Craft the profile. Before sourcing begins, we will review archetypes, not candidates. "Here's what a 70/30 growth-to-brand leader looks like versus 60/40. Here's an early-stage builder versus a scale operator."

It's not uncommon to explore two archetypes. The feedback loop quickly validates which one fits. Sometimes the Week 1 discovery changes the search entirely. Better to catch it then than in Month 3.

Trade-offs get explicit. Stakeholders align. I build a sourcing map of target companies and industries, with rationale for each.