The story begins in 2006 when Leonardo was known as VFM Interactive, a niche visual content production company in Downtown Toronto serving the global hospitality industry.

Paolo Boni, the company’s CEO was eager to start scaling the business, and in order to do so, he needed to be fully equipped with high-performing talent. Specifically a CFO, an Inside Sales Manager and an Account Manager. That’s when Martyn entered the story.

Martyn went to work on the searches. He presented Paolo with candidates that not only had the effective skillset and expertise for the roles, but were also excited to join a small and thriving company with plenty of opportunity and growth in its future.

A company is only as successful as its talented people, which is why we turned to Martyn to find us the right people, for the right roles, at critical points in Leonardo’s growth. Having top talent in place has helped the company’s transformation from a small media production company to a digital technology company serving the global hospitality industry. The quality of talent that Martyn has brought us is unmatched.

– Paolo Boni, CEO, Leonardo

And ‘growth’ would be an understatement. In 2008, a time when the economy was tough and investors were risk adverse, the company secured $18.5M in financing and purchased Europe-based Leonardo to become VFM Leonardo. As is the case with mergers and acquisitions, considerable changes were mounting on the horizon.

Next Step: Kick-Start Sales and Marketing

The biggest change initially came with major shift in the company’s value proposition and go-to-market strategy. They needed a top-tier CMO to head up this change and a high-octane roster to execute it.

Martyn and his team were tasked with the search for a candidate who had sales operations, analytics and digital strategy experience and could build the company’s complete digital marketing infrastructure. Enter: John McAuliffe.

John was a 20+ year marketing veteran at the time with hands on experience in leading market-driven strategies for disruptive technologies. He previously led the marketing function of a Silicon Valley technology firm and was the President and COO of a mid-size Canadian advertising agency.

When I came on board, I trusted Martyn to find me the sales leadership and marketing expertise I needed to advance the company’s sales and that’s exactly what he delivered. I don’t have time to sift through piles of resumes or spend hours interviewing candidates for the role. Martyn did the work for us, found the top three or four candidates for the role, and one of them was always the right fit.

– John McAuliffe, President, Leonardo

Martyn then went on to place a Manager of Demand Generation and a Web Operations Manager who worked together to successfully implement a marketing automation system and a powerful marketing machine that took the company from receiving no incoming leads to 40,000+ in just under two years.

An increase in the company’s revenue inevitably followed, but not without the essential building blocks that Martyn helped lay the foundation with. They quickly built a global team of sales representatives to convert the leads generated by marketing to closed deals. Today, exclusively inbound leads fuel their sales.

Between 2014 and 2015, Martyn successfully placed two key Digital Marketing Managers, a Marketing Operations Specialist and a Content Marketing Manager to fuel the division. With an effective marketing machine up and running and sales of its hotel visual merchandising solution taking off, the company was able to expand its vertical in their product to include social and mobile marketing capabilities.

Key Search Highlights

Staffed marketing team that moved all marketing to inbound
Placed product managers with highly specific skill sets
Played a key role in company’s revenue growth
Placed 6 high-ranking marketing team members

The Results

Leonardo continues to thrive. In 2014, they underwent another successful re-invention and re-branding and launched a completely new digital marketing platform. Martyn continues to be their go-to recruiter and is instrumental in landing top-tier talent to their sales, marketing and product management teams.

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When hiring our first CPO, we were looking to branch out beyond our network. The Martyn Bassett Associates team was able to source candidates that we were wanting, but unable to get on our own. We were presented with a wide range of fantastic candidates.

Robert Chen

Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, Almi

What I love about working with this team is they’re there to help. I have weird requests, they jump on the phone and we figure it out. I need someone in a hurry, they hustle. I maybe need someone ages from now, they keep an eye out. I have a question about a salary, or am unsure about how to approach something – they know. We’ve used them for a few years, and we’ve had nothing but great experience working together. Wish I had found them a few years sooner.

Alan Smith

Co-Founder/CEO, Strategyzer

We were impressed with both the speed and the high-calibre of candidates we had to choose from. Martyn Bassett Associates really listen to what you’re looking for and the entire process is very smooth and stress-free.

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CEO & Co-Founder, Diversys

The entire Martyn Bassett team was easy to work with and we were able to quickly develop an open and transparent partnership. Leveraging their strong expertise and extensive talent network, they helped us find the technology sales leaders and management services experts we needed.

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A true value-adding partner in identifying talent. The team at Martyn Bassett Associates were quick to zero-in on our requirements and rigorous in pre-qualifying candidates for consideration. They are focused and fast! Their expertise and experience added value throughout the process and resulted in an outstanding final outcome for Roadpost. This is a team that will strive to exceed expectations.

Kim Layne

VP Marketing, Roadpost

Next Step: Kick-Start Sales and Marketing

Key Search Highlights

The Results

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