For a YC-backed AI startup, Work at a Startup is a strong free channel for your first engineers, and a specialist recruiting firm such as Recruiting from Scratch is the better add-on once you need senior or niche engineers faster than inbound applications supply them. Recruiting from Scratch works on contingency, sends a shortlist of 3–5 candidates and half its candidates reach an offer within 29 days of their first interview.
Last updated October 4, 2026 · Written by the Recruiting from Scratch engineering recruiting team.
Inbound applicants not covering a senior or niche role? Recruiting from Scratch sends 3–5 qualified engineers, on contingency. Book a 15-minute call → or Get a shortlist of 3–5 engineers →
We compared the two channels on five points that matter to a YC founder during or after a batch:
Recruiting from Scratch publishes this page and sells one of the two options. We aim to be fair, and we say below where the free channel is simply the right call.
| Channel | What it is | Candidate source | Founder effort | Cost model | Best at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YC Work at a Startup | YC's job board for its portfolio companies | Candidates who choose to apply to YC companies | High: you read applications, reply and screen | Included for YC portfolio companies | Early engineers drawn to the YC brand |
| Specialist recruiting firm | External recruiters who source, screen and present engineers | Outbound sourcing plus a pre-built candidate network | Lower: you interview a shortlist | Contingency: paid only on hire | Senior, niche or hard-to-find engineers |
Work at a Startup is YC's job board for its portfolio companies, where candidates apply directly to the startups they like. Best for: early engineering hires, especially people who want the YC experience and will answer a founder personally. Strengths: no fee, a motivated audience and a brand that helps with trust. Limitations: it mostly reaches people who are actively looking, so senior engineers who are happily employed rarely appear, and every reply and screen is your time.
A firm recruiting only engineers does the outreach to people who are not on a board and screens before you spend interview time. Best for: forward-deployed engineers, machine-learning engineers and senior full-stack hires where the pool is thin. Limitations: a firm is not free, and for a first hire who already follows your company it adds little. Recruiting from Scratch is engineering-only, so it does not cover sales or operations roles. Our dedicated page on recruiting for YC companies and batch startups covers the batch-specific timeline.
The practical sequence for most batch companies:
Compare the two on cost per hire, not only on fees. A free channel costs founder hours, and those hours are the scarcest input in a batch company. Track hours spent per hire for a month; the answer usually settles which channel to lean on.
AI companies compete for the same small group of senior engineers, and most of them are not browsing job boards. We've placed backend and machine-learning engineers at Mercor, forward-deployed engineers at Cinder, and an agent software engineer in New York at Decagon: the senior and specialist profiles that rarely come through inbound applications. For the New York and San Francisco markets, see the pages on AI startups in New York and San Francisco.
Posting on Work at a Startup is how YC portfolio companies reach candidates directly; check the site for current terms. A recruiting firm is a separate, paid channel on top of it.
Yes, usually after the first few hires, when founder time becomes the limit. Firms are used for senior, niche or high-volume engineering searches.
Often. A firm contacts engineers who are employed and not browsing, and draws on its own candidate network, which for Recruiting from Scratch is 2M+ people.
Yes. Share the list up front so the firm does not submit people you already have, and so there is no dispute about who introduced whom.
Contingency only: no retainer or upfront cost, a percentage of first-year base salary paid on hire, and a replacement guarantee.
Related: Best Recruiting Firms for Seed-Stage Startups · [Recruiting Marketplaces vs Specialist Recruiting Firms for Startups [Comparison]](https://www.recruitingfromscratch.com/blog/recruiting-marketplaces-vs-specialist-recruiting-firms) · Best Technical Recruiting Firms in San Francisco for Startups
Recruiting from Scratch sends a shortlist of 3–5 engineers who fit your stage, stack and budget, on contingency with a replacement guarantee.
Get a shortlist of 3–5 engineers → or Book a 15-minute call →
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