Writing

Notes on hiring and joining the best early-stage engineering teams, from the people who make the introductions.

• For engineers and founders 10 min The best engineers are athletes now A handful of people can change the outcome of a company, compensation resembles player contracts, and deals look like trades. The engineers are already athletes. The apparatus around them is still a staffing agency.
• For founders 6 min How much does it cost to hire an engineer? The agency fee is the number founders compare and the smallest one in the calculation. Here is where the money actually goes, including the two costs that never make it into the spreadsheet.
• For founders 5 min How long does it take to hire an engineer? Five to seven weeks is the number most teams plan around. Here is where those weeks actually go, which of them you control, and why time to hire is the wrong thing to be measuring.
• For founders 6 min How much equity should you give your first engineer? The band people quote is wide enough to be useless on its own. What actually sets the number, the terms that matter more than the percentage, and the offer that costs you the person.
• For founders 6 min Why strong engineers ignore your outreach It is almost never the message. It is who it came from, what it asked for, and the fact that the person reading it already has a job they like.
• For founders 6 min How to interview a founding engineer The standard loop was built to filter hundreds of applicants down safely. You are hiring one person who will decide how the product gets built, and it tests almost nothing you need to know.
• For founders 6 min The best way to hire engineers at a seed-stage startup There are four ways to fill an early engineering seat and they are good at different things. An honest comparison, including where each one fails and where we fit.
• The firm 6 min What is a talent agent for engineers? Athletes have agents, actors have agents, and engineers get recruiters. What the agent model looks like for engineering careers, and how to tell real representation from a rebrand.
• For engineers 6 min What does Member of Technical Staff actually mean? The title that says nothing on purpose. Where MTS came from, what it means at an AI lab versus everywhere else, and how to read an offer that carries it.
• For engineers 6 min What is a forward deployed engineer? Palantir’s most exported job title, and lately everyone’s. What FDEs actually do, why AI companies are hiring them in numbers, and what the role does to a career.
• For engineers 6 min Staff engineer vs. senior engineer: what actually changes It isn’t a bigger version of the same job. The unit of work changes, from problems you’re handed to problems you find, and most careers stall exactly at that line.
• For engineers 7 min Founding engineer equity: how to think about the number The commonly quoted band is wide, and the width is the point. What actually sets a founding engineer’s stake, what to ask, and how to tell when the number is wrong.
• The firm 7 min The Zelcast thesis Why we only work with the top 1% of engineers and startups under 100 people, and what operating taught us about how the best teams actually get built.
• For engineers 3 min Signs of a great early-stage startup (and why to work at one) What to look for before you join, the red flags to run from, and why the right early team beats a safe seat at scale.
• For engineers 3 min Startup vs. big tech: which should a top engineer choose? Cash and stability, or ownership, speed, and upside. The honest tradeoffs, from people who only place engineers at startups, and how to actually decide.
• For founders 3 min How to hire a founding engineer A founding engineer isn’t a senior hire. They’re a co-owner of the product. What to screen for, where to find them, and why the usual interview loop fails.
• For founders 3 min Founding engineer vs. early engineer: what actually differs Same headcount, very different job. The line isn’t seniority or employee number. It’s ownership and ambiguity, and which one you need changes how you hire.
• For founders and engineers 2 min The best engineers don’t apply The strongest engineers are employed and not looking, and they never touch a job board. They move through people they trust. How hiring actually works at the top.