Variner

Variner is a Denver-based executive search firm founded in 2017, dedicated to discovering best-in-class intellectual capital through both conventional and unconventional channels. The firm specializes in partnering with mid-market principal investing firms, growth equity funds, family offices, and corporate M&A/Venture teams to identify and qualify investment professionals. Variner believes human capital is the differentiating factor in their clients' success and maintains a resolute approach to identifying top talent through strategic networking and performance-based processes.

Variner operates as a boutique executive search firm with a methodology that extends beyond traditional recruiting processes. The firm believes that well-executed searches are not just processes but a series of methodologies that represent a constant state of mind, ever-present and continuously evolving in their consultants' work. Their approach centers on strategic networking rather than relying on impersonal job boards and online portals.

The firm's comprehensive approach includes three key phases: Discovery, Market Insights, and Partnering. During the Discovery phase, they focus on constant recruiting through strategic networking to identify both active and passive candidates. Their Market Insights approach demonstrates deep understanding of career cycles for investment bankers, consultants, principal investors, and corporate professionals, allowing them to strategically time their outreach and recruitment efforts.

Variner's Partnering philosophy involves understanding candidates' overall career trajectories by maintaining long-term relationships throughout their careers. This enables them to have keen insights into candidates' likelihood of being valuable additions to client teams. The firm maintains four core competencies: maintaining bespoke networks of meaningful relationships throughout the United States, following market dynamics and compensation trends, maintaining active dialogue with a broad candidate universe, and adhering to performance-based interviewing processes.

With over 23 years of combined finance and recruiting experience among their team, Variner has achieved a 94% offer-to-acceptance ratio and conducts 90% of their processes on an exclusive or retained basis. The firm was founded in 2017 and has executed hundreds of searches across the United States, building expertise in understanding investment styles and corporate cultures to ensure optimal candidate-client matching.