"In the venture capital and startup communities, CompStudy has positioned J. Robert Scott as the thought leader in executive compensation". Carlos Doglioli, Managing Director
Company Profile
J. Robert Scott is a boutique, global retainer-based executive search firm. Ranking as the 14th largest search firm in the United States, the firm specializes in recruiting senior level executives for a wide array of companies in the financial services, technology, life science/health care and higher education/not-for-profit fields. With headquarters in Boston, the firm has offices in San Francisco, Hong Kong, Singapore and London. Additional information about the firm can be found at www.j-robert-scott.com.
Copyright @ 2010 J. Robert Scott. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted with permission.
CompStudy 2.0 Reinforces J. Robert Scott’s Leadership in Executive Search
Historically, private companies have kept their executives’ salaries, benefits and bonuses under wraps. As a result, these same companies have had almost no data available to help them deal with the challenges of putting together compensation packages for their candidates. That changed in 2000 with the debut of CompStudy, an annual publication that analyzes compensation for executives of privately-owned businesses.
CompStudy (CS) is the brainchild of Harvard Business School professor Noam Wasserman, accounting firm Ernst & Young and the management team of J. Robert Scott, a global executive search company. A subsidiary of Fidelity Investments, J. Robert Scott (JRS) specializes in recruiting C-level executives for organizations in fields such as emerging technologies, life sciences, financial services and non-profit education. According to Carlos Doglioli, JRS’ managing director of finance and administration, CS has more than proven its mettle as a business development tool.
“In the venture capital and startup communities, CompStudy has positioned J. Robert Scott as the thought leader in executive compensation,” Doglioli said.
Nevertheless, Doglioli sensed CS was ready for a makeover. Since its inception, the CS annual compensation survey typically attracted a few hundred companies. Each summer, JRS generated a report featuring in-depth analysis complemented by a series of graphs and charts. Hard-copy editions were printed and sent to survey participants, and results were shared with clients.
“CompStudy enjoyed an authoritative position, but I felt boosting the survey’s sample size was essential to making it an even stronger product,” Doglioli said. “Participants told us they wanted dynamic and comprehensive reporting. That meant eliminating hard copy and putting CompStudy where it belonged — online.”
Since its initial release, CS’ technology framework had remained essentially unchanged. Its survey interface and database structure allowed users to skip questions and enter bogus or incomplete data. As a result, every year JRS had to enlist a business analyst to scrub the data, a tedious and costly process that took weeks. Additionally, the analyst had to collaborate with graphic designers to ensure the data was formatted and presented accurately and cleanly to generate a meaningful report.
Doglioli knew the existing infrastructure required a major overhaul to accomplish his objectives. To lead the effort, he tapped Furqan Nazeeri, a member of the CS board and CEO of Virid.us, a network for executives who support sustainable business practices. In the process of founding his ventures, Nazeeri had overseen numerous IT projects, making him a natural fit to lead the CS makeover. He knew, however, that his work was cut out for him.
“CompStudy 2.0 required more than an upgrade,” Nazeeri said. “From a technology standpoint, the design and development process would be more like starting from scratch.”
Nazeeri looked to team with an external development company with the chops to handle the multiple technologies needed to make CS 2.0 a dynamic online experience with secure and trustworthy data as its foundation. After due diligence that included scrutinizing RFPs and interviewing candidates, Nazeeri chose extensionEngine (eE).
“I’ve worked with dozens of software engineering firms and hundreds of developers over the years,” Nazeeri said. “Of the short list of companies I considered for CompStudy 2.0, extensionEngine offered the best combination of technical knowledge, organizational stability and flexible attitude.”
Building a dynamic solution worthy of Web 2.0
In February, 2009, Nazeeri began discussing functional and technical requirements with the eE development team. Together, they designed a framework based on open source software. The new technology stack would include a more robust MySQL database and Drupal, the content management system that powers websites for Fast Company, Popular Science, Sony Music and thousands of other organizations worldwide.
For the first couple of months, Nazeeri and the JRS team communicated with the eE engineering team every few days to nail down the details of the CS 2.0 infrastructure, database design and user experience. Once he was confident the new architectural framework met his requirements, Nazeeri handed the responsibilities for systems testing and inter-team communications to a JRS project manager.
“Was this project a bed of roses?” Nazeeri asked. “Of course not. Anyone who tells you his implementation moved forward without a hitch isn’t truthful. Ultimately, we accomplished all our goals and developed the functionality we needed — and more, actually.”
CompStudy garners rave reviews and thousands of participants
When CS 2.0 launched in October, 2009, it offered dozens of reports previously unavailable in the realm of executive compensation. Today users can generate custom reports on demand, incorporating company demographics such as financing rounds, head count, geography and revenue for positions including non-founder executives, board members and every C-level leadership category imaginable.
While CS 1.0 reported on compensation for U.S. executives only, the new version supports results for Canada, the United Kingdom and Israel. And most important of all, users can choose which executive compensation elements to view, from salary and equity holdings to bonuses and severance pay.
CS 2.0 also boasts a richer user interface that makes the print edition look a twentieth-century relic. Custom reports are now illustrated in colorful and easy-to-understand graphs, charts and, for the first time, histograms. Choosing reporting options only requires clicking a checkbox or two and selecting values from a short list of popup menus. Response time is lightning fast, with most results displaying in mere seconds.
“The feedback from the venture capital community has been overwhelmingly positive,” Doglioli said. “The growth in new users also is striking. For the first year ever, CompStudy survey participation has jumped to nearly one thousand companies.”
Another measure of how well CS 2.0 has been received is the media response. Even better than positive reviews, journalists from TechCrunch, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post have used CS as their source for information about executive compensation in their articles. Perhaps the biggest surprise, however, has been the explosion in sales of CS reports.
“One thing I didn’t expect was that CompStudy would generate significant revenue,” Doglioli said. “What was once a business development tool and value-added service has been transformed into a product that brings in real revenue for J. Robert Scott.”
Choosing extensionEngine to develop CompStudy 2.0 -
A brief Q&A with CompStudy executive Furqan Nazeeri
A member of the CompStudy board, Furqan Nazeeri also is CEO of Virid.us, a network of corporate professionals committed to advancing global sustainability. An entrepreneur for 15+ years, Nazeeri has worked with dozens of systems architects, integrators and engineers to design and deploy solutions for his various ventures.
What types of companies did you explore to help develop CompStudy 2.0?
My search included businesses with a few people that you’ve never heard of to large IT consulting firms like Keane. I sent RFPs to 16 companies. By casting a wide net, I knew I would receive a diversity of proposals.
What factors influenced your selection of eE?
For one, its bid was much lower than Keane’s and those of the other large firms. extensionEngine’s offer wasn’t the least expensive, but it was very reasonable.
So cost was the pivotal factor?
Cost was important, but it wasn’t as critical as longevity. We’ve published CompStudy since 2000, and we’ll continue to do so as long as it’s useful to our clients, the industry and J. Robert Scott. Similarly, extensionEngine has been in business for more than a decade. From what I’ve seen, they’ll be there for us for years to come.
Any other considerations that led to your decision?
I liked the “human aspect” of working with extensionEngine. I spoke with as many engineers from the final list of candidates as possible to get a feel for their skills and personalities. I’ve worked with talented developers from India who also have impressive English skills. In extensionEngine’s case, though, the developers were more natural, not only with English but with American culture and idioms.
Can you share an example?
For one, the extensionEngine engineers got my jokes! Or out of courtesy, they pretended to. When I considered each vendor, I asked myself, “Will this relationship be comfortable, meaningful and productive?”
Has that been the case with eE?
Yes. The two developers we work with have great senses of humor. I knew I would have to work closely with them for quite a while. I’m certain — and thankful — that I made the right decision.