Calibre One Accelerates Executive Search with Crunchbase’s Predictive Intelligence

"Crunchbase is indispensable for us. The accuracy of the data, especially on a global scale, saves us hours every week. The private company predictions give us the confidence to act earlier, before the rest of the market catches on."

Kristie Fasolis

Head of Recruiting Operations, Calibre One

About Calibre One

Calibre One is a premier global executive search firm with 25 years of experience connecting organizations with diverse, high-impact leadership that drives results. Founded at the height of the dot-com boom, the firm began by helping trailblazing technology start-ups scale through critical inflection points, a focus that has since expanded to every corner of the economy.

Today, Calibre One partners with public companies, venture capital and private equity firms, and their portfolio businesses to place VP-level and above executives across technology, life sciences, and financial services. With offices across the U.S., Europe, and beyond, the firm combines deep sector expertise with a global, forward-looking perspective on leadership. From start-ups to PE-backed enterprises to global companies, the firm has become a trusted advisor to boards and CEOs navigating rapid change.

The Gap

Before streamlining on Crunchbase, Calibre One’s teams were spending countless hours stitching together company data across multiple tools and tabs to find reliable information they could use for executive searches and prospecting. The quality of the data varied widely, and results often required tedious verification and cleanup, slowing teams down in a recruiting and partnership cycle that demands speed. As Kristie Fasolis, Head of Recruiting Operations, explains, “With some tools, we literally had to double-check everything. We even canceled one because the results were completely inaccurate.”

To better support their go-to-market initiatives, from building a partnership pipeline to sourcing clients to targeting on behalf of clients, Calibre One needed a single, dependable source of private-company intelligence. They were looking for a platform that could reduce manual verification, centralize research, and enable its teams to move faster from kickoff to shortlist and from first meeting to signed engagement.

Why Crunchbase

Calibre One has been a Crunchbase customer for years, but the launch of Crunchbase’s new predictive intelligence marked a turning point. The firm has adopted many of the new predictive capabilities Crunchbase’s software offers, from AI-powered search to Funding and Growth Predictions, making Crunchbase central to how its teams operate.

Adopted Firm-Wide. Powering Operational Excellence.

What started as a way to unify research has grown into a software relationship that evolves alongside Crunchbase itself. Calibre One was an early adopter of the new AI-powered features, using AI Scout search, profile-level predictions, and growth signals to move faster and advise with confidence. For a recruiting powerhouse that operates much like a GTM team, these capabilities are invaluable — they inform prospecting, shape pipelines, and help the firm stay ahead of market shifts.

With Crunchbase, Calibre One no longer had to dig through fragmented or unreliable data. The platform’s predictive intelligence proved so impactful that it quickly became an essential pillar of Calibre One’s workflow:

• Prospecting for clients. Recruiters use Crunchbase to map markets and uncover executives with the right experience, ensuring they can present strong candidates quickly.
• Building a partnership pipeline. Partners and principals at Calibre One track predicted funding events to anticipate when companies are likely to need executive talent, forging relationships before hiring even happens.
• Company and market research. Teams dive deep into competitors, acquisitions, growth signals, and market positioning, which help them offer smarter advice to clients, identify the right candidates, and validate hiring decisions..
• Informed client advising. By layering in Growth and Heat Scores, Calibre One can advise clients not just on where companies are today, but where they’re heading, enabling them to plan hiring strategies early.

The Impact

Crunchbase delivers measurable, repeatable benefits across Calibre One’s global team. While the firm has used Crunchbase for years, they feel its value daily.

• Meaningful time savings. Teams save 3-5 hours each week by cutting out cross-checking and manual data work, moving faster from kickoff to shortlist.
• Best-in-class intelligence and predictions in every search. Trusted, accurate data gives researchers a clearer view of company trajectory — enabling partners to offer strategic advice, act earlier, and uncover leadership needs before they become public.
• Firm-wide reliance. Every partner and recruiter uses Crunchbase as a trusted source, built into their daily rhythm and decision-making.
• Strengthening client outcomes. With foresight into key company milestones, Calibre One anticipates leadership needs sooner and delivers high-quality shortlists that help clients hire with confidence, before leadership needs are widely visible in the market.

Together, these capabilities make Crunchbase an indispensable part of Calibre One’s strategy for delivering value. With Crunchbase’s expanding datasets, AI-powered precision, and future-facing signals, the firm is doubling down on a simple promise to clients: better insight, faster, so they can identify and secure transformative leaders at precisely the right moment.

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Want to prospect smarter and faster as a team? Learn more about how Crunchbase Business can give you best-in-class data and unmatched private market foresight.