Prototype · reconstruction of Issue #7
Forme

Issue #7

15 Minutes of Forme

Notes from the ecosystem of executive search.

Attracting the top talent, wherever they sit

The inside track on leadership, go-to-market, and finding the people who move the needle.

Original seasonal artwork from Issue #7

Opening note

What does it take to attract top talent, wherever they sit in the world?

When we were mandated this year to find Sokin's chief revenue officer, the task was clear: attract the best talent the US market has to offer. The service and technology offering and advantage of Sokin landed well – the story is everything. As the industry continues to evolve rapidly, larger, more mature incumbents will be aware of the innovation and catch up that scale-ups like Sokin in particular are experiencing.

But how to attract great candidates away from businesses that are performing extremely well and which are inevitably later, nearer an exit? They want to hear of interesting, emerging and opportunities where incumbents are taking market share. Whether they are called CRO or not, the pattern of hiring across Europe still results in well-experienced leadership joining a disruptor. Be aware though, that companies like Sokin are willing to pay for top tier talent. So, if you are a corporate or a Series B, throw benchmark salaries comp out before starting a process like this.

The proof is in the result – Christopher Morris Source link to confirm, of the billion-dollar, listed business Corpay joined, after leading growth of parts of the business over a 14 year stretch. He says upon joining:

“What attracted me to Sokin was the growth opportunity ahead, the vision of our founder, Vroon Modgill Source link to confirm and the talented executive and management team assembled to carry forward the impressive momentum already achieved. Cross-border payments and embedded finance continue to evolve rapidly, and Sokin has built an impressive value proposition spanning multi-currency accounts, fiat and stablecoin payments, FX treasury capabilities – and increasingly, the agentic treasury layer that will define how finance teams operate, while providing the infrastructure needed to serve corporates and power fintechs, PSPs and financial institutions globally.”

— Christopher Morris, on joining Sokin
Open as a single article

The working desk New format · proposed

What are we really hiring for?

A commercial-leadership search, with the identifying details taken out.

An anonymised, adapted search example. Details have been generalised to protect confidentiality. Questions and margin notes are editorial prompts, not a verbatim account of the search.

01 / Read the situation

A bigger title will not build the engine.

A growing business needs a commercial leader who can build the processes as well as lead the team. The question is not simply who has held the CRO title. It is who wants to do the work this stage requires.

“What would this person have to build, not just inherit?”

Editorial prompt

From the search brief to the person doing the building. Follow that thought into the interview ↓

Follow the conversation

One conversation. Your way through it.

Elina Berglund, co-founder of Natural Cycles, in conversation with Kate Zatland.

From the published interview, 26 March 2026. Selected original answers, not a new interview.

Where would you go first?

Kate Zatland: Having partnered with Oura and Apple, what have you learned about brand and go-to-market working alongside these exceptional companies?

“The biggest learning experience is in their attitude to trust and long-term advocacy.”

In healthtech, trust is the product. Both companies are incredibly disciplined about building and maintaining it. Every detail matters: how data is presented, how the product fits into daily life, how consistently it delivers. Over time, those small decisions compound into a deep sense of reliability.

— Elina Berglund

Forme's connecting thought · editorial, not Elina's words

The connection to the desk: ask what a leader makes repeatable. Trust is built through operating decisions, not a line in the pitch deck.

Read the full interview on LinkedIn · three selected answers, not the full transcript

The numbers don't lie

The inside track on tech, innovation (ai) and scaling

Observations from Forme's own interview and candidate work, as reported in this October edition. Not a representative market study.

29%

of C-level GTM interviewees gave concrete AI detail

16 of 55 C-level executives. Compared with 29 of 31 interviewees for more junior roles (median salary c. £160k). Bank of recent interviews.

We analysed a bank of recent interviews with go-to-market leaders to see how senior leaders talk about their AI approaches. Only 16 of 55 C-level executives (29%) provide concrete detail on how their functions practically use AI. The good news? Mid-level executives are much more on the ball. 29 of 31 interviewees for more junior roles (median salary c. £160k) gave highly specific operational detail on how they are building with AI.

Open the 29% note

37%

cited a lack of upward mobility

45 candidates in one recent GTM candidate pool.

Out of a recent GTM candidate pool, 45 candidates (37%) cited a lack of upward mobility as fuel for their decision to interview for a new role. The underlying dynamics are even more telling. Multiple leaders pointed to identical structural bottlenecks, such as a founder retaining the chief title, strict policies blocking external executive appointments, or an impending public listing precipitating an outside hire. For founders holding onto operational leadership titles, the ultimate ceiling capping your highest performers may well be yourself.

Open the 37% note

3.2%

of the Nscale CEO's package was base and bonus

Of $23.2m total compensation last year, per Nscale's pre-IPO S1 filing as reported in this edition.

Still think that CEO pay in the UK lags behind the States? Not if you're Josh Payne. The Nscale CEO's total compensation last year was $23.2 million, according to Nscale's pre-IPO S1 filing (opens external source).

The dollar amount is huge for a private company, yes, but the bit we thought was especially interesting? How much of Payne's package was in equity. His base and bonus together (a bit more than $722k) was just 3.2% of his total compensation package. For the fastest-growing companies making big bets on the future, that is the kind of aggressive structure board directors and other shareholders want to see.

Open the 3.2% note

Tier 1 talent

Acquisition & retention

“Gone are the days when the market was a buyers one. Make sure that your processes are even more water tight than before, not dragged out.”

Many of you reading this (our CEOs and board network), will now be experiencing a retention and attraction challenge like never before and this will continue to either become more challenging or see the demise of many, rather than legacy technology. Retention I would say is the first port of call for high performing leaders, which we are advising on, having a good view of what some of the best in class teams are doing to keep this a top priority.

On the other side, the "fight" for tier 1 talent will continue and the need for executive leadership – whatever the title will have a messy middle.

Gone are the days when the market was a buyers one. Make sure that your processes are even more water tight than before, not dragged out. Work at speed to reference and move your preferred candidates through the process. Remuneration plays a big part and in this regard it is very much a candidate driven market. Benchmarks are fine to refer to but the outliers we are placing sit high above this.

Open as a single article

Client news

Moves, money, momentum

From the archive, for now

Issue #5 · 31 March 2026

Proposed addition

Succession or a ceiling?

In March, we wrote about planning for the next phase of leadership. October's observations raise the other side of that question: when does a lack of room to grow make good people leave? Read the earlier passage alongside this issue's 37% signal. New draft

“As of Q1 this year, three quarters of the mandates we're engaged on at Forme are replacements for incumbent leaders. Boards are continuing to coach an…”
Read the March passageThen the 37% signal

A little pressure · Invitation copy: proposed

Build a business. Keep it standing.

A short fictional challenge. Same pressure, different structures.

Play the Forme challenge
Original autumn artwork accompanying Keats, 'To Autumn'

Closing note

Keats, 'To Autumn'

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;Conspiring with him how to load and blessWith fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shellsWith a sweet kernel; to set budding more,And still more, later flowers for the bees,Until they think warm days will never cease,For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Until next time,

15 Minutes of Forme