The Need for Key Leaders in Sales and Marketing

When Dana Leizarovits joined Firefly as VP of HR, she was tasked with building the company’s US presence from scratch. No HR infrastructure. No recruiting process. Not a single US employee. 

Three years later, Firefly had grown into a promising cloud infrastructure automation platform with a Series A round behind it, and two critical leadership roles to fill: VP of Sales and VP of Marketing.

These weren’t just any hires. The company needed leaders who could roll up their sleeves, thrive in a high-growth startup, and bring a deep understanding of Firefly’s market and customers. That’s when Dana turned to Captivate Talent.

Why Firefly Chose Captivate

Dana first heard about Captivate through a trusted recommendation from another HR leader. When Dana was first hired by Firefly, she turned to Captivate for perspective on the US market as well.

"In my opinion, if you’ve had a good experience with one company and have no complaints, why not continue working with them?"

Firefly had experience hiring individual contributors through internal efforts, but executive-level hiring, especially in the US market, required a deeper network and sharper focus. 

Despite receiving a flood of outreach from other firms, Captivate’s track record with executive roles in SaaS, and their guidance on the US market made them a natural fit.

The Search: Two Pivotal Hires

Firefly had two key executive roles to fill: a VP of Marketing and a VP of Sales. Both were critical to scaling their U.S. go-to-market team after early growth and a successful Series A raise.

The VP of Marketing role was a critical need for Firefly’s growing go-to-market team. The company needed a strong executor, someone who could operate across content, demand generation, events, and product marketing with a lean team. The challenge was finding someone who could both keep up with Firefly’s creative founders and bring structure to the chaos.

“We had a lot of ideas, but not enough hands. We needed someone with drive, range, and the ability to deliver fast.”

For the VP of Sales, Firefly was looking for a hands-on leader who could own the sales motion end-to-end, scale a team, and bring proven experience selling to DevOps and platform engineering teams

“We’re still a startup. We didn’t just need a leader, we needed someone who could roll up their sleeves and get things done.”

The Captivate Talent Approach

Captivate kicked things off with structured alignment calls to nail down role requirements, team dynamics, and ideal candidate profiles. From there, they presented curated candidates, focused on quality over quantity, and collaborated with Firefly via Slack and shared trackers to streamline communication.

“You’re the only recruiting firm that uses Slack, and it made a big difference. Everything moved faster.”

Candidate feedback was shared in real-time, and Captivate adjusted based on nuance, from seniority level and startup experience to domain familiarity and hands-on execution capability.

“You weren’t just sending resumes. You were refining the search in real time based on our feedback.”

The Impact: Two Hires Driving Growth

Kim, the new VP of Marketing, quickly stood out for her productivity and execution. She ramped up content, webinars, and SEO efforts while developing a clear product marketing strategy and building a high-performing team.

She also brought structure to Firefly’s paid media and growth programs, and her event strategy began generating qualified leads with measurable ROI.

“She’s getting results across the board—from content to conferences to paid growth. It’s the kind of impact we needed.”

David, the new VP of Sales, has made a quick impact. He’s helped close significant new deals and has started recruiting strong sellers from his network.

“We’re already seeing the impact. He’s not just selling, he’s bringing in other top performers too.”

Both hires were strong cultural fits as well, comfortable working with Israeli founders, startup-paced environments, and collaborative team dynamics.

What Made Captivate Different

For Dana and the Firefly team, Captivate’s value wasn’t just in the hires, there was also significant value in the way they worked.

“You saved us a huge amount of time. The screening, the communication, the process, it just worked.”

They appreciated Captivate’s ability to manage stakeholders across the organization, communicate clearly and concisely, and focus on the highest-impact candidates.

“You prioritized quality over speed, and that matters when everyone’s time is limited. We didn’t waste cycles.”

Even post-hire, Captivate stayed involved, checking in regularly and making it easy to provide feedback or raise concerns.

“I felt completely comfortable reaching out at any point. It really felt like a partnership.”

The Takeaway

For other startups building out revenue leadership, Dana’s advice is simple:

“You can try it yourself, but it’ll take longer, and you won’t get the same quality. If you’re serious about getting the right people, work with someone like Captivate.”

Thanks to that partnership, Firefly brought on two leaders who are now helping drive their next stage of growth, and Captivate remains their go-to partner for every critical hire.

“Every time we need to hire a VP, we go straight to Captivate. We don’t even consider anyone else.”