For boutique retained search firms

The operating layer retained search firms should have had five years ago.

RunRetained helps boutique retained firms turn intake into client-ready deliverables faster — briefs, scorecards, candidate packages, market maps, and search updates — without burning partner-grade time on assembly work. Built specifically for retained executive search, not contingency volume.

One live search. Full workflow. Full $5K credited against implementation if you convert within 30 days.

Jason's approach to talent recruiting is state of the art and game-changing.

Jensen Huang — CEO and Founder, NVIDIA

The problem

Your firm's best asset is partner judgment. You're spending it on deliverable assembly.

Every retained search creates the same operational drag: intake notes become briefs, briefs become scorecards, research becomes market maps, and candidate profiles become presentation packages. Most firms are still burning 10–15 hours per search on work that does not require partner judgment — just expensive human time.

The tools most firms have were built for contingency workflows or enterprise TA teams. They track reqs. They do not actually run retained search.

10–15
hours burned per search
on assembly work
$0
value to clients from
partner-rate formatting
What RunRetained does

Intake to deliverable. Every search. Partner-ready.

RunRetained installs the workflow layer most retained firms are still patching together manually.

01

Intake-to-Brief

Structured intake captured once, turned into a clean, client-ready brief in minutes. No re-keying. No reformatting.

02

Candidate Packages

Long-list and short-list packets formatted to your firm's standard. Polished, consistent, ready to present.

03

Search Scorecards

Calibrated evaluation frameworks tied to the actual mandate — not generic competency grids.

04

Market Maps

Function, level, industry, and geography-specific talent landscapes assembled automatically.

05

Command Center

One recruiter-facing view across all active searches. Status, pipeline, and deliverable readiness at a glance.

06

Partner View

A read-only leadership surface for managing partners and firm principals — search health, revenue discipline, utilization, and key risks across the portfolio.

07

Search Memory

Candidate intelligence and market context that compounds across mandates. Your firm gets smarter with every search.

The economic case

This is not a tool purchase. It's a decision to stop spending partner-rate time on work your clients never intended to pay partner rates for.

In the current ROI model, a firm running 25 retained searches per year with $350/hour partner value recovers roughly 277 partner hours annually — worth about $96,950 in economic value. At standard-band pricing, that yields about $33,950 in Year 1 net value after cost. The model assumes about 11.08 hours saved per search across intake prep, mandate assembly, and package formatting.

Searches per year25
Partner hourly value$350
Hours saved per search~11.08
Annual hours recovered277 hrs
Recovered economic value$96,950
Year 1 net value~$33,950
Breakeven: around the 17th search in the sample model. Year 2 economics improve once implementation cost falls away.
Start here

Not ready to commit? Start with one search.

The cleanest way to evaluate RunRetained is a Proof Search. We run one real retained search through the full workflow: intake-to-brief, candidate package generation, scorecard, and market map. You see the output on a live engagement, not a demo. If it meets your standard and you convert within 30 days, the full $5,000 is credited against implementation.

Run the Proof Search
  1. Intake-to-brief on a live retained mandate
  2. Candidate package generation formatted to your firm standard
  3. Search scorecard calibrated to the actual role
  4. Market map covering the relevant talent landscape
  5. Full $5,000 credited against implementation if you convert within 30 days
Pricing

Priced to search volume, not seats.

We install an operating layer sized to how your firm actually runs — measured in active searches, not headcount.

Standard
$4,000
/month
$15,000 implementation
  • Up to 8 active searches
  • Full module access
  • Branded deliverable templates
  • One source-system migration
  • 90-day optimization window
Growth
$6,000–$8,000
/month
$20,000–$25,000 implementation
  • 9–15+ active searches
  • Full module access
  • Branded deliverable templates
  • Priority configuration
  • Guided activation + optimization

Implementation includes firm-specific workflow configuration, branded deliverable templates, migration from one existing system, guided activation, and a 90-day optimization window.

Fit check

Built for retained. Not for everyone.

This is for you if
  • You run a boutique retained practice with premium searches and polished deliverable expectations
  • Your partners or associates are still wasting real hours on briefs, packages, and progress updates
  • You've looked at ATS or CRM tools and found them designed for contingency volume, not retained quality
  • You want institutional search knowledge to compound instead of resetting every time
This is not for you if
  • You run contingency, RPO, or project staffing
  • You want job board integrations, candidate self-service portals, or req-volume dashboards
  • You want a self-serve tool with no implementation layer
Why this exists

Retained search never needed another generic CRM.

RunRetained was built around a simple belief: the most important work in retained search happens in the layer between intake and candidate presentation, and that layer is still wildly underbuilt. The goal is not to replace partner judgment. It is to protect it — by handling the assembly, formatting, coordination, and cross-search memory that most firms are still recreating manually on every search.

J
The builder

Built by an operator who knows how search actually works.

Jason built RunRetained from the inside out around real retained-search pain: vague intake, too much manual packaging, inconsistent work product, and no institutional memory between mandates. The result is an operating layer designed for the way premium search firms actually work — not the way generic recruiting software assumes they work.

“Jason's approach to talent recruiting is state of the art and game-changing.”
Jensen Huang — CEO and Founder, NVIDIA
Next step

Run one search through it.
Then decide.

No abstract pilot. No bloated software sale. One live search, real output, real standard.