Since 2017 · Retained executive search
We place the leaders who
define category.
Founded by Marat Yakupov in 2017, Zero to One Search is the retained executive search partner for enterprise teams building in AI, SaaS and deep tech. We work with founders, boards and CHROs on the leadership hires that decide whether the next five years of the roadmap will ship.
- 2017
- Founded
- 100k+
- Vetted professionals in our database
- 140k
- LinkedIn community around the founder
- 100+
- Years of combined recruiter experience
Marat founded Zero to One Search in 2017 after years of watching technical founders hand their most consequential leadership hires to generic agencies — and pay for it eighteen months later. The firm was built on a simple premise: the people who move a category aren't on job boards, and reaching them takes a recruiter who can hold a real conversation about the work.
Today his LinkedIn community of around 140,000 founders, operators and senior engineers feeds a proprietary database of over 100,000 vetted professionals across AI, SaaS, deep tech, mobility and industrial software. Every active mandate is run against that network first — before any outbound starts.
“The best hire I’ve ever placed never applied to anything. We just had the right conversation, at the right moment, with someone who already trusted the network. That’s the work — everything else is paperwork.”
Our story
We started Zero to One Search in 2017 because the market for AI and deep tech leadership talent was being served the same way as everything else — generic agencies, recycled shortlists, and recruiters who couldn't speak the language of the work.
The hires that move a category aren't on job boards. They're already shipping at the companies you compete with, advising the labs you read about, or quietly running the research group you wish you could hire from. Reaching them takes a different practice: slower, more conviction-led, and run by people who've operated inside the kind of companies you're building.
Today our recruiting team brings more than a hundred years of combined experience to mandates across Europe, the US and Brazil — for Series B through enterprise clients. Most of our work comes from referrals. Most of the people we place never applied to a role — they had a conversation.
Mission
The leaders who
build what's next.
To be the partner enterprise teams trust for their most consequential leadership hires in AI and deep tech — the searches where the wrong appointment costs years and the right one defines the company.
01
Conviction over volume
We submit fewer candidates, deeply diligenced. A three-person shortlist beats thirty CVs every time.
02
Confidential by default
Every mandate is run off-market. Your roadmap, your comp design, and the people we approach stay private.
03
Long-horizon partnership
We stay engaged through offer, onboarding, and the first 90 days. The placement isn't done when the contract is signed.
04
Honest market intel
Comp benchmarks, competitive landscape, candidate motivation — we tell you what we see, not what you want to hear.
The team behind the mandates
Operators who
turned to search.
Alongside Marat, our partners and principals bring more than 100 years of combined recruiting experience. Every one of them has shipped product or led a function before joining the firm — we don't hire pure recruiters.
Partner
Research & ML Platform
Specializes in research leadership, applied science, and ML infrastructure mandates. Former ML engineer with a network across the top European AI labs.
Partner
Go-to-Market & Commercial
Leads search for revenue leadership in technical B2B — CROs, VPs of Sales, and the GTM hires that scale category-defining product.
Principal
US Coverage
Anchors our San Francisco presence. Runs cross-Atlantic mandates for European founders hiring senior talent in the US, and vice versa.
Where we work
Five offices, one practice.
Accepting Q3 mandates