Caldwell Recruits Chief Product Officer for Built In
October 21, 2020 – Mercedes Chatfield-Taylor, managing partner of the private equity and venture capital practice at Caldwell, along with consultant Gina Barge, recently placed Saurabh Goorha as chief product officer of Built In, a venture-backed leader in the tech recruitment industry.
Mr. Saurabh is an experienced chief product officer and general manager for SaaS, B2B and B2C products, and ML data analytic platforms. He has held executive and senior leadership roles at YouVisit (a Vista Equity Partners company), Cision, PR Newswire and Dow Jones. Mr. Saurabh has managed business growth and product lifecycle management for scores of global MarTech brands. He has led and contributed to multiple company exits to private equity and IPO, including leading product growth and exit of SMB company to Vista Equity Partners.
“The opportunity to innovate and bring best practices from MarTech to Built In’s customers and marketplace is exciting,” said Mr. Goorha, who in previous leadership roles has executed on product strategy with global cross-functional teams. This includes leading the build and growth of next-gen MarTech products and platforms for Cision. “Because of this new candidate journey, we’re now giving customers access to sophisticated strategies, including audience targeting and retargeting, machine-learning-enabled data insights and recommendations, as well as dynamic content personalization experiences. These solutions are designed to replace recruitment strategies that no longer perform.”
Built In, a venture-backed industry leader in tech recruitment, serves more than 1,800 innovative tech companies, with 2.5 million sought-after tech professionals visiting the site monthly. The platform leverages the power of content to help tech companies elevate their reputations as national, local or remote employers of choice, as well as leaders in DEI. With $30 million in funding to date, Built In raised $22 million in a 2019 Series C round led by Updata Partners with participation from existing investors including MATH Venture Partners, which led Built In’s previous two funding rounds.
“At Built In, we used 2020 to enhance our executive team with the intent to expand our national reach and deliver enriched customer and user experiences through product, tech and marketing innovation,” said Maria Christopoulos Katris, co-founder and CEO of Built In. “In response to dramatic changes we’ve seen in the candidate journey, we’re staying true to our legacy as an industry disruptor, constantly innovating solutions to help companies fill hard-to-hire tech positions, or roles of the future.
“And we aim to do this for an expanded portfolio of tech companies, as well as all companies undergoing digital transformations,” she said. ”Having evolved from our earliest days, when Built In operated as a set of city-specific sites, we now have national reach and are moving faster toward our future as the industry leader on the national stage.”
Transforming How TA Professionals Achieve Results
“Candidates today don’t behave like job seekers of the past,” said Sheridan Orr, chief marketing officer of Built In. “They act like consumers, who also do deep-dive research into products before they buy. This calls on Built In to transform how talent acquisition professionals get results. Those who are poised to win the race for tech talent will tear a page from the marketer’s playbook.”
“Like marketers, they need to drive candidates down a funnel by strengthening their employer brands, running campaigns and putting their employer brand stories in front of the right audience,” said Ms. Orr. “In this case, Built In delivers the right audience. We attract 2.5 million tech professionals monthly – skilled professionals who don’t spend their time on career sites but do rely on Built In for tech content.”
Ms. Chatfield-Taylor is a member of Caldwell’s technology, consumer, digital and media teams. She focuses on executive-level search for high-growth technology companies, with deep expertise in business-to-business, SaaS, social, e-commerce, gaming and other transformative technologies. She has completed more than 50 CEO searches as well as other C-level assignments for her clients, with a deep passion and expertise in helping to diversify VC and PE-backed company boards and leadership teams. Ms. Chatfield-Taylor recently placed Spencer Lee as CFO of hims, Heidi O’Neill as a board member at Spotify, and Prashanth Chandrasekaran as CEO for Stack Overflow.
“Mercedes is the foremost search professional in the high-growth technology venture capital sector today,” said John Wallace, chief executive officer of Caldwell. “Her reputation for her relentless drive, client commitment and impeccable execution precedes her.”
“For years, Mercedes has served in an advisory capacity to a roster of top-tier venture capital and private-equity firms, assisting her clients and their portfolio companies in recruiting leaders focused on value creation,” he said. “She is comfortable serving as a behind-the-scenes executive coach to early stage founders and as a trusted advisor to public company boards of directors.”
Ms. Barge is a consultant in Caldwell’s private equity and venture capital practice. She focuses on executive-level search for senior leaders within high-growth technology portfolio companies, including software as a service, e-commerce, internet and consumer. Her experience spans multiple C-suite functions, as well as marketing and sales leadership roles.
Related: Valor Partners Recruits Chief Product Officer and Interim CEO for Greenscreens AI
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
