STARTUP HIRING CASE STUDY
How Whatfix Built Its US Go-to-Market Team: 17 Hires from Series A
Founded in India, Whatfix partnered with The Search Experience's GTM recruiters to build its US go-to-market organization while introducing Digital Adoption as a new software category. With six US employees and limited brand awareness outside India, Whatfix needed commercial leaders who could create demand for a category most buyers had never heard of, and a hiring process that worked across time zones and international leadership teams.
TSE designed a cross-border search process with structured candidate calibration, placing senior sales, enterprise account, customer success, content marketing and sales engineering hires across the US and UK. Average time to fill was 4.8 weeks, and Whatfix went on to raise its Series D and grow from 6 to more than 1,000 employees globally.
Stage
Series A
Founded
2014
Industry
Digital Adoption Platform
HQ
San Jose
Team Size
6 US employees
The Challenge
With headquarters in India and only a small presence in the United States, Whatfix needed to establish credibility in a highly competitive hiring market. Alongside building a complete GTM organization, the company faced the challenge of educating candidates about an entirely new software category: Digital Adoption Platforms.
Design a hiring process that successfully operated across multiple time zones and international leadership teams.
Build an attractive employer brand in the US despite limited market awareness outside India.
Recruit commercial leaders capable of creating demand for an emerging software category with a limited talent pool.
Our Hiring Strategy
01
Cross-Border Hiring Strategy
Designed a recruitment process that aligned hiring managers across India, the US and Europe while maintaining speed and candidate experience.
02
US Employer Brand Positioning
Positioned Whatfix's growth story, product vision and international ambition to attract experienced commercial talent into an emerging category.
03
Specialist GTM Talent Mapping
Mapped experienced SaaS sales, customer success, marketing and solutions professionals capable of introducing Digital Adoption to enterprise customers.
04
Structured Candidate Calibration
Worked closely with hiring managers to continually refine candidate profiles, ensuring interviews remained efficient while maintaining a high quality bar.
05
Scaling International Growth
Continued supporting Whatfix as the US business expanded, hiring commercial leadership, customer-facing technical talent and operational roles that supported global growth.
PROVEN RESULTS. REAL OUTCOMES.
The Results
Series D
Progression Following Engagement
5.9
Interviews to Placement Ratio
6→1000+
Global Team Growth
4.8 Wks
Avg. Time to Fill
Key Hires
✓ AVP – Major Accounts (East)
✓ AVP – Major Accounts (West)
✓ Director of Sales
✓ Director of Content Marketing
✓ Director of Customer Success ×2
✓ Enterprise Account Director ×3
✓ Enterprise Account Director (UK)
✓ Senior Director of Strategic Accounts
✓ Solutions Architect
✓ SDR
✓ Sales Engineer ×2
✓ Account Executive ×2
"We've worked with Jeremy and The Search Experience across multiple strategic hires and continue to partner with them today. Their structured calibration process consistently delivered high-quality candidates, allowing us to complete searches efficiently while significantly reducing interview time for both hiring managers and HR. I'd strongly recommend Jeremy and the team to any company building a high-performing commercial organization."
Vispi Daver, Founder & CRO
FAQs
How did Whatfix build its US go-to-market team?
In this startup hiring case study on go-to-market recruiting, Whatfix partnered with The Search Experience to build its US commercial team from six employees. TSE placed 17 hires across sales, marketing, customer success and sales engineering, from Account Executives and an SDR to two AVPs of Major Accounts, while Whatfix introduced Digital Adoption as a new software category to enterprise buyers.
Why did Whatfix need specialist startup recruiters?
As an India-founded enterprise software company entering the US market, Whatfix needed recruiters who understood go-to-market hiring and could attract experienced commercial talent despite limited brand awareness in North America. The Search Experience brought that specialist network and startup-specific hiring process to the search.
What hiring challenges did Whatfix face?
Whatfix needed to coordinate hiring across India, the US and Europe, build a compelling employer brand in a market where it had little name recognition, and recruit commercial leaders capable of creating demand for an entirely new software category with a limited existing talent pool.
How quickly did Whatfix fill critical GTM roles?
Across this go-to-market hiring engagement, The Search Experience achieved an average time to fill of 4.8 weeks, with an average of 5.9 interviews per placement. That pace stayed well ahead of typical benchmarks for senior commercial and GTM leadership roles.
How did Whatfix grow after building its US team?
Following its early US expansion, Whatfix scaled to more than 1,000 employees globally, progressed to Series D funding and became a recognized leader in the Digital Adoption Platform category. It's proof that the right early commercial hires can compound into category-defining growth.
Can TSE hire multiple GTM roles at once?
Yes. Many TSE engagements cover several roles at once, usually a mix of sales, marketing and customer success hires after a raise. For Whatfix, TSE placed 17 go-to-market hires, from Account Executives to AVPs of Major Accounts, at an average of 4.8 weeks to fill. On multi-role searches a dedicated sourcing team works in the background so every role keeps moving, and fees are reduced when you hire for three or more roles.
People Also Ask
What is Whatfix?
Whatfix is a Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) that supports organizations in improving software adoption through in-app guidance, user support and workflow automation, enabling employees and customers to learn software while they work.
What does Whatfix do?
Whatfix provides interactive guidance, onboarding and digital adoption tools for enterprise software, supporting organizations as they increase productivity and improve software utilization.
Why did Whatfix expand into the US?
The US represented a strategic growth market for enterprise software. Building a local commercial team allowed Whatfix to accelerate customer acquisition while establishing Digital Adoption as a recognized software category.
Who did The Search Experience place at Whatfix?
17 go-to-market hires: two AVPs of Major Accounts, a Senior Director of Strategic Accounts, a Director of Sales, a Director of Content Marketing, two Directors of Customer Success, four Enterprise Account Directors (one in the UK), two Account Executives, two Sales Engineers, a Solutions Architect and an SDR.
How did Whatfix scale its GTM organization?
By partnering with specialist startup recruiters, Whatfix built commercial leadership across sales, marketing, customer success and technical roles while maintaining an efficient hiring process throughout its international expansion.