for our company. Recruiting is an area where the experience of a contractor is of top priority and we have been extremely happy with the prospects that have been introduced to us. The partners at MatchStar took the time to find out exactly who we needed, and then sourced exactly the right professionals. I am happy to say that we will be continually looking to work with MatchStar as we expand our business.”
“When we needed to hire a CTO for our company, we didn’t even know where to begin on a job description – let alone a search. Lucky for us, the team at Matchstar was able to walk us through the entire process, and land us a CTO within 30 days. Here we are a year later, and could not be more happy with the fit, our CTO has worked out tremendously. I highly recommend the Matchstar team!”
“I worked with Matchstar on a difficult search that was very successful in the end. Their unique business model generated some fabulous candidates very quickly, and was really impressed with the way Carolyne and Tim took the time to understand our business and mission critical needs. They were instrumental in the entire process, particularly providing key information during the closing to insure the deal would happen. I would – and have – recommended them to several others as a fantastic search firm for high growth companies.”
“Working with MatchStar Venture Search has been a pleasure and rewarding experience for me and my execs. At Serious they were able to find the right people for manager, director and VP roles. Fast and with little fuss. And their model makes them far more affordable than many others. I highly recommend MatchStar for filling crucial roles from mid level through execs.”
“Carloyne, Tim, and the MatchStar team were wonderful to work with and brought two fantastic new hires to Singularity University. She took the time to really get to know the organization and worked collaboratively with us at every step. Carolyne was able to adapt to the changes we made to our specifications along the way, enabling us to hire the best possible candidates. I would recommend MatchStar enthusiastically.”
“After having experimented with close to a dozen recruiting firms, I have decided to go exclusive with MatchStar. The reason for that is the speed and efficiency of their recruiting model. Few weeks after a deep dive interview and a calibration call I had access to a database of ~200 targeted resumes and 67 six page questionnaires filled out by candidates addressing my specific requirements for the open position. Carolyne was very efficient helping me narrow down the pool and I ended up hiring not only one but two of the top candidates. I will be partnering with MatchStar for many years to come.”
“I am writing to submit a vehement letter of recommendation regarding MatchStar. The MatchStar team has done so many things, and taken so many steps to help us grow our business, it is hard to find only a few salient points. Over the last several years, MatchStar has helped us immensely. The MatchStar team started by thoroughly analyzing our business, our immediate needs and our future needs and helped us gain alignment with the time and resources required for each. The team made excellent recommendations about our hiring strategy and our planning for growth that made sense and became more valuable as we grew. It was clear that they saw us as a partner, not just as a client; a great value-add in a sea of firms that say it, but don’t back it up with action. Key interviews were held, and key executives were pursued, and during the entire process, the theme of “best for our company” was the watchword – and MatchStar stayed true to this focal point. While great people had become involved, the business-minded view by MatchStar leadership helped us realize that ‘the best fit’ may not always look like the ‘best fit on paper’ – a key hallmark of custom-fitting our new team members to what our company is all about, internally and as well as externally. The street rumor is certainly true, the team at MatchStar knows everyone, who is anyone in Silicon Valley …and it shows. We couldn’t be more pleased with the incredible help, support, and guidance of MatchStar; we plan to work with them for many years to come.”
“Matchstar has a unique methodology to find a needle in a haystack. I have hired them recently for two of my portfolio companies. In one case they found me the very high profile COO I was looking for and in the other case, they helped me fill a four-people executive team for one of my incubated companies that is second to none in the industry. Just tell them who you want for your team and they’ll get you a gem!”
“Carolyne and the MatchStar team have an uncanny ability to intuitively find the right person for the right job. Under an extremely tight timeline, Carolyne found the precise candidate with the matching skill set at our planned compensation without the hassle of interview a large group of candidates. Well done!”
“I have partnered with MatchStar at two different companies now to help me build out a world class enterprise sales organizations. There are a couple of reasons why I have had so much success with MatchStar. First, the attention they pay in the front end of the engagement learning about the company, the culture, the technology and most importantly the character of individuals I seek as a Sales leader is second to none. Second, the process they put potential candidates thru before me and my team ever meet them, gives us a great understanding of the specific strengths of a candidate before we ever meet them. Finding and recruiting top sales talent is not an easy thing and consumes valuable sales cycles from my best talent. Having a Partner like MatchStar that can identify and pre-qualify top talent has been hugely valuable to me personally and the companies I have had the privilege of leading.”
“I’ve worked with Matchstar for over 3 years, and have turned to Matchstar multiple times for sales, marketing, and technical leadership. Carolyne and Tim go above and beyond what is expected and required for a search, and goes the extra mile to really understand personalities involved, and what personality fit will work and be successful for a given search. Since personality type and fit is so crucial in a CEO-direct report relationship, this is really the kind of search where Carolyne shines above other recruiters and exec search firms who trade in volume…Carolyne, in contrast, trades in getting the personality and cultural fit right for senior execs and start-up CEOs. I look forward to working with Carolyne for many years to come on my exec team searches.”
“I’m extremely pleased with the work done by Matchstar to hire executives for Zadara. Carolyne did an hour interview with me to understand our company, product, and what I was looking for, and she quickly wrote an excellent job description that matched the interview. I was impressed with the network of candidates that MatchStar has built and how quickly they brought at least a dozen of potential candidates to the table. Their methodology to send questions to potential candidates helped us identify the top 3 possible matches, plus 3 additional for backup. Matchstar also helped us during the interview process, as well as crafting the offer. This is the first time I worked with MatchStar, and I have no doubt I will using them for any executive positions I may need in the future.”
“Carolyn, Heid, and Tim go the extra mile and work very hard to exceed expectations when doing recruiting. It is great to work with a team that is so excited and motivated to get you the perfect match. ZeroLag is lucky to have such a great recruiting partner as Matchstar!”
Other
“I’ve worked with many search firms over the years, but was intrigued by the uniqueness of the MatchStar Venture Search model. I met with Carolyne and Tim to learn more, and was impressed, not only with their approach, but with their extensive networks and relationships. Their compensation model was also a big plus, with the accompanied attitude that if they can’t get this done, we shouldn’t pay them. Rather than a lengthy sourcing process, they were out in the marketplace almost day one, providing me with regular updates, and the opportunity to adjust the search as necessary. Bottom line, we got our executive, a true rock star in the industry. Both Carolyne and Tim were helpful throughout the process, including through negotiations. I highly recommend them, and look for more opportunities to work together.”
“Carolyne and the team behind the scenes at Matchstar exceeded our expectations and found us our ‘rock star’. We went to them with an executive role requiring a unique combination of experiences and leadership attributes which we believed would be a rare combination. Their process very effectively sourced and sorted a strong pool of candidates much faster than we had anticipated. They were so fast, in fact, that it felt like we were slowing them down! We ended up with the perfect addition to our leadership team and couldn’t be happier.”
“I had the opportunity to engage Matchstar for several key executive positions. They had a very unique model for the search space, which generated an excellent pool of candidates very quickly. Carolyne and Tim were extremely professional, understood our particular needs really well, and were able to deliver successfully every time. I’d recommend them highly for any company looking for high impact players!”
“Several years ago, I heard about Matchstar and Carolyne from a CEO I respected. He felt that Matchstar/Carolyne had an entrepreneurial approach to finding top candidates. Having grown tired of the expensive and time consuming retained searches I was used to in Corporate America- I was open to change. Working virtually with Carolyn provided to be a great experience and my CEO friend was correct. Carolyne approached the search like an entrepreneur — she was professional, fast, efficient and did an excellent job of screening and finding candidates that fit what we were looking for across the US. I would recommend Carolyne to any organization that needs to fill a high level position, quickly without a long drawn out search.”
“Wow! That single word explains it all. Over the last 25 years, when hiring leaders, I very seldom have my expectations managed, let alone exceeded. Carolyne and Tim did both – consistently, with passion and with extreme competence. We didn’t have a particularly challenging set of criteria for our SVP Sales. But, the process that Carolyne shepherded us through was on-point and excruciatingly thorough, yielding some spectacular candidates. Ultimately, it was hard for us to make a selection, but we are wholly thrilled with both the executive whom we hired, and the cultural alignment that we were able to achieve, to boot. We couldn’t be happier or more satisfied. Tactically, I would advise that, if you are dedicated to a superior outcome and if it is that important to you, be prepared to fully immerse yourself in the process – your results will likely to be as successful as ours have been. Best of luck! “
“Carolyne and the MatchStar team did a great job. We went through a methodical process to hone in our needs against her database of candidates. Once this was done we got a full set of qualified applicants with the right experience and background. The decision ultimately came down to the individuals personality and how they would fit in the organization. We will definitely use Matchstar again.”
“Good executive search is the result of art and science. It requires a deep enough understanding of the role to be filled (the science) with the ability to identify the combination of personality traits, experience, character, and passion that will make that role a success (art). Carolyne has perfected that combination, making it a pleasure to work with her on both sides of the equation. She helps employers understand what it is they are really trying to do beyond just fill a slot or build a team, then seamlessly manages the angst, decision-making process, negotiation, and finish line with candidates. Unlike many others, Carolyne then stays involved – actively finding ways to make her candidates successful in the roles they have taken. It is a win-win for everyone involved and an old-fashioned approach to the most critical aspect of any business: people. You can’t go wrong working with her.”
“With rapid growth at TraceGains we needed to ramp up quickly with capable hires. Matchstar placed 4 quality candidates with us in a short period of time. They listened to our needs and brought in people with matching skill sets.”
“We chose MatchStar for our SVP Sales search because we knew it would take some research to fill our unusual spec, and we wanted a faster, more capital efficient process than traditional retained search. As advertised, Carolyne and team quickly got us an initial slate of credible candidates that we winnowed to three and then via on-site interviewing to one. The full cycle was 63 days from kick-off to start date, which was substantially shorter than most retained searches I have done, but the quality of the process and results was just as high.”