We areBoutique
We deal inCompetence
We areCurators
We deliverTalent Strategy
We respectProcess
Our Manifesto
"Most recruitment firms ask what role you need to fill. We ask why the last person left, what the hiring manager is really like to work with, and what success looks like in 90 days — not just on paper."
GrowthCatalyst is a boutique competence curation firm. We serve CHRO, HR leaders, and founders who want a talent partner with skin in the game — not a vendor pushing CVs to close a fee. Our process is non-negotiable because quality is non-negotiable.
Vision
Built on a belief
most firms ignore.
To be India's most trusted boutique talent partner — where every client gets curated, assessed, strategy-aligned hires, and every candidate leaves the process with clarity about their career, regardless of outcome. We measure success not by CVs sent, but by hires retained.
What Makes Us Different
Four things no volume
firm can replicate.
I
Assessment Before Introduction
Every candidate is evaluated — scored on skills, culture fit, role readiness, and growth potential — before a single profile reaches the client. You receive a curated brief, not a stack of CVs.
II
Talent Aligned to Your Strategy & Stage
We map talent to your growth stage, not just your JD. A Series A startup needs different DNA than a GCC scaling to 500. We factor your strategy, culture, and where you're going — not just where you are.
III
Candidate Experience as a Deliverable
Structured feedback, honest guidance, real career conversations — even after rejection. Candidates become brand advocates for your organisation. Their experience is part of your employer brand.
IV
High Founder Ownership. Our Process. Your Commitment.
Shreya owns every mandate personally. But this is a two-way partnership — clients who want our results must commit to our Brief, our TAT, our feedback structure, and our process. No exceptions.
The Talent Requirement Brief
We don't accept a Word doc JD.
We work from a Brief.
A JD tells us what a role does. The Brief tells us everything a JD cannot — the culture, the unsaid expectations, the hiring manager's style, the real non-negotiables. This is the foundation of every engagement.
"If you want access to GrowthCatalyst's talent pool, filling this Brief is not optional. It replaces the JD entirely. It takes 30 minutes and saves months of bad hires."
Rules of Engagement
Our process isn't a preference.
It's a condition.
GrowthCatalyst works as a true partner — which means the relationship only works when both sides are committed. These are our engagement standards. Clients who cannot commit to these are not the right fit for us.
What We Commit To You
i.
Assessment before every profile. No CV is shared without a structured evaluation and scoring summary attached.
ii.
Maximum 4–5 candidates per role. Curated, not bulk. Each comes with a written brief, not just a CV.
iii.
Weekly RAG status report. Every Friday — pipeline strength, candidate readiness, risks, blockers. No surprises.
iv.
Pre-joining engagement through Day 1. We stay close to candidates between offer and joining to protect your conversion rate.
v.
Candidate experience, always. Every candidate — placed or not — receives structured feedback and honest guidance.
vi.
High founder ownership. Shreya personally owns every mandate. You are never handed to a junior recruiter after sign-off.
What We Ask of You
i.
Complete the Talent Requirement Brief. Not a JD. The Brief. Every field. Before we begin sourcing.
ii.
Follow the agreed interview process. Changing rounds, adding last-minute decision-makers, or ghosting mid-process is not acceptable.
iii.
Structured feedback within 48 hours. Not "selected" or "rejected." We need specific, competency-level feedback for every candidate interviewed.
iv.
Honour our TAT. Response windows for feedback, decision calls, and offer approvals are agreed upfront and must be respected.
v.
Access to the hiring manager. Not just the HR team. The person the hire will work for must be part of the briefing process.
vi.
CHRO or Founder sponsorship. We work best with organisations where leadership is genuinely invested in hiring quality — not just HR as a gatekeeper.
Non-Negotiable
We will pause or exit any engagement where structured feedback is not provided, agreed interview processes are not followed, or the client relationship has reverted to a vendor dynamic. Our reputation with candidates — and yours — depends on this.
The Questions Framework
Questions no other
consultant will ask.
"Most consultants ask what skills you need. We ask what broke last time, who the real decision-maker is, and what the team dynamics are that no one puts in an email."
To the Client
The Uncomfortable Client Questions
- Why did the last person in this role leave — really?
- What has the hiring manager struggled with in past reports?
- What does the team dynamics look like right now, and what does this hire walk into?
- If this hire fails in 6 months, what would the reason most likely be?
- What is the one thing about this role you'd want a candidate to know but wouldn't put in the JD?
- Is the compensation benchmarked to market, or is it a constraint we need to design around?
- Who has the final say — and is that person aligned on the profile?
To Candidates
The Real Candidate Discovery Questions
- What would have to be true about this role for you to say yes to a lower offer?
- Tell me about a manager you didn't work well with — what happened?
- What are you not good at that this role will require?
- Where do you want to be in 3 years — and does this role genuinely get you there?
- What other processes are you in, and where are they?
- What would make you decline an offer after accepting it?
- If I called your last manager right now, what would they say about your style?
Talent Strategy
The Strategic Talent Questions
- Is this a hire for where you are or where you're going in 18 months?
- Does your current team have the capability to integrate this person successfully?
- Have you mapped the competencies that predict success here — or are you hiring on gut?
- What does your attrition tell you about your employer brand at mid-senior level?
- Are you hiring to solve a symptom or the root cause?
- Does the hiring manager have a track record of retaining good people?
Startup Growth Stage × Talent
The right talent depends on
where you actually are.
A Series C hire in a Seed-stage company breaks the team. A Seed-stage hire in a Series C company slows it down. Growth stage is not a detail — it is the brief.
Stage 01
Pre-Seed / Seed
0–15 people
Survival mode. Every hire is disproportionately high-impact. Culture is still being written by the people in the room.
Talent Profile We Curate
Generalist builders. High ownership, low ego. Comfortable with ambiguity. Will do the work themselves before managing others. Domain depth + startup DNA essential.
Stage 02
Series A
15–60 people
Proving the model. Transitioning from founders doing everything to functional leaders. First real org design decisions are made here.
Talent Profile We Curate
0→1 functional leaders. Have built something before, not just managed it. Can hire and develop a team. Excited by building structure where none exists.
Stage 03
Series B / C
60–300 people
Scaling what works. Processes, playbooks, and org structure become critical. The risk is hiring too corporate too early — or too scrappy too late.
Talent Profile We Curate
1→10 scalers. Process-minded but not bureaucratic. Have scaled teams of 20–50. Know when to standardise and when to stay flexible. Strong operator profile.
Stage 04
Growth / Pre-IPO
300+ people
Institutionalisation. Governance, compliance, and board-readiness come in. Talent decisions are now strategic bets with long payback periods.
Talent Profile We Curate
Enterprise leaders who haven't lost their edge. Corporate rigour + startup speed. Can represent the company externally, manage boards, and build for durability.
Talent Strategy as a Service
We don't just fill roles.
We help you build the function.
What Talent Strategy Looks Like With Us
Engagement options for CHRO, Founders & HR Leaders
- Hiring roadmap aligned to your 12-month growth plan and funding stage
- Competency framework design for key functions (not generic templates)
- Employer brand audit — what candidates experience and what leaks
- Interview process design with structured scoring rubrics per role level
- Offer conversion analysis — where you lose candidates and why
- Attrition pattern review — what your exits are telling you about your culture
- Fractional Talent Partner — part-time TA leadership for scaling teams
- First-hire advisory for founders building their HR function from zero
"Are you hiring for the company you are, or the company you need to become?"
Most organisations hire reactively — a vacancy opens, a brief goes out. GrowthCatalyst works with clients to build a talent strategy that anticipates needs 6–12 months ahead, maps competency gaps before they become hiring emergencies, and aligns every hire to a deliberate vision of what the team should look like at the next stage.
This is the difference between talent acquisition and talent strategy. We offer both — but we believe the latter is what actually changes outcomes.
The Curation Process
Seven steps. Every time.
No shortcuts.
01
Brief Intake
Client completes Talent Requirement Brief. No JD accepted. Briefing call with hiring manager mandatory.
02
Talent Mapping
Market mapping, targeted sourcing, network activation. No job board spray. Quality over quantity.
03
Assessment
Structured evaluation — skills screen, competency interview, scoring rubric. Candidate scored before profile shared.
04
Candidate Guidance
Career context, honest fit assessment, role preparation. Every candidate leaves better informed — regardless of outcome.
05
Curated Shortlist
Max 4–5 candidates, each with a curation brief summarising assessment scores and recommended approach.
06
Offer & Negotiation
Counter-offer management, expectation alignment, motivation mapping. We protect conversions on both sides.
07
Pre-joining Care
Structured check-ins from offer to Day 1. Early red flags caught. Offer drops minimised. Onboarding set up for success.
Market Opportunity
A large market with a
quality gap at the top.
India's recruitment industry is growing fast. The premium, assessment-led segment is the fastest growing — and the most underserved by boutique specialists.
₹62K Cr
India Staffing Market Size
Total staffing and recruitment industry, growing at 12–14% annually. Premium boutique search is the fastest-growing and most margin-rich segment.
4,000+
Active GCCs in India
Global Capability Centres expanding rapidly. All hiring at scale. Most frustrated with vendor quality, bulk CVs, and high offer drop rates.
68%
Offer Drop Rate Problem
Nearly 7 in 10 companies cite offer-to-joining drop as a critical hiring challenge. Pre-joining engagement is GrowthCatalyst's direct, proprietary answer.
Target Sectors
Three sectors. Chosen
for expertise, not coverage.
Not chosen because they're large. Chosen because the founder has lived them — and knows the difference between a good hire and a great one in each context.
NBFC / BFSI
Financial Services & Banking
Regulatory complexity demands structured assessment. Mid-office, risk, compliance, and leadership roles require sector fluency that generic recruiters don't have. Founder has direct IB mid-office hiring experience.
GCC
Global Capability Centres
India's fastest-growing employer segment. GCCs need quality at volume — exactly the gap GrowthCatalyst addresses. High offer drop rates and talent mismatch are endemic. Assessment and pre-joining support are the solution.
Startups
Early-Stage & Scaling Startups
Growth stage determines talent profile. Seed, Series A, B/C and Pre-IPO need fundamentally different hires. GrowthCatalyst maps talent to stage — not just to the role description.
Adjacent
Fintech & Investment Banking Support
Where financial services and technology intersect — compliance, risk analytics, product, and operations. Niche enough for most generalists to miss. Deep enough for GrowthCatalyst to add real value.
Service Portfolio
Six services. All built
around the same principle.
i
Mid-Senior Curated Search
Retained and hybrid mandates for mid-to-senior roles. Assessment included as standard. Max 4–5 candidates, always briefed, always scored.
ii
Talent Strategy Advisory
Hiring roadmap, competency framework design, org design input. For CHROs and founders building a function — not just filling a vacancy.
iii
Assessment Design & Delivery
Custom competency frameworks, case studies, scoring rubrics. Built for your role, your culture, and your growth stage.
iv
Startup Hiring Sprint
3–6 curated hires in 60 days. Fixed scope, structured process. For early-stage founders who need speed without sacrificing quality.
v
Pre-Joining Engagement Programme
Structured communication and motivation management from offer to Day 1. Reduces drop rates. Protects your employer brand and your investment.
vi
Fractional Talent Partner
Part-time TA leadership for scaling organisations. Strategy, process design, and hands-on delivery — without the full-time TA head cost.
HR Fuelled by Tech
We use AI to go faster.
Humans to go deeper.
Automated
What Technology Does For Us
Sourcing: AI-assisted LinkedIn and talent database search. Faster pipeline, same quality bar.
Screening: Skills assessments via Vervoe / TestGorilla. Async video interviews via Willo.
Operations: ATS (Zoho Recruit), calendar automation (Calendly), structured RAG reports auto-generated weekly.
Candidate nurture: Pre-joining check-in sequences automated — but every escalation handled personally.
CRM: Full pipeline visibility for clients in real time via shared Notion dashboard.
Human Only
What Only a Person Can Do
The Brief: Reading what a client didn't write. Hearing what they meant, not what they said.
Candidate conversations: Honest feedback. Career redirections. The call that changes someone's direction.
Offer drop prediction: Reading motivation signals that don't show up in any tool.
Assessment judgment: Scoring is structured — but the final call on culture fit is human.
Relationships: Trust between a CHRO and a talent partner. Cannot be automated.
"When every firm uses AI to source and GPT to write JDs — the differentiator is the human who calls a rejected candidate and says: here's what to do next."
Brand Building Strategy
Building a boutique brand
as a first-time founder.
You don't need a large budget. You need a clear point of view, consistent presence, and the patience to show up before it pays off. 10 years of lived expertise is your unfair advantage.
Months 1–3 · Foundation
Build before you sell.
- Rewrite your LinkedIn as a founder with a point of view — not a CV
- Post 3×/week: candidate advice, hiring observations, BFSI/startup talent insights
- Publish your Talent Brief framework publicly — show your process before you pitch it
- Close first 1–2 clients from existing network at reduced fee for a case study
- Set up Zoho Recruit + Notion as your operating backbone
- Define your non-negotiables publicly — show clients who you're not for
Months 4–6 · Proof
Let results speak first.
- Publish first case study: how you reduced offer drop-rate for a BFSI client
- Start "The GC Brief" — bi-weekly newsletter for HR leaders and founders
- Launch a one-page website with the Brief form embedded
- Collect candidate NPS — document positive experiences from rejected candidates
- Attend 1–2 NASSCOM / BFSI HR events as a delegate — build in rooms, not inboxes
- Initiate Vivek and anchor client conversations with case study in hand
Months 7–12 · Scale
Turn trust into growth.
- Move 2–3 clients to retained/hybrid model
- Introduce referral programme — clients who refer receive one free assessment
- Productise the Startup Hiring Sprint as a fixed-price, repeatable offering
- Hire first sourcing associate — you focus on assessment, strategy, and client relationships
- Build a mid-senior BFSI/GCC candidate community — WhatsApp or private LinkedIn group
- Apply for boutique recruiter recognition on LinkedIn, Sheroes, ET HR World
Pricing Model
How to price as a
first-time founder.
Start where trust is earned. Move to retained as it compounds. Never race to the bottom — your model is premium by design and that must be reflected in your pricing from day one.
Phase 1 · Months 1–6
Contingency
Fee on successful placement only.
8–10%
of first year CTC
- Assessment + curated shortlist included
- Weekly RAG reporting
- Pre-joining support (30 days)
- 60-day replacement guarantee
- Best used for first 2–3 anchor clients
Phase 2 · Months 6–12
Hybrid Retained
Partial upfront + placement fee.
₹50K + 8%
retainer + % of first year CTC
- Dedicated bandwidth guarantee
- Full Talent Requirement Brief process
- Custom assessment framework per role
- Pre-joining engagement (60 days)
- Quarterly talent market intelligence brief
Phase 3 · Year 2+
Fully Retained
Project-based. Pure advisory model.
₹1.5–3L
per search, all-inclusive
- Exclusive mandate only
- Strategic talent advisory included
- Full candidate journey ownership
- Employer brand and process audit
- 90-day post-joining guarantee
Client Outreach Pitch
How to open the door
as a boutique founder.
"Hi [Name], I run GrowthCatalyst — a boutique competence curation firm. We're different from most recruitment partners in one specific way: we assess every candidate before introducing them to you.
No CV without a scored evaluation. No bulk shortlists. And we work from a Talent Requirement Brief — not a JD — because a JD doesn't tell us about your hiring manager's style, your team dynamics, or what actually broke last time.
I've spent 10 years in talent acquisition — including mid-office hiring in investment banking and NBFC, and startup hiring across Series A to C. I know what good looks like in your space.
I'd love 20 minutes to understand your biggest hiring frustration right now. No pitch deck. Just a real conversation."
LinkedIn DM — GCC / Tech
"Hi [Name] — I noticed [company] is scaling its GCC team. Most vendors will send you 20 CVs. We send 4 — each with a structured assessment attached.
I run GrowthCatalyst, a boutique competence curation firm. We also manage candidate engagement from offer to Day 1, which is where most drop-offs happen in GCC hiring.
Worth 15 minutes to see if we're a fit?"
Email — NBFC / BFSI Founder / CHRO
"Subject: A different kind of talent partner for NBFC teams.
Hi [Name], I'm Shreya — I founded GrowthCatalyst after 10 years in TA, including compliance and mid-office hiring in financial services.
We work differently: every candidate we introduce has been assessed and scored. And we work from a Talent Requirement Brief — not a JD — because that's where quality hires actually start.
I'd love to share how we reduced offer drop-rates for a similar client. 10-minute call?"
The Founder
The person behind
every mandate.
S
Shreya
Founder, GrowthCatalyst · Boutique Competence Curator
10 years in talent acquisition across investment banking mid-office, NBFC financial services, and early-stage startup hiring. I've briefed hiring managers who didn't know what they really wanted, guided candidates through decisions they weren't ready for, and watched good hires fail because the onboarding was an afterthought.
GrowthCatalyst is built on everything I saw done wrong — and the deep belief that recruitment, done with rigour and honesty, changes careers and builds companies. I own every mandate personally. I ask the questions no one else asks. And I hold the process — for clients and candidates equally.
Investment Banking TA
NBFC & BFSI Hiring
Startup Talent Strategy
Assessment Design
Candidate Experience
GCC Hiring
Pre-joining Engagement