We build foundational leadership teams for Europe’s defining technology and growth-stage companies. We don't operate as transactional brokers—we commit our network, our execution, and our own equity to the missions we believe in.
You are building from the ground up, where early talent defines your entire trajectory. We partner to secure your co-founders, pivotal first hires, and core team.
Co-founders, first hires, and core team.
50–100% of our search fee is converted into equity.
The capital is deployed. Now you need the operators who can execute at venture speed and quality without breaking the culture.
Key Hires, org scaling, and functional buildouts.
Up to 30% of our search fee is converted into equity or debt.
You are dominating your core category and scaling internationally. We secure the executive leaders and board directors who can navigate late-stage scale.
Global C-Level (CXOs), VPs, and Board Members.
Flexible fee-to-equity conversion and strategic alignment.
The next decade of European tech will be defined by technological sovereignty and generational ambition. These companies cannot be built with transactional search playbooks. Foundational leadership—and the mindset behind it—is the single determinant of trajectory.
Ambitious founders don't have time for corporate consensus, bureaucracy, or two-year roadmaps. We work with mission-driven founders and boards at pivotal inflection points, placing high-agency executives who build rather than manage. We hunt for leaders who cut through noise, execute with relentless velocity, and treat company capital and equity with the discipline of an owner.
Strategic independence in robotics, physical AI, defense, and foundational systems is Europe’s defining challenge. We concentrate our execution exclusively on the founders building resilient, mission-critical infrastructure.
Traditional search scales through mandate volume and junior delivery. We enforce strict capacity caps: zero junior handoffs, partner-level execution only, and absolute immersion in every mandate we accept.
We are not building a high-volume agency. Our ambition is far simpler: to earn and hold enduring equity alongside Europe’s category-defining, generational companies. Our leverage comes from long-term compounding, not transactional search fees.
Re-platforming the enterprise. Agents replacing legacy SaaS.
Bringing foundation models to the real world (vision-guided robotics).
Defensible, hard-tech moats. Industrial renaissance infrastructure.
Transforming legacy service businesses into high-margin platforms.
Securing European sovereignty through autonomous capabilities.
CTOs, VPs of Engineering, Principal Scientists, Program Managers, Foundational System Architects.
VPs of Manufacturing, Heads of Hardware, Industrialization Leads, Supply Chain Directors.
CPOs, VPs of Product, Heads of Product, Platform Architecture Leads.
COOs, VPs of Operations, Chief of Staff, Global Scaleup Executives.
CEOs, CROs, CMOs, VPs of Sales & Marketing, Heads of Commercial & International Scale.
Rather than acting as transactional brokers, we back our search clients with direct balance-sheet equity.
Direct principal investments in our executive search clients, co-investing alongside Europe’s leading venture syndicates.
Strategic LP commitments to top-decile venture capital and deep tech funds to boost the European ecosystem.
Our portfolio companies have raised €100M+ from leading venture syndicates
We built Founderlake because we felt the pain of legacy headhunting firsthand. With decades of combined experience across startup building, investment banking, consulting, and specialized search, we know exactly what is required to attract world-class talent when it matters most.
The best executives do not respond to transactional pitches. They respond to peers. Our focus is razor-sharp: identifying the rare leaders who truly fit the mission, and articulating your vision with the depth and conviction needed to bring them on board.
Combines digital consulting expertise from Digital McKinsey with executive search at Kienbaum. Specializes in leadership evaluation and placing foundational executives across Europe’s defining technology companies.
Serial founder and operator. Former investment banker with deep zero-to-one experience—from navigating the friction of early capital rounds to securing the foundational first hires.
Confidential by default. Every enquiry is read personally by a partner.