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.
Why leadership searches stall—even when the talent is there
Most leadership searches fail the same way
Companies usually have access. The talent is there.
Searches stall when responsibility fragments.
One group defines the role while another runs the search, and months later someone else owns the outcome. By then the spec has drifted and real market signal is arriving late.
The process keeps moving, but the decision never quite settles.
That structure is common. It isn’t irrational. It’s what happens when hiring is treated as a handoff instead of a decision.
Building Blocks operates differently.
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Every search is owned end to end by a single operator. Domain judgment, search pattern recognition, and accountability sit in the same loop from first conversation through close.
That ownership affects when decisions get made and how quickly course corrections happen. It shows up in the outcome.
This is not built as a volume business. It’s structured as a decision model.
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What changes when one person owns the decision
Decisions happen earlier because misalignment gets surfaced before the market is engaged.
Searches adjust in real time. Market feedback informs the role itself, not just the candidate list.
Risk is handled deliberately, with the cost of a miss considered upfront rather than discovered months later.
The goal isn’t speed for its own sake. It’s fewer false starts, stronger conviction, and leadership hires that hold.
Troy Frank | Managing Principal
How ownership shows up in practice
Ownership starts before sourcing. Success is defined clearly before the market is engaged, and misalignment is surfaced while there’s still room to adjust.
The market is used as signal. Real-time feedback shapes the role as much as it shapes the candidate list.
Decisions are revisited as the search unfolds, so course corrections happen while options still exist.
Execution stays senior from start to finish. There are no handoffs 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 holds together elements that are usually split apart.
It combines deep domain judgment across health tech and life sciences, search pattern recognition built across hundreds of leadership hires, and senior-level execution with accountability from first conversation through close.
Many firms divide these capabilities. Some specialize narrowly. Others scale execution. This model keeps them integrated under one owner.
Track record across 150+ leadership searches
Completion rate: 92%
Retention rate: 95%
Typical time to offer: 45–60 days
Typical retained fees range from $50K–$75K depending on scope.
Failed leadership searches compound quietly. The cost is rarely limited to the fee.
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Who this is for
We work with leaders responsible for getting critical senior hires right—when the cost of delay or error compounds quickly.
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Private equity and venture-backed companies
Operating and talent partners bring us into portfolio companies when leadership risk needs active management rather than delegation.
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.
Most searches focus on VP and SVP-level heads of function across go-to-market, product, clinical, analytics, and market access.
This is not C-suite placement and not junior hiring. It’s 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
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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.
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— 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.