The right operator
changes everything.
For sponsor-backed acquisitions and succession transitions that need a proven operator at the helm: a placement service built on the Five Experts network. No retainer: membership carries the search, and the fee waits for the placement.
Three moments you need an operator
The sponsor-backed deal
You underwrite the acquisition and stand behind it, and the thesis needs an operator who is not you.
The succession without an heir
The owner is ready to step back, no successor exists inside the business, and a sale is not the preferred path.
The operator transition
The current operator is moving on, by plan or by surprise, and the business cannot run without leadership.
Define the role. Find the operator. Pay at placement.
Define the role
The mandate starts with the business and the thesis: what this specific company needs its operator to do in the first two years, written down before anyone is interviewed.
Search the network
Candidates come from the Five Experts network and beyond: operators with lower-middle-market experience, matched to the sector and the situation.
Place, then pay
No retainer. Full membership carries the search, and the placement fee, 10% of first-year base salary, is due only when your operator is placed. Terms in writing at intake.
CEO placement runs through full membership. The math against a retained search is below.
Full membership beats a retainer.
A retained search asks you to fund the search up front and carry the risk. Placement through Five Experts inverts that: membership carries the search, the fee waits for the result, and the operator arrives supported.
paid win or lose
cancel anytime
engagement onward
due only at placement
then support them
replacement guarantee
coordinated system, ongoing
playbooks, implementation resources
operations, HR, and more
experts, across all five phases
for each need
with the company
Run the math on your search
Set the salary and your retained-search quote. Our side is fixed: 10% of first-year base salary, plus $295 a month while we search.
Retained-search percentage is a market convention you can adjust; enter your actual quote. Five Experts side: 10% of first-year base salary, due only at placement, plus $295/month full membership during the search, cancel anytime. Terms in writing at intake.
A search firm’s engagement ends on your operator’s first day. Ours runs the whole journey, before it and long after.
“Isn’t membership just a retainer by another name?”
No. A retainer buys a search and nothing else; if the search fails, it bought nothing. Membership is a working platform from the first day: the portfolio command center, the expert bench, the community of operators and sponsors, capital-stack guidance. The search runs on top of infrastructure that is already earning its keep, and if a placement never happens, everything membership includes was yours all along, for $295 a month, cancel anytime.
One membership.
The search and the system.
Full sponsor membership is not just the ticket to placement. It is the infrastructure your operator runs on after the start date, which is where placements succeed or fail.
Your operator lands with a system.
A placed CEO steps into the same coordinated system every member runs on: the 100-Day Plan, the weekly cash rhythm, 30+ expert categories across all five phases, and a community of operators running the same play. The placement decision is easier when the operator does not land alone.
You underwrite the deal. We underwrite the execution.
CEO placement runs through full sponsor membership: placement support, capital-stack guidance, and the full coordinated system behind every operator you back, at a fraction of a retained-search retainer.