Leadership hiring when the cost of getting it wrong is measured in months, not resumes
Growth-stage health tech and life sciences companies don’t fail searches because of access.
They fail when ownership fragments, specs drift, and real market signal arrives too late.
Building Blocks provides senior-led leadership hiring for companies where execution, domain judgment, and accountability matter more than volume.
Every search is owned end to end by a single operator with deep experience across health data, analytics, and commercialization—so decisions are made early, course corrections happen in real time, and outcomes are predictable.
25 years of experience · 92% completion · 6-8 weeks average
Why leadership searches stall—even when the talent is there
Most leadership searches fail the same way
Not because companies lack access.
Not because the talent isn’t there.
They fail because responsibility fragments.
One group defines the role.
Another runs the search.
Someone else owns the outcome—months later.
Specs drift.
Market signal arrives late.
The search “moves,” but the decision stalls.
That model is common. It’s not irrational.
It’s what happens when hiring is treated as a handoff instead of a decision.
Building Blocks operates differently.
Every search is owned end to end by a single operator who brings domain judgment, search pattern recognition, and accountability into the same loop.
That ownership changes when decisions get made.
It changes when course corrections happen.
It changes outcomes.
This is not a volume model.
It’s a decision model.
What changes when one person owns the decision
Decisions happen earlier.
Misalignment surfaces before the market is engaged.
Searches adapt in real time.
Market feedback informs the role, not just the candidate list.
Risk is addressed deliberately.
The cost of a miss is considered upfront, not discovered months later.
The result isn’t speed for its own sake.
It’s fewer false starts, clearer conviction, and leadership hires that hold.
How ownership shows up in practice
Ownership starts before sourcing.
Success is defined with precision before the market is engaged. Misalignment is surfaced early, while it’s still cheap to fix.
​
The market is used as a signal, not a destination.
Real-time feedback informs the role as much as the candidates.
​
Decisions are revisited continuously.
Course corrections happen while options still exist, not after momentum is lost.
Execution stays senior throughout.
There are no handoffs, no dilution, and no lag between insight and action.
Define the Decision
Ownership starts before the market is engaged.
Success is defined with precision, disagreements are surfaced early, and assumptions are challenged while they’re still cheap to fix.
Outcome: Misalignment removed before the search begins.
Map The Market
Every search starts from the ground up.
The market is mapped to understand where real candidates sit, what transfers across contexts, and where assumptions break down.
This isn’t database sorting. It’s signal gathering.
Outcome:
False positives eliminated early.
Engage & Calibrate
Market feedback is continuous, not episodic.
Candidate conversations inform the role in real time, allowing course corrections while options still exist.
The spec evolves based on reality, not preference.
Outcome:
Decisions informed by live market signal.
Deliver Through Close
Shortlists are focused and intentional.
Tradeoffs are explicit. Decisions are made with full context, conviction, and accountability through close.
Post-hire follow-through ensures the hire holds.
Outcome:
A leadership hire that lasts.
Why this model works when others break down
This approach works because it combines three things that are rarely held together.
Deep domain judgment across health tech and life sciences—where data, analytics, and commercialization converge.
Search pattern recognition built across hundreds of leadership hires.
Senior-level execution with full accountability from first conversation through close.
Most firms separate these.
Some specialize narrowly.
Others scale execution.
This model integrates all three under one owner.
Track record across 150+ leadership searches
​
92% completion rate
95% retention rate
6-8 weeks average (vs. 4-6 months industry average)
​
​
Typical fee: $50K-$100K per search
What we prevent: $180K+ wasted on a failed search that drags 9 months and ends in regret
Who this is for
We work with leaders responsible for getting critical senior hires right—when the cost of delay or error compounds quickly.
​
Private equity and venture-backed companies
Operating Partners and Talent Partners deploy us into portfolio companies when leadership risk needs to be managed deliberately, not delegated.
Company leadership
We work directly with CEOs at growth-stage health tech and life sciences companies—typically Series A through Series C—where senior hires shape execution and trajectory.
Typical searches are VP and SVP-level heads of function across GTM (Sales, Marketing, Customer Success), Product, Clinical, Analytics, and Market Access.
Not C-suite. Not junior roles.
The layer where execution strategy gets built.
When the decision model is tested
These are examples of leadership decisions made under real constraints.
PE-backed life sciences company | SVP Global Sales
We needed to rebuild our sales organization post-acquisition—moving from a relationship-driven EU model to a high-velocity U.S. enterprise motion. The real risk was hiring someone who looked right on paper but couldn’t execute the shift.
Troy pressure-tested what would actually transfer and placed our SVP in 10 weeks. That hire led the commercial transformation and we completed the rebuild on schedule.
— CCO, PE-backed life sciences company
Series C RWD analytics company | Principal Data Scientist
​
We didn’t have a job description. We had a problem. The role needed deep oncology expertise, real coding ability, and the credibility to work directly with C-suite customers.
Troy helped us define what the role needed to be before going to market. The first hire became the template for our customer success science team.
​
— VP, Data Products, Series C analytics company
PE-backed digital health platform | VP Product (M&A Integration)
We were merging a consumer health asset with a B2B analytics platform—two completely different business models. The risk was hiring someone strong in one who couldn’t bridge both.
Troy found a leader who unified product strategy across the portfolio. They built the team, delivered the integrated roadmap, and positioned us for the next market shift.