What is Dave Partners known for?

ChatGPT names Dave Partners most often on the question “Which search firms work with venture-backed startups?”, where it appeared in 75 of 235 sampled responses (31.9%). Across the 9 executive search firms questions measured by The Shortlist Report, Dave Partners cleared the reporting threshold on 1.

Is Dave Partners a good executive search firm?

This measurement cannot answer that. It counts how often ChatGPT names Dave Partners when asked buyer questions, which follows how much has been written about the firm online rather than how well it works. Dave Partners was named in 75 of the 235 responses sampled on the questions it appears in. A firm named rarely may still be excellent, and a firm named often may not suit a given brief.

Why is Dave Partners in tier 1?

Tier 1 does not mean ranked first. It means that at the sample sizes measured, the gap between Dave Partners and the most-named firm is inside the margin of error, so the sample cannot separate them. Firms sharing a tier are listed in arbitrary order.

Which firms compete with Dave Partners?

Dave Partners appears on too few questions in this sample for a reliable overlap with other firms to be reported.

Firm profile

Dave Partners

Dave Partners was named in 1 of the 9 executive search firms questions measured by The Shortlist Report, appearing in 75 of the 235 AI responses sampled across those questions (31.9%).

davepartners.com · Last measured October 1, 2026 · how we measure

1 / 9Questions named in

75Responses naming it

32%Of 235 sampled

1Best tier reached

Dave Partners is strongest on “Which search firms work with venture-backed startups?”, where it was named in 75 of 235 responses (31.9%), placing it in tier 1 of that report.

What Dave Partners is surfaced for in executive search firms

Based on the measured answers, Dave Partners is most likely to be surfaced when buyers ask about “Which search firms work with venture-backed startups?”.

How the answers describe the firmConducts retained executive search for venture-backed companies from Series B through IPO.

In this sample, Dave Partners was named on 1 of the 8 executive search firms ranking questions measured. These are the buyer questions where it appeared most often:

Executive search startups — named in 75 of 235 responses (31.9%), tier 1.

This describes when the firm is surfaced, not whether it is the right firm to hire. The sample measures recommendation visibility, not client outcomes.

Every question in executive search firms

Dave Partners was named on 1 of these 8 ranking questions. The rest are questions buyers ask that it did not come up for — with whoever did.

Leader is the most-named firm on that question. The last column shows where Dave Partners placed, or a dash where it was not named often enough to clear the reporting threshold. Every row links to the full report.
Question	Leader	Dave Partners
What are the best executive search firms?235 answers	Egon Zehnder99%	—
Which firms specialise in the role we are hiring for?235 answers	Korn Ferry90%	—
Which search firms work with venture-backed startups?235 answers	Riviera Partners35%	32% · tier 1
Who runs board and chief executive searches?235 answers	Spencer Stuart87%	—
Which search firms deliver genuinely diverse candidate slates?235 answers	Russell Reynolds Associates60%	—
Our executive search is not working. Who can take over?235 answers	Spencer Stuart62%	—
Which search firms know our industry?234 answers	Spencer Stuart93%	—
Which executive search firms report measurable search outcomes?30 answers	Heidrick & Struggles23%	—
How much does an executive search firm charge?pricing · 235 answers	what firms charge	—

Who leads executive search firms overall: Spencer Stuart tops 3 of 8 · Egon Zehnder tops 1 of 8 · Heidrick & Struggles tops 1 of 8 · Korn Ferry tops 1 of 8 · Riviera Partners tops 1 of 8 · Russell Reynolds Associates tops 1 of 8. See all reports.

Where Dave Partners was named

One row per report in which Dave Partners cleared the reporting threshold. Reports where it was not named often enough to clear that threshold are not listed. Each report states its own sample size and collection window.
Question	Tier	Responses	Share
Which search firms work with venture-backed startups?	1	75 of 235	31.9%

What Dave Partners gets named for

Across the 9 executive search firms questions measured, Dave Partners is named most often on “Which search firms work with venture-backed startups?” — it appears in 75 of the 235 ChatGPT responses to that question, or 31.9% of them.

That is the only question in this set where Dave Partners cleared the reporting threshold, so its visibility is concentrated in one kind of buyer question rather than spread across the category.

What Dave Partners’s tier placings mean

On “Which search firms work with venture-backed startups?”, Dave Partners sits in tier 1 of 3, named in 75 of 235 responses (31.9%). Tier 1 does not mean it was ranked first. It means that at 235 responses, the gap between Dave Partners and the most-named firm in that sample is inside the margin of error, so the two cannot be told apart. Dave Partners shares tier 1 with Riviera Partners, True and Daversa Partners, and the order they are listed in is arbitrary. 6 further firms were named on this question but fell into lower tiers, meaning the sample did separate Dave Partners from them.

What this page is, and is not

It is a count of how often AI assistants named Dave Partners when asked buyer questions about executive search firms. Nothing here is a review, a rating, or an assessment of the firm’s work.
Dave Partners did not submit this listing, was not contacted about it, and cannot pay to change it, move up, or be removed.
A firm named in few responses may still be excellent. Share follows what has been published about a firm online, which is what an AI assistant reads.
Wrong details, or a firm merged with another of a similar name? We fix those.

All firms · All 9 reports