Independent search has always had the part that actually matters: judgement, relationships, the close. What it has not had is the machine underneath.
Mapping a market, building a longlist, the outreach, the admin — that work used to require a floor of researchers. The firms that could afford the floor won on coverage. Everyone else declined mandates they could have run.
That split is closing. The work around the work can be automated. The craft cannot. The firms that move first keep the second and shed the first.
Topliner is that machine for independent firms: an AI research platform, a senior delivery team, and the systems to run a search end to end. Your name. Your clients. Your judgement. Our infrastructure.
We work with a small group of firms. If you run one — talk to us.