Who We Work With
Scout is built for pre-Seed through Series A founders who:
Are hiring their first employees, early leaders, and executive team
Want to build recruiting knowledge and strategy on top of making great hires
Need scalable talent processes and systems without a full-time people hire
Value building a culture and candidate experience people rave about
How We Support Founders
Three core offerings proven to help startups build world-class teams and establish strong talent foundations.
Executive & Early Team Search
End-to-end retained search for the leaders and critical early hires who will define your company. Expertise hiring across all core startup functions—from executive leadership to founding roles in product, engineering, revenue, design, people, ops, and more.
-
Role assessment and candidate profile alignment
-
Interview process design and team calibration
-
Compensation benchmarking and offer strategy
-
End-to-end recruiting: sourcing, evaluation, closing
Fractional Talent Leadership
Embedded support to establish recruiting systems, processes, and capabilities. Build the foundation for sustainable hiring excellence before you're ready for a full-time talent leader.
-
Recruiting infrastructure and process design
-
Hiring playbooks and interview frameworks
-
Compensation architecture and benchmarking
-
Employer brand development
-
Junior recruiter mentorship and training
Founder Advisement & Coaching
A trusted partner for general people advice and navigating recruiting challenges. Empowering mission-driven founders with data to make the right call so they can build with confidence.
-
Manage complex hiring decisions and negotiations
-
Address team dynamics and organizational challenges
-
Develop talent strategy as you scale
-
Ongoing counsel across all people and culture areas
Numbers
15+
Years Experience
Split between in-house talent leadership and boutique agency; focused on building startups from Seed through Series A.
3x
First Talent Leader
Including Second Measure (scaled from 6 to 70+, acquired by Bloomberg) and Turnstile (first employee, First Round-backed).
150+
Startup Hires
Across executive leadership, product, engineering, revenue, people, marketing, finance, legal, design, and ops.
9x
Awards
Proud to have worked on teams that have been recognized with 8× Built In Best Places to Work awards + a Forbes Best Startup Employer.
A Few Hires We've Made
Testimonials
"Matt is a top-notch recruiter. Since 2014, I've worked with him as a candidate, colleague, and client.
I've worked with many recruiters and actively sought Matt out after starting my company. The reason is simple and something I know first-hand: candidate experience. He helps companies craft hiring process that is not only effective, but a great experience for their candidates. I would not hesitate to recommend him to other founders or hiring managers."
Mike Babineau
Co-Founder & CEO
&
"Matt is the epitome of a perfect executive recruiter. Extremely warm, human-centered, but impeccably organized and process-driven. He went deep on our company in order to accurately represent the team, company, mission, and role to top tier candidates.
Even post-engagement, Matt has helped me out so many times... Thank you, Matt! You were a major part of the Spring Health founding story."
April Koh
CEO & Co-Founder
"Matt is the best Talent person that I have ever worked with. His thoughtful approach to candidate outreach, interviewing, and hiring is a large part of what built Second Measure's culture. Over the years, he helped me scale my team to meet the demands of our company's growth and provided me with his honest feedback whenever I overlooked anything. Interviewing is tough for candidates but Matt makes people feel like it's worth the effort. Hire him asap if you are looking for a world class person and teammate."
Jeffrey Sefa-Boakye
Head of Customer Success
About
Over the past 15+ years, I’ve focused on helping founders build early-stage tech companies from Angel and Seed through Series A.
I bring a mix of in-house leadership and retained search experience, which means I understand the realities of building teams and recruiting systems as an operator - and the art of executive search.
I've been the first talent leader at multiple startups, building the recruiting function from the ground up each time. After interviewing 5,000+ candidates, I've developed a clear sense for what makes a great hire, and have a proven track record of attracting and closing top talent in competitive markets. Just as important, I focus on building teams and cultures that people genuinely want to be part of.
My approach: get close to your business, make hires with long-term impact in mind, and leave you with the processes and judgment to keep hiring effectively long after we've worked together.
In my spare time, you'll find me cooking, catching live shows in NYC, cheering on Arsenal, or playing fetch with my rescue pup, Darby.
Matt Harris
Founder | Principal
.png)