For startups
Hiring done right, from seed to pre-IPO.
HSF has more than 15 years of experience accelerating the growth of some of the most disruptive and dynamic startups across North America.
Our focus
From your first engineering hire to hire #200.
We work with innovative startups across North America — from seed, through Series A, B, and C, through scaling, pre-IPO, and beyond.
We help our startup clients streamline the hiring process and build qualified, talented, and motivated teams. We partner with you, provide industry data, and become an advocate for your startup’s story in the market.
Stages we recruit for
- Seed
- Series A
- Series B
- Series C
- Scaling
- Pre-IPO
Where we recruit
Coast to coast — New York, San Francisco, and every major U.S. market — plus remote roles and Canadian searches.
Who we place
Engineering, product, design, data, and leadership.
We place full-time, mid-career hires at the staff or management levels, along with executive, director, and niche searches for difficult-to-source roles.
- DevelopmentSoftware engineering
- Data ScienceApplied science and ML
- Data EngineeringData platform and pipelines
- DevOpsInfrastructure and platform
- ProductProduct management
- DesignProduct and design talent
- QA / TestQuality and testing
- LeadershipDirector and executive search
Building AI takes people.
Listen first. Understand what you’re building. Find people who can help build it.
Quality over quantity
That’s our motto and our practice. We recruit A-players for tech startups, tirelessly sifting through the market. We source, contact, and pre-screen for both technical and soft skills, and present your opportunity to the best talent available. The result: a pre-qualified candidate who aligns with your startup culture and understands your value proposition.
A compelling story
We work with your team to discover your story, and to show potential talent that you can offer them opportunities for growth — that you are their best partner in potential success.
Efficiency
Startup hiring markets are among the most competitive in the world for talent, and an unusually long or poorly defined interview process significantly increases the chance of losing a candidate to a competing offer. So we provide prompt, attentive service, and our processes are clear, well-defined, and efficient.
Fee structure
- Retained search
- Contingent search
We conduct retained and contingent searches based on our clients’ needs. Our large pool of potential talent increases the likelihood of placing the right people more quickly, making either option a strong value depending on what you need.
Testimonials
What hiring leaders have said.
We have worked with HSF now to fill 3 critical roles - two for hands on architects and one for an experienced community manager. They have always exceeded my expectations when it comes to how quickly they present excellent candidates. Somehow they find the people who are not only great for the position, but also ready to make a move.
Andy is unique in his ability to find the right candidate. He takes the time to get to know candidates and makes them feel taken care of. At the same time he asks probing questions to help uncover the exact needs of hiring managers. He helped my company (now part of Google) with a key Android opening. We hired the first person he sent us! I highly recommend his recruiting.
I am a big fan of Andy and his team. He is a pleasure to work with and delivers great talent. Andy helped us make several important hires in a very difficult hiring market.
I have been working with HSF for several years. They have helped me hire multiple talented product managers, engineers, and data analysts. He(Andy) is dedicated to the searches, highly effective, market knowledgeable, and very transparent.
AI doesn't build itself.
We can help you get that hiring done right.
You’ve poured yourself into your idea, and every new hire is an important piece of its success. Hiring right is essential to scaling quickly and growing a startup that can take that vision to market. Tell us about the role — retained or contingent, based on what you need.