For companies with an open seat
How covering a seat works
Advice first. Then a short trial with one success check you already care about. Then coverage while you keep searching, and a clean handoff to your hire.
The steps
You need to know how an engagement starts before you send the seat.
Talk about the seat: what's slipping, the initiative behind it, and what the empty seat is costing you.
Run a time-boxed covering trial with a clear window, one plain success check, and a short list of what I need: access, intros, time.
If it works, coverage continues on agreed terms. If it does not, it stops cleanly and you keep searching.
During coverage I build the team's capability and hand the seat to your hire.
Who this is for
- Owners, founders, VPs and heads with a posted leadership seat and a live initiative.
Who this isn’t for
- Companies that only want another full-time employee and have no appetite for coverage.
How AI fits
AI does drafting and synthesis. A person signs off on anything that goes out.
Where I’ve sat
I've held IC seats in product and engineering, up through the executive seat. My approach is to empower the team so dependency never grows on me.
Notes
I do not promise a start date or an SLA on this site.
The first conversation is advice. It is not a pitch.
At a glance
- Work
- Any of the seats listed under Interim seat coverage.
- Who it is for
- Mid-market companies with a critical software initiative and an open leadership seat.
- Engagement
- Conversation → time-boxed covering trial with one success check → coverage while you search → handoff. Coverage runs month-to-month while you search.
- Availability
- Open now for new engagements, as of October 2026.
- Location
- Irvine, CA, working with US startups remotely. Core hours 1–9pm PT (Pacific).
- Cost
- We work it out in the first conversation, scoped to the seat.
- Contact
- rick@datasaa.com
Questions
Do we have to stop our search?
No. You keep searching the whole time.
What happens if the trial does not work?
It stops cleanly. You keep searching.
When can you start?
Open now for new engagements, as of October 2026. I do not promise a start date or an SLA on this page.
Is coverage month-to-month?
Yes. Coverage runs month-to-month while you search.
Related
Start with an email.
If a seat is empty and the work cannot wait, email me. We start with the conversation.
Subject: “How covering a seat works - via datasaa.com/how-it-works” (the link above fills it in).
Include
- the seat, and the job post link if it is posted
- the initiative behind it and what is slipping
- any hard date
- who owns the budget for it
I reply by email within one business day. Core hours 1–9pm PT (Pacific). There is no form and no booking link.