In 2019, a Financial SuperApp was founded with backing from well-known investors. The goal was clear: build a strong business in brokerage and digital assets. But by 2023, things weren’t going as planned. The product was still in development, and that delay made it hard to keep up with competitors.

One of the key issues was the tech team. They didn’t have the experience needed to build a reliable, secure trading platform. The company needed someone who had done this before—someone who knew how to build an exchange from scratch and lead a team that could deliver. That’s when they asked Rockrose to help find a CTO.

What Made This Hard

It wasn’t just about finding someone technical. They needed a builder—someone who had been there from the start of a trading platform, not just joined after it was up and running. Most people with that kind of experience were already in stable jobs and not looking to move. Others were former founders who weren’t keen on working for someone else again.

We knew this was going to take time and precision.

What We Did

• Finding the Right People
  We looked globally and found 128 people who had built or helped build trading platforms. We looked closely at their backgrounds—what they’d actually built, what teams they’d managed, and how hands-on they still were.

• Filtering Carefully
  A lot of good candidates didn’t have the early-stage experience the role needed. Others weren’t interested in joining a new company. After cutting down the list, we had about 15 candidates who were worth approaching.

• Reaching Out the Right Way
  We were upfront about what the job involved:

  • Building the platform from the ground up

  • Improving the current team

  • Having full say over the tech approach

That message landed with one candidate who was up for the challenge.

What Happened Next

In June 2024, the new CTO joined. He had built exchanges before, knew how to keep things secure and efficient, and had led teams through big builds. Since joining, he has hired key engineers, moved development forward, and helped the company get back on track.

Stuck on a mission-critical hire? Let’s talk.

Explore our executive search services: https://rockrose.xyz/executive-search/ or drop us a note at hello@rockrose.xyz to see how we can help you build the right leadership team.

Looking for more leadership hiring stories?

Read how we hired a General Manager for a PE-backed company—another example of how we solve complex hiring challenges across emerging industries.