Quick-Start Guide: Executives
**Audience:** VP and C-suite leaders running an active or passive job search **Time to first value:** Under 30 minutes **URL:** startingmonday.app/for-executives
What Starting Monday does for you
Starting Monday gives you a private, signal-first operating layer so you can run a high-quality executive search before roles are ever posted - without exposing your intent to current employers or recruiters.
Step 1 - Sign up and choose your path (5 min)
- Go to **startingmonday.app/signup**
- Create a free account (no credit card required)
- Choose your executive mode:
- **Active search** - you are actively looking and want a full operating cadence
- **Intelligence** - you want signals and awareness without a visible campaign
- Optionally pick your persona route (CIO, CISO, CDO, CPO, COO, VP Technology) for role-specific framing
> Tip: Not sure which persona? Start with Active search. You can refine later.
Step 2 - Build your target company list (5-10 min)
- Navigate to **Dashboard > Discover**
- Start with suggested target companies (based on your role path), then add 10-20 companies you want to track
- The scanner begins monitoring each company every 48 hours for:
- Executive departures and leadership changes
- Funding events and 8-K filings
- Career page postings for roles you could fill
- News and strategic signals
Step 3 - Set up your daily briefing (2 min)
- Go to **Dashboard > Settings > Notifications**
- Turn on the daily morning briefing
- Each morning you receive: new signals on tracked companies, pending follow-up actions, and your pipeline status
Step 4 - Create your first prep brief (5 min)
- Go to **Dashboard > Prep Briefs**
- Select a company or role you are exploring
- The platform generates a role-specific brief: company context, likely mandate, interview themes, and talking points
- Use this before any coffee chat, intro call, or first-round interview
Step 5 - Track your pipeline (ongoing)
- Go to **Dashboard > Pipeline**
- Log each outreach, conversation, and follow-up
- The platform surfaces stalled conversations and timing gaps
- Weekly momentum summary shows your velocity and gaps
What you will see in the first 30 days
| Week | Expected milestone | Artifacts produced |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Target list set, first signals arriving | Target company list (10-20 companies), persona route confirmed, initial narrative draft aligned to your target mandate |
| Week 2 | First signal-driven outreach sent | Personal brand statement (one-paragraph positioning), strategy brief (target role, target companies, timing rationale), first outreach messages drafted and sent |
| Week 3 | At least one prep brief used before a real conversation | Role-specific prep brief (company context, likely mandate, interview themes, objection handling), relationship map (warm contacts, cold targets, search firm connections to activate) |
| Week 4 | Pipeline has 3+ active threads | Pipeline summary (active conversations, stalled threads, next actions), relationship warm log (who you contacted, what changed, what is next), weekly momentum review |
Your privacy guarantee
- **Employer visibility: none.** No signals go to your current employer.
- **Recruiter visibility: none by default.** You control who sees what.
- You can revoke any coach or partner access at any time.
**How we protect your data internally:**
- **Row-level security (RLS).** Every database query is scoped to your user ID at the database layer. No application code can accidentally return another user's data, even in the event of a bug.
- **Encrypted at rest and in transit.** All data is encrypted at rest in our database and encrypted in transit over TLS. We do not store plaintext credentials anywhere.
- **Minimal data collection.** We collect only what is needed to run your search: your target list, your pipeline state, and your prep brief history. We do not sell leads, we do not license your data to third parties, and we do not use your data to train models.
- **Access controls by role.** Coach and partner visibility is gated by explicit permission grants that you set. Internal team access is role-scoped and logged.
- **Permanent deletion.** You can permanently delete your account and all associated data from Settings at any time. Deletion is irreversible and removes your data from active storage within 30 days.
- **Security practices.** We follow OWASP secure development guidelines, enforce API authentication on every endpoint, and run dependency audits as part of our deployment pipeline.
First action right now
Go to **startingmonday.app/signup** and start your free trial. The platform is useful within minutes of adding your first target company.