From humble origins as an entrepreneurial fever dream to advise sales hunters that our Founding CEO is & eventually led, THE and LIONS are mnemonics for our guiding Principles & Talent indicators :
        Truth                   We strive to reveal Truth above all, given the careers & lives at stake.
                                     Thirst for wisdom. Research details. Understand, then Teach. Stay Humble.
        Honor                  We strive to act with Honor in all interactions, to accelerate trust.
                                     Honest always. Objective. Nuanced vs binary. Open minded. Relentless.
        Ethos                   We strive to earn Ethos as defined by Aristotle — trustworthiness.
                                     Expertise well earned. Teamwork. Heroics. Optimism. Service.
        Leadership         Lions take on accelerating team & company success.
        Independence    Lions get s#it done without much management.
        Ownership          Lions are accountable to shortcomings & solutions.
        Nuance                Lions learn constantly, remaining Humble & Open.
        Success              Lions succeed at what they commit to, plain & simple.

THELIONS helps Sales Talent & growing Companies across the USA. Given that our HQ was in downtown San Francisco for over a decade, California was home for 100's of early clients. From there we mastered hiring Enterprise Account Executive field sellers in most major metros, and building inside sales teams in lower-cost Tech hubs like Denver & Austin. Since 2020 our own team went Forever-Remote, and we have since helped similar companies accelerate their own such transitions.

Since 2010 we have proven successful in helping Talent and CEOs ⁄ VPs in myriad industries, most all Technology focused or related. Some categories we've thrived in include Enterprise SaaS & AI, Internet of Things (IoT), FinTech, HealthTech, AdTech, and various internet Marketplaces.

At launch in 2010 our exclusive niche was advising Sales Talent — VP Sales, Sales Directors & line Sales Managers, Enterprise & other Account Executives (AEs), and entry-level Sales Development. This focus came from our Founding CEO's own recruiting frustrations leading sales for a blue-chip VC backed FinTech startup. Since, we have succeeded in various tangential roles — Solutions Engineers, Business Operations, Account Managers, Customer Success, and other Go To Market ("G2M") verticals like Marketing and operational Finance.

Yes. Our Founding CEO's first engagement resulted in a grand-slam VP Sales hire with LendingClub, an eventual $8.5 Billion FinTech IPO. Since then, we've helped myriad CEO's hire elite VPs & Directors. Driven to deliver ROI and enabled with world-beating team pay, our Executive searches cost much less than competing firms — and we ask 1/3 the Retainers. See Pricing for details.

No. Hell No. Along the way our Founding CEO has intuited that Exclusive recruiting agreements are often indicative of low confidence, and morally hazardous to CEO clients' best interests. While our team is maximally incentivized as the #1 (and often only) recruiting partner for top clients, we recommend them also maximize low-cost employee & job posting solutions.

Our revenue model is that of a "traditional" talent/recruiting agency. Free for the Talent we exist to serve, and patronized with Success Fees from companies that hire upon our bespoke introductions. Superior client companies that wish to incentivize more excitement with our network might pay modest Retainer Fees – about 1/5 of competitors – that reduce their Total Fees. See Pricing for detail.