Executive search · VC & PE talent
From a brief to a shortlist your client trusts.
dogo runs the sourcing, scoring and outreach for one search at a time — for exec-search firms and VC & PE talent teams — with the evidence attached to every name. So your judgment goes to the candidates, not to copying rows into a spreadsheet.
Built for executive-search.
The bottleneck
Sourcing eats the days. Judgment is what the client pays for.
LinkedIn Recruiter, Google, a spreadsheet, a junior researcher checking each name by hand. Days per search. And when it closes, everything the firm learned about who exists in that corner of the market disappears. The next search starts from zero. dogo runs the mechanical work and keeps every candidate discovered in a pool that comes back automatically on the next matching brief. It’s the same bottleneck whether you’re a boutique exec-search firm or a VC talent team placing executives across a portfolio.
Who it’s for
Built for the people who place executives.
The loop is the same whether you’re billing a client or staffing a portco. The pain points are just framed differently.
Your judgment is the product. Not the sourcing hours.
- →Days of sourcing before a slate is ready to present
- →Evidence to defend a name when a client pushes back
- →Research gone when the search closes — next one starts from scratch
- →Outreach that sounds like a template, not like you
One pool across every portco. No search starts from zero.
- →Same exec sourcing repeated for every portfolio company
- →Criteria shift per company — Series A needs vs. pre-IPO scale
- →No memory that you’ve seen a candidate across two deals
- →Outreach that represents the portco, not a generic recruiter
The switch
From fragmented sourcing to one loop.
The old way
- ✕LinkedIn + PitchBook + spreadsheet
- ✕Candidates ranked by gut feel
- ✕Near-misses silently filtered out
- ✕Research lost when the search closes
- ✕Outreach written from scratch each time
- ✕Repeat the same sourcing for every portco
The dogo way
- ●Brief → sourced longlist in one thread
- ●Fit score with per-criterion evidence
- ●The whole gradient, visible and flagged
- ●Every candidate added to your pool
- ●Sequences that auto-pause on any reply
- ●One pool that spans all your searches
The mission loop
One opinionated loop, end to end.
Set which handoffs run automatically and which wait for your review. Then run it: sourcing, scoring, enrichment, and outreach drafts all chain without manual steps between them.
Brief
Describe the search in plain language. A scorecard helps but is never required.
Criteria
A weighted must / nice-to-have plan you confirm before anything runs.
Source
Your talent pool is searched first against the brief. Then live web sourcing fills the gaps. Near-misses and strong matches both make the longlist.
Score
Each candidate scored with per-criterion evidence: yes / no / unclear, with the reasoning attached.
Enrich
Verified contact details on the people you pursue. Enriched once, available on every search that follows.
Outreach
Drafts that sound like you. Review the whole sequence, activate it once — dogo sends, follows up, and auto-pauses on any reply.
The trust screen
It builds the evidenced longlist. You decide who to call.
Every candidate carries a fit score and, one click away, the per-criterion verdicts behind it: yes, no, or unclear, each with its reasoning and sources. No opaque match percentage. When a client pushes back on a name, the answer is already on the screen.
- ● meets the criterion, with proof
- ◐ unclear, flagged for a closer look
- ○ miss, shown, never hidden
What you get
Built to compound, not to drift.
Evidence travels with the number
Every score carries its per-criterion reasoning and sources. You defend the list because the why is one click away.
The whole gradient, kept
Near-misses stay visible and flagged, never silently filtered out. You decide where the line is, not a black box.
A pool that works forward
Every candidate you source or shortlist goes into your talent pool. On the next search, pool members who match the brief surface automatically in the longlist, flagged as someone you have seen before. Add anyone by LinkedIn URL and dogo enriches their profile.
Per-mission, no persistent ICP
Fit is judged against this brief, not a global profile. The same person can score 95 here and 30 next door.
The loop runs itself, to the gate you set
Configure which steps run automatically: enrich on shortlist, add to pool, generate outreach drafts. Sequences send only what you activated: you read every message and every date first, then dogo runs the cadence and auto-pauses on any reply. The machine handles the handoffs; the judgment calls stay yours.
Off-limits, enforced automatically
Add the hiring client and their group once. dogo auto-excludes every current employee from the longlist. No manual checking, no risk of approaching a client's employee by accident.
Principles
Opinions, on purpose.
Keep the whole gradient
Never pre-filter to perfect matches. A flagged near-miss beats a hidden one.
Evidence travels with the number
No score without its reasoning and references attached.
Fit is per-mission
No persistent ICP. Every search is judged on its own brief.
A human reviews before anything runs
You read every message and every send date, then activate once. dogo sends on schedule and auto-pauses on any reply.
For developers
Drive it from your agent.
Every step of the loop is available as a REST API and as an MCP server. Point Claude, Codex, or any agent runtime at dogo and it can run a search end to end without touching the UI.
Full OpenAPI spec
Every endpoint documented and explorable. Create missions, run sourcing, read the ranked longlist, enrich contacts, and generate outreach — all over HTTP with a Bearer key.
Explore the API docs →Connect your agent in three steps
Create an account, generate an API key, and add one block to your agent config. Works with Claude Desktop, Codex, and any MCP-compatible runtime.
{
"mcpServers": {
"dogo": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://dogoapp.ai/api/mcp",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "Bearer dogo_sk_..."
}
}
}
}Setup guide →Run your next search in dogo. Whether it’s for a client or a portco.
One real brief is the whole pitch. Bring a search you’re working now and see the evidenced longlist for yourself.
