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AI EdTech Startup

How we moved fast on a critical engineering hire without trading speed for quality.

From submission to hire in

7 Days

company

AI EdTech Startup

location

NYC

We partnered with a AI EdTech Startup on a critical engineering hire where speed mattered, but quality mattered more.
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Monday: Our candidate was submitted after initial vetting

Tuesday: First-stage call with the CTO — immediate mutual alignment

Thursday–Friday: Onsite work trial, collaborating directly with the team on real problems

Following Monday: Offer extended and accepted

From first introduction to signed offer in 7 days — without rushing the decision or lowering the bar.
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The key wasn’t volume. It was presenting the right candidate early, aligning quickly on fit, and running a focused, founder-led process that kept momentum high.

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17-day Average Hire

Speed that actually matters

Our average hire takes 17 days from submission to accepted offer. For well-calibrated searches, we can have exceptional candidates in process within the first few days - without compromising on the bar.

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Hiring your founding team?

Tell us what you're building. We'll find the experts who can build and ship it.

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FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why would we work with StellarSearch, instead of recruiting ourselves?

Most of our clients already have founders, internal talent teams or both actively recruiting.We’re useful when the people you want aren’t applying.We map the market, identify candidates who match the actual bar - not just the job description - and approach them with enough context to get them interested.The goal isn’t to replace your recruiting function. It’s to give you access to people you weren’t reaching without us.

3. How do you know if someone is actually good?

We don’t qualify candidates purely against a checklist.

We look for evidence: what they personally built, how much ownership they had, the calibre of people they worked alongside, how quickly they progressed, what they’ve built outside work and whether they can explain their decisions in depth.

For technical searches, that means understanding the difference between contributing to an impressive system and actually owning the difficult parts of it. Every candidate we introduce comes with context on why we think they clear your bar.

5. How quickly will I see candidates?

We tell you quickly.

Because we map the market from the beginning, we can usually see whether the issue is sourcing, compensation, location, interview process or simply an unrealistic profile.

We’ll bring that data back to you and recalibrate rather than spend six weeks quietly sending increasingly weaker candidates.

7. What happens if the search isn't working?

We will tell you. Fast.

Because we map the market from the beginning, we can usually see whether the issue is sourcing, compensation, location, interview process or simply an unrealistic profile.

We’ll bring that data back to you and recalibrate rather than spend six weeks quietly sending increasingly weaker candidates.

2. What type of candidates are you great at finding?

We’re best at finding unusually high-agency people for early-stage companies - founding engineers, ex-founders, early employees, exceptional individual contributors and people with strong evidence of 0-1 ownership.

Most are already employed and not actively applying to jobs. We recruit across Engineering, AI/ML, Product, Design and GTM, primarily for Seed–Series C startups in SF, NYC, and London.

4. How do you find people we can't?

The best people aren't applying. And finding them isn't the hard part - convincing them to move is.

‍We build relationships with exceptional engineers, founders, researchers and operators before there's necessarily a role to sell them.We know what they're optimising for, where they want to go next, and what it takes to get them genuinely excited about an early-stage company.

Our search goes beyond titles and keywords too - looking for ex-founders, unusual trajectories, side projects, open-source work and other evidence of exceptionalism traditional sourcing misses.

‍We don't just put great people in your pipeline; we help you hire people who weren't looking to consider you.

6. How much of the process do you own?

As much or as little as you need. At the simplest level, we source, qualify and close candidates.

For companies where we’re deeply embedded, we also help define profiles, calibrate compensation, design interview processes, coordinate candidates, manage offers and advise founders on close.In practice, we often operate as an extension of the founding team rather than an external agency.

8. What are your pricing models?

We work across retained, embedded and success-based search.The right model depends on whether you’re making one critical hire or building an entire team.

For higher-volume clients, we typically structure an embedded partnership with a monthly fee + reduced success fee. For individual searches, we offer retained or success-based structures.We agree everything upfront - no hidden costs or surprise fees.