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Elevator Pitch:
Neon River is a headhunting firm, based in London, that works with mobile games clients to build out their leadership teams. With deep experience in the sector, Neon River has built out the leadership teams for market-leading mobile games companies such as King and Miniclip.
Neon River also works extensively with entrepreneurial, earlier-stage mobile games companies who are looking to augment their leadership teams. Neon River has built a reputation as one of the leading executive search firms in the mobile games sector.
Date Founded:
2016
CEO:
Peter Franks
Contact details:
Main area of business:
Recruitment / Executive search for mobile games companies
What is Executive Search?
Executive search – also known as headhunting – is the targeting of passive candidates to fill senior-level positions. This is done through a combination of a network of known candidates from previous projects and the identification of new candidates through systematic market research into the mobile games sector.
Executive search firms like Neon River tend to work on a relatively small number of recruitment projects and dedicate much more resources to finding and assessing the strongest candidates in the market compared to contingent recruiters.
Each candidate is carefully researched before they are approached over the phone by the headhunter. The headhunter will give the candidate a compelling verbal pitch, send them a high-quality job description they have written, and then interview them in detail against the role requirements.
By targeting passive candidates, headhunting firms give their clients access to the best quality candidates – those who wouldn’t respond to a job advert – and save them time by managing the recruitment process from end to end.
Networking with headhunters can help candidates to get access to attractive new career opportunities.
Website and Social Media Links:
Typical hires:
Neon River typically hires leaders at “C” and “VP” levels across all functions. Typical hires include CEO, CMO, Chief Product Officer, CFO and CTO hires, as well as direct reports into C-level leaders. Neon River works as an executive search firm, using its extensive network and market research capabilities to find and attract the best passive candidates in the mobile games sector.
At Miniclip, we’ve worked with Peter and Neon River on several important hires over the years, and we’ve always been very happy with the experience. I’d recommend Neon River as one of the very best executive search firms in the market.
Rob Small, President and Co-Founder, Miniclip
Most assignments require looking internationally for talent, and many projects require relocating candidates from abroad.
Clients:
Neon River’s mobile gaming clients include King, Miniclip, Wooga, Outplay Entertainment, Zeptolab, Ten Square Games, Star Stable Entertainment and Metacore.
Founder:
Neon River’s founder is Peter Franks – a headhunter who has spent the last 20 years working with mobile games clients around the world. He has built a reputation as one of the leading headhunters in the mobile games sector.
He is a graduate of Oxford University, and has been a passionate gamer since his childhood days.
Pro bono work:
Neon River has worked with Make-A-Wish UK to hire three members of their Gaming Advisory Board to help with fundraising within the games sector.
Case Study – Star Stable Entertainment CMO
Star Stable Entertainment is the developer of Star Stable Online, a popular online and mobile MMORPG, where players can raise and race horses in the beautiful fantasy kingdom of Jorvik. Star Stable has ambitious growth plans and needed to hire a Chief Marketing Officer to lead user acquisition, brand building and drive customer engagement. It was crucial to find a candidate with a deep understanding of performance marketing and one with a proven track record in the mobile games sector.
Neon River worked closely with Johan Sjoberg, CEO of Star Stable Entertainment and targeted marketing leaders across Europe with a proven track record in the mobile games sector. The placed candidate, Gonzalo Fasanella, had forged an impressive career with Gameloft, and most recently as CMO of Danish puzzle game developer Tactile Games, where he had played an important role in growing the business.
Since placing their CMO, Neon River has helped Star Stable Entertainment also to find a new Head of Game Design.
