Moon Executive Search was approached by the main Board at Good Energy Plc (AIM: GOOD), the 100% renewable electricity supplier and innovative energy services provider, to manage a highly confidential search to appoint a CEO into their investment business, Zap-Map, the UK's leading Electric Vehicle mapping service.
We were selected due to our expertise and track record of managing similar assignments for investor businesses, making key appointments into portfolio companies.
As part of executing Zap-Map's growth strategy, the Zap-Map Board identified the requirement for further commercial and strategic leadership to consider long term opportunities, position the business for scale and continue to develop the commercial propositions.
Operating as a disruptive digital business in a highly competitive sector, Zap-Map has a huge opportunity to drive continual growth through expanding the tech development team, but also via building on the current product list to provide genuine innovation in their direct-to-consumer channels.
The Challenge
Given that growth will come via new revenues, clients and services to the chosen markets, from the outset it was crucial to identify an individual who could work in collaboration with the Founding Directors at Zap-Map to embed commercial strategy, delivery and target success.
To achieve these aims, Moon sought an experienced professional, ideally with knowledge and experience within a similarly aligned digital platform model business. We knew the business was at the stage where the CEO would need to ‘roll up their sleeves’ and take a long-term and big picture view of the proposition and scale of offering, such that they could drive the business from start-up to scale-up mode. Therefore, we were looking for a ‘doer’ not just a ‘delegator’, adept at building internal and external relationships and astute enough to leverage the growing market opportunities.
Finally, we were mindful of the need for a prospective CEO to demonstrate real gravitas and possess the ability to engage with senior decision makers, offering a proactive, entrepreneurial and solutions focused mindset.
Our Approach
Upon instruction, Moon Executive Search sought to gain a detailed insight into the requirements from the role – covering both the technical and soft skills sought. Tio achieve this, we spoke to all the key stakeholders to understand their ambitions for the business and also to appreciate the key cultural considerations in appointing the CEO.
We then began to map the existing market sector across the UK, considering c-suite professionals from high growth technology backgrounds. Our research was extensive and due to the very niche nature of this appointment, we targeted only a select number of potential candidates.
By longlisting in this way, we were also able to ensure the high level of confidentiality sought by our Client. We adopted a two-stage call process – firstly our researchers scoped the opportunity and the candidates’ broad alignment and then our Directors moved to a deep dive conversation encompassing a more detailed discussion to check suitability and career motivations.
Only at this point, with all parties’ content, did we move to an NDA process and subsequent full disclosure meetings. In this way, we cautiously built our shortlist to present to the main Board.
The Solution
The search resulted in the successful appointment of Richard Bourne as Interim CEO to work alongside the Zap-Map Board to develop the long-term strategic plan, positioning the business for scale and potential fund raising. Richard is a dynamic start-up to scale-up business leader who has operated across a broad range of industries. He has a proven track record of developing and executing sophisticated and disruptive go-to-market strategies to deliver high revenue growth and value creation in venture capital and private equity backed companies. This includes previous roles as CEO at Stratto Ltd and senior positions at Cisco, Ubiquisys, Ericsson and Marconi.
Simon Quinn, Director of Search at Moon said:
‘This was a hugely exciting assignment to work on. The breadth of skills needed meant that we were operating in a very specific talent pool and we were delighted that the pull of both the sector and the business trajectory, underpinned with the involvement of the main Board, meant that we could deliver a high-quality interview shortlist. We were particularly grateful to the main Board for their insightful and timely feedback at each stage of the process.’
Richard Bourne, Interim CEO, Zap-Map said:
‘I’m delighted to join the Zap-Map team and have the opportunity to accelerate the go-to-market strategy in one of the most exciting companies in the UK. As a key enabler in the EV ecosystem helping all EV drivers to seamlessly search for charge points, plan their journeys and easily pay will be a crucial step in the mass adoption of electric vehicles.’
Juliet Davenport, CEO and Founder, Good Energy and Chair of Zap-Map said:
‘Richard joins at a crucial inflection point for the decarbonisation of transport. His experience will help Zap-Map take the next leap in its exciting growth story and reinforce itself as a leading player in the EV market in the UK and beyond. We know Vanessa and Simon left no stone unturned in their search, and their expertise in providing insightful commentary on each candidate that considered our board dynamics, certainly helped us make our decision more easily.’
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