Case studies · Selected work

Many stories. One pattern.

Over 90% of our clients return for their next round of hiring. These are a few of the reasons why — companies that trusted us to build their teams, and went on to define their categories, raise at unicorn valuations, or exit at scale.

01 / Convergence.ai · AI Agents

From stealth to a Salesforce acquisition in nine months.

Convergence.ai — one of Europe's most-watched agentic-AI labs — worked with Heart Mind Talent exclusively to hire their entire technical founding team. Within nine months, they were acquired by Salesforce in a triple-digit-million-dollar transaction.

Engagement
Exclusive embedded
Timeline
9 months
Scope
Founding tech team
Outcome
Acquired by Salesforce

What we hired

Founding engineers, research leads, applied AI talent. Senior-only.

Where they came from

Big labs and frontier AI teams across UK and Europe.

Stage at engagement

Stealth, pre-launch.

When the Convergence founders engaged HMT, the company was in deep stealth, the product was a research bet, and every early hire would be load-bearing for whatever came next. They needed senior research and applied-AI talent with the right risk appetite — people who would join a brand nobody could yet talk about, on conviction in the founders alone.

We embedded a senior recruiter as their de facto Head of Talent — running an exclusive mandate that gave us full ownership of the funnel from sourcing through offer. We mapped the European frontier-AI market end to end, built relationships with passive candidates months before reqs existed, and ran a tightly-calibrated interview loop with the founders to keep the bar uncompromising.

The founding tech team came together in months, not quarters. Within nine months of our engagement, Convergence was acquired by Salesforce in a transaction valued north of $100 million — a result of the founders' vision, and a team that could ship against it from day one.

02 / Prior Labs · Tabular AI

Scaled the team. Acquired by SAP within a year.

Prior Labs partnered with HMT to scale the team that built their tabular-AI platform. Within twelve months, the company was acquired by SAP — the team we helped them hire is now operating inside one of the largest enterprise software companies in the world.

Engagement
Embedded
Timeline
< 12 months
Scope
Tech scaling
Outcome
Acquired by SAP

What we hired

Research, engineering and applied-ML across early scaling.

Where they came from

Top European ML labs and category-leading B2B SaaS.

Stage at engagement

Post-launch, pre-acquisition.

Prior Labs were building category-defining work in tabular AI — the kind of company where every hire shapes the technical worldview of the team. The brief: scale faster than the market expects, without softening the bar.

We ran the engagement as a dedicated talent function inside the company. That meant operating their pipeline end-to-end — sourcing, screening, interview design, offers — while also advising the founders on org structure and compensation as the team grew. We worked from their ATS, on their headed paper, against their roadmap.

Within a year, SAP acquired Prior Labs. The team we helped build now sits at the heart of one of the largest enterprise software platforms in the world — proof that hiring well, and fast, doesn't just enable growth. It can be the thing that creates the exit.

03 / Fundamental Technologies · Deep tech

The exclusive recruiting partner — since stealth.

Fundamental Technologies have worked with Heart Mind Talent exclusively for over a year, dating back to their stealth period. Today, the majority of their global tech team has been hired by HMT recruiters.

Engagement
Exclusive · ongoing
Timeline
12+ months & counting
Scope
Global tech team
Outcome
Majority of HQ & global hires

What we hired

Multi-region engineering, research, and senior leadership.

Where they came from

Global — UK, EU, North America, Israel.

Stage at engagement

Stealth → growth.

Fundamental engaged HMT in stealth, when their first hires would set the technical and cultural trajectory of the entire company. The team has trusted us with that responsibility ever since.

Over a year in, we operate as their de facto global talent function: building pipelines across multiple regions, running calibrated interview processes against shared scorecards, advising on compensation in markets they're entering for the first time, and helping shape the organisation as it grows. The majority of their global tech team — engineers, researchers, leaders — was hired through us.

Long-term partnerships like this one are the work we're most proud of. They're how compound trust gets built — and how we put founders in a position to take real swings.

04 / Dash0 · Observability for AI

Senior AI engineering leads — hired in record time, just ahead of a $110M unicorn round.

Dash0 hit a critical scaling phase and needed senior AI engineering leads on the ground fast. We placed them within record time — just ahead of their $110M raise at a $1B valuation.

Engagement
Embedded · senior search
Timeline
Record time
Scope
Senior AI engineering leads
Outcome
$110M at $1B valuation

What we hired

Senior AI engineering leads — staff-plus, hands-on, with the credibility to set the bar for the team underneath them.

Where they came from

Frontier AI and infrastructure teams across Europe.

Stage at engagement

Critical scaling phase, pre-Series B.

Dash0 reached the inflection point every fast-moving company recognises: the product was working, demand was real, and the leadership team needed senior AI engineering leads to scale the platform without compromising the bar. The window was measured in weeks, not quarters — and the next funding round was already in motion.

We ran a senior, embedded search against a tightly-calibrated profile. Because we'd already mapped the European AI-infra talent market and built relationships with passive candidates of this calibre over years, we could move on day one — not after a three-week brief-and-source phase.

The leads were hired in record time, ahead of the company's $110M raise at a $1B valuation. The team they're now building on top of is the foundation for the next phase of Dash0's growth.

05 / Mazehq · AI-native platform

From stealth to a $25M Series A.

Mazehq partnered with HMT from their earliest stealth days through to closing a $25M Series A. We built the founding tech team that turned the product thesis into a fundable company — and stayed on through the round.

Engagement
Embedded · stealth → Series A
Timeline
Stealth → Series A
Scope
Founding tech team
Outcome
$25M Series A

What we hired

Founding engineers and applied AI talent who could ship in stealth and raise the bar.

Where they came from

Top European AI labs and high-velocity early-stage startups.

Stage at engagement

Stealth → Series A.

Mazehq engaged HMT in stealth, when the company had a thesis and a small founding team but every hire would set the technical and cultural trajectory of what came next. We ran the talent function end to end — mapping the market, running outbound to passive senior candidates, calibrating the bar with the founders, and closing offers in a market where every strong engineer had four other options.

The founding team came together quickly enough to keep the product moving, and credibly enough to anchor a fundraise. Investors saw a team that could actually build, not just a deck — and Mazehq closed a $25M Series A.

We continue to be the partner they call when the next senior hire matters most.

06 / Apron · Fintech

From a $15M Series A to a $30M Series B — and still scaling.

Apron (getapron.com) partnered with HMT through their scaling period — from the $15M Series A led by Index Ventures to a $30M Series B. We still support their sourcing today.

Engagement
Embedded · ongoing sourcing
Timeline
Series A → Series B → today
Scope
Scaling engineering team
Outcome
$15M → $30M, still hiring

What we hired

Scaling engineering across product, platform, and infrastructure.

Where they came from

Top fintech and B2B SaaS teams across the UK and EU.

Stage at engagement

Series A (Index) → Series B → current sourcing.

Apron engaged HMT after their $15M Series A led by Index Ventures — the stage where every hire compounds, and a single bad seat can stall the team for a quarter. We embedded inside their hiring function, calibrated the bar with the leadership team, and ran the pipeline end to end as they scaled engineering.

Through the round and into the next, we owned the senior end of the funnel — keeping the team's velocity intact while protecting the quality bar. Apron went on to close a $30M Series B.

We still support their sourcing today. Long-term, compounding partnerships like Apron's are how the best teams stay good as they grow.

The pattern

Founders who hire with us, hire with us again.

90%
of clients return for their next round of hiring
$1B+
in client outcomes our hires have helped shape
Stealth → Series B
every engagement, founder-led

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