Testimonials
Ben was an instrumental partner. During a critical period of growth we needed to bring in leaders who would take us to the next level. One of our most important hires was a CPO. The search process was tight, the team quickly aligned, we met excellent candidates throughout the search and landed someone who delivered on everything we had hoped. If you're looking for a thoughtful partner who can deliver on complex CPO hires, I highly recommend Ben.
Joe Holland
CEO, TeachersPayTeachers
Spectrum Equity
Through an intro from our investor, we hired Ben to run our first VP Marketing when we were a seed stage company just starting to make our mark. He introduced and helped us close a true start-up marketer who created impact from day 1 and scaled up along the journey. We couldn't be happier.
Pouyan Salehi
CEO, Scratchpad
Accel, Craft
It's hard to find a recruiter you can trust, who doesn't just throw candidates at you. It's even harder to find someone who understands the nuance of culture, especially for a company that puts as much emphasis on it as we do. Ben gets it. We had super unique requirements and a very high bar for our CMO search. We met a lot of candidates but ended up hiring the very first person he introduced. She’s transformed not only our marketing department, but our company as a whole. When it came to hiring a CPO, I had no hesitation in hiring Ben again. Once again, the result was phenomenal. If you're thinking about hiring him, don't hesitate.
Ron Schneidermann
CEO, AllTrails
Spectrum Equity
At MasterClass I needed a VP of Growth who could not only own and drive the metrics, but would also be able to navigate the brand sensitivities we have for the business. A brand sensitive growth leader is like looking for a needle in a haystack, but Ben was able to find us the perfect leader. The candidate he brought us has crushed it in the role and still driving results 4+ years later!
Mark Williamson
COO and Board Director, Masterclass
Ben and Chord Search were introduced to us by another CEO who spoke very highly of an experience with them. We're glad we found them. They're super specialized and proved to be excellent partners who helped Unleash hire several key executives. With a unique set of requirements, the candidate pool was limited but we met great candidates for both our VP Marketing and Head of DevRel. In the end, we had a tough choice with A+level finalists who had scaled start-ups from 10-50M ARR. The result was A+. They transformed our company. I highly recommend them to any other Founder looking to hire great leaders.
Egil Østhus
CEO, Unleash
Spark Capital
Ben helped us find a great first Head of Marketing. It was a tricky hire in one of the most competitive markets in history. Ben helped us clarify the profile, build confidence and conviction around the right hire for our unique needs. Ben has a balanced view and is clear when he feels a fit is not right. We aligned quickly on the right profile and executed. I highly recommend Ben. If you get the chance to work with him, take it.
Barr Moses
CEO, Monte Carlo Data
Accel, Redpoint
If you're lucky enough to get introduced to Chord Search like we were, hire them. When we embarked on our CMO search our investors introduced us to both big firms and small. We've worked with both and know it's all about finding the right partner. We found that in Ben. It's clear he's at the very top of the game. He's a trusted source, master of his craft and has all the connections we needed. We could not be happier.
Dan Lines
Co-Founder, LinearB
Battery Ventures
Our investor at Accel had worked with Ben on many other marketing leadership searches and highly recommended him as someone who can find highly specialised marketing talent. They were right. Ben and team were excellent to work with. We met A+ talent, the process was tight, goals were aligned and we enjoyed every minute of the partnership. The process allowed us to build confidence and conviction before making a hire. We're a big fan and would recommend them in a heart beat.
Matt Martin
CEO, Clockwise
Accel, Greylock, Bain
Chord Search was one of 4 firms introduced to us including much bigger brands for our first CMO hire. We went with Chord due to the recommendations, depth of focus and the experience Ben brings to the search. Ben helped us understand what kind of marketer was a great fit for us, presented an incredible list of candidates and helped us hire someone who had taken companies from first marketing hire to hundreds of millions in revenue.
Davit Baghdasaryan
CEO, Krisp.ai
Storm Ventures, Sierra Ventures
Excellent experience working with Ben on recent VP of Product search. He's very skilled at really understand our needs as a company, founding team, and what a successful candidate looks like. He got to work right away and ran a very timely process for us. If you have a search in the zone that Ben covers, I highly recommend him.
Ryan Day
Co-Founder, Atomist (Acquired by Docker)
Accel
The role we were hiring for was a tricky one but the result was fantastic. They quickly aligned with our culture and ran a process that found the right person in an efficient time frame. I enjoyed partnering with them and would encourage other CEO's to hire them.
Lennie Sliwinski
CEO, Trusted Health
Craft, Felicis
If you are looking for your marketing leader, I highly recommend Ben. He has a network of world class marketers and do an amazing job understanding your business needs and accurately matching candidates. Beyond sourcing, Ben was integral in the closing process as well. I will use them again.
Stephen Ehikian
CEO, Airkit (Acquired by Salesforce)
Accel, Emergence Capital, Salesforce Ventures, EQT
Thank you guys so much! You both were fantastic to work with, and I'm extremely impressed with how effective you were.
Joseph Gordon-Levit
Co-Founder, HitRecord (Acquired by Masterclass)
I initially hired Ben for an important VP Marketing search and had no hesitations hiring him a second time for our VP Product hire. Ben takes the time to understand what was unique about our company and helped us figure out the right fit not only from an experience POV but more importantly from a cultural perspective. The process was tight, communication flowed well and the results were outstanding in both cases. I'm a fan.
Jaron Waldman
Co-Founder, Curbside and CEO, RakutenReady
Our
FOcus
CMO/VP/Head of Marketing
CPO/VP/Head of Product Management
CGO/VP/Head of Growth/PLG
VP/Head of Product Marketing
VP/Head of Demand Gen/Revenue Marketing
VP/Head of Communications and Brand
VP/Head of Dev Rel
VP/Head of Marketing Operations
Our
Approach
Passion for our craft, devoted, hyper focussed, relationship lead, integrity first, grit above all
We're at the bleeding edge of software org design and recruitment. We've been at the centre of marketing's transition from art to data, from product's extension beyond the software bits to acquisition and distribution, and from PLG being experimental to a critical function.
Chord is devoted to sharing these experiences with you. We work on a limited number of engagements for portfolio companies of top tier investment firms and have the trust and influence to win the best talent.
Founder
Founder
Since 2005, Ben has partnered with groundbreaking founders to hire 300+ insanely hard to find marketing and product leaders who have reinvented how software products are built and sold.