BUILT FOR STARTUPS
Recruit startups without reducing people to keywords.
Laidback turns one founding engineer brief into an evidence-backed search, a calibrated shortlist and research-led outreach, all reviewed by your team.
Review it on your roleTHE BRIEF KEEPS THESE FIXED
Laidback surfaces evidence for review. It does not turn a public source into an automatic legal or hiring decision.
The title is only the beginning.
Early hires need range, pace and ownership, but founders have the least time to build lists and chase replies.
Stage-relevant scope
The requirement stays explicit through search, scoring and review instead of disappearing into a keyword query.
Evidence of building from zero
The requirement stays explicit through search, scoring and review instead of disappearing into a keyword query.
Trajectory over pedigree
The requirement stays explicit through search, scoring and review instead of disappearing into a keyword query.
Founder-approved outreach
The requirement stays explicit through search, scoring and review instead of disappearing into a keyword query.
From founding engineer brief to a shortlist you can defend.
Your team sets the bar. Laidback does the research, asks the calibration question and brings back evidence before any outreach leaves the building.
#first-hires
Hiring team
We need a founding engineer. Stage-relevant scope, Evidence of building from zero.
Laidback
I will keep those fixed, expand the surrounding intent and show the evidence behind every match. Should I prioritise trajectory when two candidates meet the same bar?
Hiring team
Yes. Keep outreach for review.
MATCH 01
Evidence-backed profile
Products and projects shipped
Source attached for human review
Scope gained over time
Source attached for human review
Open-source and portfolio work
Source attached for human review
Company-stage context
Source attached for human review
Different data finds different people.
For startups, Laidback reads the work and context around a profile, not just the words someone typed into it.
One brief becomes a search map
Titles, synonyms, adjacent paths, locations and proof sources run in parallel. The hard criteria stay fixed.
The whole top of funnel, with a human at the decision points.
Laidback is not another search box. It works alongside your team in Slack, moving the research and follow-through while people keep the judgment.
Calibrate the whole brief
Change seniority, market or scope and Laidback re-derives the complete intent.
Search beyond one database
Open-web evidence exposes work, trajectory and skills that title filters miss.
Score the same way every time
Deterministic reasoning makes the shortlist reproducible and inspectable.
Draft from real research
Candidate messages reference actual work rather than token personalisation.
Keep people in control
Your team approves candidate-facing messages and owns every hiring decision.
Keep the pipeline moving
Follow-ups, booked calls and reports return to the thread where the team works.
PUBLIC PEOPLE SEARCH BENCHMARK
97.80
overall score out of 100
Search quality measured in public.
The benchmark measures people-search relevance, coverage and utility. It supports the quality of the search engine, not a claim about hiring outcomes in a specific industry.
Inspect the methodologyQuestions about recruiting startups.
Can Laidback search for startups using hard requirements?+
Yes. Your team can mark requirements such as Stage-relevant scope and Evidence of building from zero as non-negotiable. Laidback shows the supporting source so a human can verify it.
What does Laidback evaluate for startups?+
It evaluates the whole brief, including Products and projects shipped, Scope gained over time, Open-source and portfolio work. It does not rank people from title and keyword overlap alone.
Does Laidback contact candidates automatically?+
Laidback drafts research-led messages and follow-ups. A human reviews candidate-facing outreach before it sends unless the team explicitly approves a defined workflow.
Does this replace our ATS or recruiting team?+
No. Laidback works alongside the team in Slack and writes finished work back to the systems you already use. Human judgment stays with your team.
How can we check why someone was shortlisted?+
Every recommendation includes the evidence and reasoning behind it. The same calibrated brief produces the same scoring logic, making the shortlist inspectable and reproducible.
Related hiring contexts
The same engine, calibrated to a different brief.
