Overview

Sometimes a board or lead investor wants a clearer signal on leadership readiness before capital moves. That is what this Diagnostic is for. Bearhug runs a short, focused working session to align founders and investors on three things: who to hire, when to hire, and what it will take to land them. You get a clear plan. Investors get an independent, market-grounded read. No one is there to play gotcha.

What It Solves

Most founders head into a raise with a tight narrative about product, traction, and the market, but a fuzzy narrative about people. That fuzziness shows up as:

• Plans like “post-funding we’ll bring in a VP or C-level leader,” without real clarity on timing or scope

• Org charts that don’t reflect real constraints or realistic sequencing

• No grounded view of candidate TAM or market comp expectations

• Misalignment inside the leadership team on what “good” actually looks like

• Quiet concern about whether the company can attract the senior talent it will need next

Investors feel that wobble, even if they don’t say it out loud. The Pre-Funding Hiring Diagnostic closes that gap.

How It Works

Your investor introduces us as a partner they trust. From there, we:

1. Run short 1:1 conversations with you and an agreed upon subset of selected leaders within your org. We explore where the business is headed, where the constraints are, and what must be true for the next chapter. We dig into leadership gaps, timing, hiring process, and hiring history.

2. Pressure-test your hiring narrative. Which roles truly matter in the next 3–24 months. How those roles should sequence based on revenue, runway, and risk. Where the bar needs to sit for each wave of senior hires

3. Layer in a market view. Who actually exists in the market for your stage and problem set. How large or small the candidate TAM really is. What realistic comp and equity bands look like.

4. Deliver a practical summary you can use. Clear alignment and misalignment across the team. A staged hiring roadmap tied to strategy and runway. Best practices you can use with or without us

What You Walk Away With

By the end of the Diagnostic, you’ll have:

• A stronger hiring story for investor conversations

• Clarity on which leadership roles matter most, and when

• A realistic view of who you can actually hire

• Concrete next steps, templates, and best practices

Your investors get the same core picture, plus an additional lens on talent readiness and leadership alignment to calibrate conviction and offer better support.

Investment and Sponsorship

The Pre-Funding Hiring Diagnostic is structured as a $25,000 solution, reflecting the depth of leadership conversations, market analysis, and synthesis involved. The full diagnostic and summary is typically completed within a week.

In most cases, it is fully sponsored by your board or lead investor as part of their diligence. For them, it’s a small, targeted use of capital that can protect millions in future burn and materially increase the odds that hiring and fundraising go right.

For you, it creates a dedicated block of senior talent strategy work you rarely have the time or space to run internally. Even if you did, this kind of work benefits from a seasoned third-party lens.

Who It’s For

• Founders preparing for a Series A, B, or C raise where leadership will be central to the story

• CEOs who have tried to run executive searches and want to avoid repeating mistakes

• Boards and investors who want a clean, modern way to evaluate talent readiness without undermining trust

If a VC or board member has pointed you here, it’s because they believe in you and want to give you an edge, not because they’re looking for reasons to doubt you.

How It Fits With The Other Offers Below

• The Master Platter: When you know exactly which executive you need and are ready to run the search

• Top of Funnel Talent: When you need a steady flow of strong non-exec candidates

• Pre-Funding Hiring Diagnostic: When leadership will make or break the next chapter and you want clarity before reacting.

Together, these form a holistic system: Diagnose first, execute smart, then scale with consistency.

If your investors are already in conversation with us, the next step is simple. Let them sponsor a Diagnostic, sharpen your plan together, and then decide how and when to kick off your next critical search.