A pre-IPO Delaware fintech needed its first General Counsel ahead of an S-1 filing, with securities-litigation experience as a hard requirement and pre-IPO operating experience strongly preferred — a narrow combination that ruled out most in-house counsel candidates and most law-firm partners equally.
The board wanted the hire closed before the S-1 drafting process began in earnest, which put real time pressure on an already narrow search.
Rivago's legal practice partner mapped candidates who had specifically taken a company through an S-1 process before, rather than general securities counsel — a filter that produced a short but highly qualified list. Five finalists were screened against a scorecard built with the CEO and board's lead independent director.
Reference checks focused specifically on how each candidate had handled the S-1 drafting relationship with outside counsel and underwriters, since that working relationship was the single highest-risk part of the role.
“We needed someone who had actually done this before, not someone who could learn on the job during our own IPO. Rivago found exactly that.”
The board extended an offer to the first-choice candidate 38 days after the brief was signed, at a base of $420K. The new GC was in seat before S-1 drafting began.
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