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Higher Ground Ventures
HGV / FIELD MANUAL NO. 01
Four mountaineers with distinct helmets, packs, ropes and alpine gear ascending a mountain ridge together in a field-manual illustration

TAKEHIGHERGROUND

Placing exceptional talent on outlier teams

FIG. 01 — NO ONE ASCENDS ALONE.
FOR COMPANIES01

BUILD YOUR
TEAM.

Find the people who change
what’s possible.

OPEN CHAPTER+
OUR STORY02

MEET THE
FOUNDERS.

A shared background.
A personal commitment.

OPEN CHAPTER+
FIELD NOTES03

KNOW THE
PRINCIPLES.

High agency and the practice of moving forward.

OPEN CHAPTER+

01 / FOR COMPANIES

Build your team.
Take higher ground.

We recruit go-to-market, operations, and engineering talent for technology companies building their next stage of growth.

Let’s talk about your team

WHY WE DO THIS

The right people
change what’s possible.

A great hire creates more than capacity. It brings better judgment, new ideas, and the ability to turn an ambitious plan into progress.

We built Higher Ground Ventures to help companies find people who take ownership and follow through. We start with the work you need done, understand what success looks like, and look for the experience and character to get there.

WHO WE RECRUIT

Go-to-market

  • Sales & sales leadership
  • Account management & customer success
  • Revenue operations

Operations

  • Business operations
  • Strategy & general management
  • Operational leadership

Engineering

  • Software engineering
  • Infrastructure & platform
  • Engineering leadership

START A CONVERSATION

Tell us what
you’re building.

Have a role in mind—or a team you need to build? You’ll speak directly with us.

SHAY CURTISshay@takehigherground.com
ADAM LEVEYadam@takehigherground.com
Email both founders

Opens your email app with your note addressed to Shay and Adam. Review it and send when ready.

02 / OUR STORY

Shared roots.
Higher ground.

We’re Shay Curtis and Adam Levey—two Marine Corps veterans who made Utah home.

Higher Ground Ventures brings together our shared background and a belief in what good people can build together. We care about ownership, clear thinking, and doing what we say we’ll do.

We started this firm to bring that approach to recruiting: understand the work, get to know the person, and make introductions with purpose. For us, the search is personal.

Shay Curtis, co-founder of Higher Ground Ventures

CO-FOUNDER

Shay Curtis

Marine Corps veteran.
Recruiter, operator, and team builder.

shay@takehigherground.comLinkedIn
Adam Levey, co-founder of Higher Ground Ventures

CO-FOUNDER

Adam Levey

Marine Corps veteran.
Entrepreneur with a background in recruiting.

adam@takehigherground.comLinkedIn

“What is above knows what is below, what is below does not know what is above.”

— René DaumalMount Analogue

“I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.”

— William Ernest HenleyInvictus

“Choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong.”

— West Point Cadet PrayerExcerpt

“One way to find fresh undefended high ground is by creating it yourself through pure innovation.”

— Richard RumeltGood Strategy/Bad Strategy

“It's over, Anakin. I have the high ground.”

— Obi-Wan KenobiRevenge of the Sith

“We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc.”

— Tom Peters“The Brand Called You”

“Great things are done when men and mountains meet.”

— William BlakeNotebook verse

“You need to accept ownership of your career, your skills and the timing of your moves.”

— Andrew GroveOnly the Paranoid Survive

“All armies prefer high ground to low and sunny places to dark.”

— Sun TzuThe Art of War, chapter IX

“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”

— Nelson MandelaLong Walk to Freedom

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”

— Steve JobsStanford commencement address, 2005

“If it is not right, do not do it: if it is not true, do not say it.”

— Marcus AureliusMeditations, XII.17

“We will have to place ourselves where we can make the greatest contribution.”

— Peter Drucker“Managing Oneself”

“The summit is what drives us, yet the climb is what matters.”

— Conrad Anker

“Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was.”

— Dag HammarskjöldMarkings

“First, say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”

— EpictetusDiscourses, III.23

“We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.“I Have a Dream,” 1963

“The particular advantage of securing heights and defiles is that your actions cannot then be dictated by the enemy.”

— Cao CaoCommentary on The Art of War

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”

— William ShakespeareJulius Caesar · Cassius

“Never for the sake of peace and quiet deny your convictions.”

— Dag HammarskjöldMarkings

“The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart.”

— Albert CamusThe Myth of Sisyphus

“In strategy, the longest way round is often the shortest way home.”

— B. H. Liddell HartStrategy

“Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”

— Mark TwainNote to a church youth society, 1901

“He who climbeth on the highest mountains, laugheth at all tragic plays and tragic realities.”

— Friedrich NietzscheThus Spake Zarathustra

“The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.”

— Michael Porter“What Is Strategy?”

“The time is always right to do right.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.Oberlin commencement address, 1965

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.”

— John MuirOur National Parks

“Do nothing in haste; look well to each step; and from the beginning think what may be the end.”

— Edward WhymperScrambles Amongst the Alps

“When a man does not know what harbour he is making for, no wind is the right wind.”

— SenecaMoral Letters to Lucilius, Letter 71

“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

— Alfred, Lord Tennyson“Ulysses”

“Beyond mountains there are mountains.”

— Haitian proverb
01 / 31

No one ascends alone.

Talk with us

03 / FIELD NOTES

A better position.
A greater possibility.

Higher ground changes what you can see—and what you can do next.

We believe the right people create that advantage. People who think clearly, take ownership, and know how to turn an ambitious goal into work that gets done.

  1. 01

    Position before pace.

    Effort matters. So does where you apply it. Get clear on the work, the constraints, and the person who can make the greatest difference.

  2. 02

    Ownership over pedigree.

    High agency means finding a way forward. We look for what someone has taken responsibility for, the decisions they made, and the results they can explain.

  3. 03

    Principles into practice.

    Good ideas earn their value through execution. Define success, communicate clearly, act with judgment, and adjust when the evidence changes.

  4. 04

    Choose your people well.

    The climb is the work. Find people whose character holds up through the difficult middle—and who make the journey worth taking.

PUT IT TO WORK

Notes for your next move.

01 / EVALUATE THE ROLEBefore you accept
an AE offer.
02 / SHOW YOUR WORKExplain what
you actually built.
03 / KNOW THE PEOPLEEvaluate your
next manager.

THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE SEARCH

Founder-led.
Personally invested.

SHAY CURTIS & ADAM LEVEY

Higher Ground Ventures is an independent search firm focused on go-to-market, operations, and engineering talent for technology companies. Rooted in the Mountain West, we build relationships around shared ambition, clear expectations, and meaningful work.

© 2026 HIGHER GROUND VENTURES LLC

HQ LOC. SLC, UT