Riviera Partners Acquires Build Talent to Further Support Venture Capital-Backed Emerging Companies with Top Technology, Product, and Design Talent

San Francisco, CA, May 08, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Riviera Partners, the leading global executive search firm specializing in senior leadership placements in engineering, product, and design, has announced the acquisition of Build Talent to further support its early-stage venture capital-backed clients.

Brian Bocchino and Jose Guardado have joined Riviera’s Emerging practice as Partners, reporting to Managing Partner Eoin O’Toole. Riviera understands the earliest phases of an emerging company focusing on its unique needs, from concept to product-market fit, and to date has made 600+ Seed through Series B placements. Clients have included household names such as Snowflake in their formative years through today’s innovators such as Pinecone, Rialtic, and Uniswap.

“With the acquisition of Build, we are bolstering the team with two world-class operators, executors, leaders, proven generators, and all-around great people,” said Eoin O’Toole, Managing Partner.

“Brian and Jose’s reputations in the market are excellent, and they know what a great search experience is meant to achieve and how to execute it. With this acquisition we can further enhance our market coverage and support of earlier-stage companies,” said Will Hunsinger, CEO at Riviera Partners.

Located in the Bay Area, Guardado founded Build Talent with Bocchino and was a Talent Partner at a16z and Y-Combinator before that. He has also led recruiting at multiple startups.

Bocchino is based in Los Angeles, and before co-founding Build he worked as Director of Recruiting at Freenome. He previously worked in technical recruiting roles at Gravity, Inkling, Dropcam, and Uber.

“Jose and I started Build Talent to empower founders to make pivotal hires that achieve their missions and create value. We believe every partnership involves a unique, heuristic approach to finding the best fit between our clients and candidates. Combining our approach with Riviera’s incredible technology platform and network of talented recruiters and candidates will only strengthen our ability to help emerging companies reach their full potential,” said Brian Bocchino.

Riviera is a partner to all private and public company growth stages and has completed thousands of searches globally, partnering with world-class venture capital and private equity firms to provide top technology and product leadership to their portfolio companies across all major technology hubs and brands. The specialized recruiting firm defines the modern era of executive search by combining deep recruiting expertise and innovative AI and machine learning technology to score, predict, and match the best candidate for a company’s specific needs and stage.

About Riviera Partners
Riviera Partners is a global driver of innovation for today’s most influential companies – expertly placing executive talent in the crucial areas of technology, product management, and design. Riviera combines over two decades of recruiting expertise with a proprietary platform that uses machine learning to score and predict the best candidate for a company’s specific needs, driving successful outcomes. As a result, the company has become the go-to talent partner for leading private equity investors, venture capitalists, public companies, and technology innovators. Learn more about Riviera Partners at www.rivierapartners.com, and follow us on LinkedIn.