◍ The Practice
A search firm
built like a design studio.
Three Steps was founded on a stubborn belief: that the way most retained search is practiced — pipelines, keyword matching, volume slates — is beneath the leaders it claims to serve.
We built the opposite. Every mandate is partner-led. Every search begins with a thesis, not a job description. Every finalist is someone we would personally endorse. We stay embedded through the first hundred days because a placement is not a close — it is a beginning.
◍ What we believe
I.
Talent is a thesis, not a database.
The best operators are rarely on any list. Finding them requires a point of view — an argument about the shape of the market and the archetype it will reward.
II.
Speed is a byproduct of clarity.
Our median search closes in 68 days not because we rush, but because we invest six weeks upfront calibrating with founders and boards until the target is knife-edge sharp.
III.
The partner runs the search.
No handoffs. No junior associates. The person you meet in the pitch is the person on every candidate call, every debrief, every reference conversation.
IV.
Fit is measurable.
We assess against a rubric built for your company, your stage, and your board — not against a generic leadership competency model. Every reference is structured. Every debrief is written.
◍ Where we work
Category-forming
companies. Full stop.
We work with roughly forty companies a year. Most are between Series B and pre-IPO. All of them are building something that did not exist a decade ago. We say no to the rest.