A 0-to-1 engineer for a New York startup
Leo is an independent technical recruiter who takes on startup roles through recruiting marketplaces. This one was a full-stack engineer for an early-stage, high-growth NYC startup: 0-to-1 in Python, hands-on AWS, built for a fast company.
He described the hire in plain English
No boolean string and no stacked filters. Leo described the engineer he wanted and let Vamo do the matching, which leaned toward earlier-career engineers who were not yet flooded with recruiter messages.
An opener built on real work
His first message referenced the candidate’s GitHub project work, then named the role. 10 of the 50 people he contacted replied.
He won a candidate holding two offers
The engineer was at AWS in Seattle, wanted a hands-on startup, and was open to moving to New York. He did very well in the technical interview and chose this role over a competing offer.
First outreach went out March 4, 2026. The offer was signed by mid-April and he started in May, relocation included. Two more candidates from the same search were in late-stage processes at the time.
