Startup hiring software

Startup hiring software that skips the first-round phone-screen scramble

Truffle is candidate screening software that combines one-way video interviews, talent assessments, and resume screening. Send one link to every applicant, then review Candidate Shorts and AI match scores between meetings. No 200-phone-screen weeks after a funding announcement.

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Built for

Engineering
Product
Sales
CS
Marketing
Operations

Truffle startup hiring dashboard with ranked candidates, match scores, and Candidate Shorts

The startup hiring problem

Startup hiring's bottleneck isn't volume. It's evidence before the founder's first call.

A funding announcement pulls 800 to 2,500 applications in 72 hours. Most look the same on paper. Founders can't run 200 phone screens while shipping the MVP and closing design partners. Strong candidates accept the first credible offer in ten days, not three weeks.

800–2,500

Applications in the 72 hours after announcement

10 days

Before strong candidates accept elsewhere

30 seconds

Per Candidate Short the founder can review

How it works for startups

Startup-ready screening, live in 10 minutes per role

One screening workflow per role. Same link for the careers page, YC Bookface, Wellfound, and warm intros. Founders review between meetings.

Truffle Position Link setup for a startup role with branded candidate experience

Step 1 · Distribution

Post the link on your careers page, drop it in YC Bookface, text it to a warm intro

Truffle creates one Position Link per role. Drop it on your careers page, in Work at a Startup, on Wellfound, or in an investor Slack. Text it from a coffee chat or a pair-programming session. Same screening experience for every channel.

Post to careers page, Work at a Startup, Wellfound, LinkedIn
Drop the link in YC Bookface, investor Slacks, or design-partner threads
Text the link from coffee chats or pair-programming sessions

Mobile candidate experience for a startup one-way video interview

Step 2 · One-way video interview

Three to five behavioral questions. Five minutes. See who can think from zero before the founder's first call.

Configure three to five questions per role. AI suggests them from your job description, and you accept, edit, or write your own. Qualification Questions capture work authorization, compensation, and start date before anyone records, without auto-rejecting anyone.

AI-suggested questions for founding engineer, first PM, founding designer, first GTM roles
5 to 7 minutes of candidate time, mobile-first
Compensation, work-authorization, and start-date capture before video

Truffle Magic Review on mobile with Candidate Short and match score for a startup candidate

Step 3 · Review

Replace the first-round phone screen with 30-second Candidate Shorts

AI compiles a 30-second Candidate Short for each completed interview, writes a one-paragraph AI Summary, and ranks against your rubric with a match score. Founders review between meetings, in the cab, on the way to the next pitch.

30-second Candidate Shorts with reasoning for every clip
AI Summaries before you press play
Match scores against your rubric, transparent by criterion

Truffle team scorecard with per-criterion ratings for a startup candidate

Step 4 · Multi-founder

Every co-founder, every hiring manager, one review queue, same rubric

Founders assign co-founders, advisors, or first hiring managers as Reviewers. Each reviewer evaluates independently. Share shortlists via secure link with investors or advisors who don't have Truffle accounts. Every reviewer evaluates against the same operator-defined rubric.

Per-stakeholder Reviewer roles for co-founders, advisors, first hiring managers
Share shortlists without requiring Truffle logins
Same rubric applied across every reviewer and role

One job, done well

Truffle is the screening layer before the founder's first call. Sourcing, payroll, and work-authorization checks stay in the tools you already run.

What Truffle is

The screening layer before the founder's first call. AI surfaces Candidate Shorts, match scores, and one-paragraph summaries. Your founding team decides who gets a founder conversation.

What Truffle isn't

An ATS of record (Ashby, Gem, Lever, Workable, Greenhouse). A sourcing network (Underdog.io, Wellfound, Work at a Startup). I-9 or E-Verify (Tracker, Checkr, Deel, Rippling). Coding tests (HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad). HRIS or payroll (Rippling, Deel, Gusto, Pulley, Carta).

Roles we help you hire for

Startup roles Truffle screens for

One workflow, tuned per role. Truffle surfaces the signal that matters for each job, from founding engineers to first GTM hires.

Founding Engineer

How they talk through a build-or-buy decision with conflicting signal

First Product Hire

How they prioritize when a design partner asks for three things the roadmap can't fit

Founding Designer

How they defend a design choice in front of a founder who disagrees

First GTM Hire / Founding AE

How they qualify a lead when the ICP is still being defined

First Growth / Marketing Hire

How they pick a zero-to-one channel with no attribution data

First Customer Success Hire

How they respond to design partner #3 pushing for a feature you can't build

Head of Engineering

How they hire engineer #5 when two co-founders disagree on the bar

First Operations Hire

How they triage when payroll, vendor billing, and a legal review hit the same Friday

Go deeper

Startup hiring is one workflow. Here's where to go next.

Most startup teams start with one-way interviews and add structure from there.

High-volume hiring

Pulled 2,000+ applications from a founding-engineer role in 72 hours? See how Truffle handles surge volume without adding rec-ops.

Learn more about high-volume hiring

Seasonal hiring software

Running a 60-day post-Demo-Day hiring sprint? See how Truffle handles cohort hiring from funding-round close to offer in under 90 days.

Learn more about seasonal hiring

Integrates with your ATS and other tools

Connect Truffle to the applicant tracking system and workflow management tools your team already uses. Candidate data flows between platforms so you never duplicate work or lose information.

Zapier

Connect Truffle to 7,000+ apps. No code required.

Ashby

Deeper candidate insights when you connect Ashby and Truffle.

Breezy HR

Improve your recruiting process with Breezy HR.

Indeed

Send Truffle interview links to Indeed applicants.

Native ATS integrations

Connect with Ashby, Breezy HR, Indeed, and other ATS to sync candidate data, scores, and screening decisions directly into your ATS.

Zapier for everything else

Route candidate data to 7,000+ apps. Your HRIS, follow-up tools, or custom workflows. No code required.

No ATS? No problem

Share a unique link for each position via email, job boards, or your careers page. Truffle works standalone or alongside your existing stack.

Explore all integrations

FAQ

FAQs about hiring for startups

Will senior engineers actually complete a one-way video interview?

Yes, when the interview respects their time. Most startup roles run three to five questions in five to seven minutes, with upfront visibility on duration. Senior candidates from warm intros complete at rates similar to junior candidates. Completion itself is a signal of motivation.
How fast can I set up a founding-engineer role?

About 10 minutes. Paste the job description, accept the AI-suggested behavioral questions, add your branding, and share the Position Link. No implementation project, no onboarding, no IT involvement.
Does Truffle work if our founding team is remote or distributed?

Yes. Co-founders in different time zones review Candidate Shorts independently, leave comments, and rate candidates against the same rubric. You see every reviewer's ratings in one scorecard. Share shortlists via secure link with advisors or investor references without Truffle accounts.
Can I still run the founder's in-person conversation and pair-programming session?

That's the point. Truffle replaces the first-round phone screen, not the founder's conversation, the pair-programming session, or the extended trial. Those high-touch moments still happen. The difference is you walk into them with a Candidate Short, an AI Summary, and a match score.
Does Truffle integrate with Ashby, Gem, or Lever?

Zapier connects Truffle to Ashby, Gem, Lever, Workable, Greenhouse, and 7,000 other apps. Native integrations with Ashby, Breezy HR, and Indeed sync candidate data directly. Truffle works as a standalone screening layer or alongside an existing stack.
How does Truffle handle international candidates on H-1B or OPT?

Truffle captures work-authorization status via Qualification Questions before anyone records, without auto-rejecting anyone. The founding team sees the flag alongside the Candidate Short and match score. Truffle does not verify H-1B, OPT, STEM OPT, or TN status. Tracker I-9, Checkr, Deel, and Rippling handle verification downstream.
What's the price for a seed-stage startup?

Self-Serve is $149 per month, or $99 per month on the annual plan. Unlimited team seats, unlimited positions, 7-day free trial, no credit card. Custom plans are available for later-stage teams.
Does Truffle replace coding tests like HackerRank or CodeSignal?

No. Truffle is the screening layer before the technical round. HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad, and Codility handle coding depth. Truffle surfaces zero-to-one instinct, communication, and bias to action in video responses, then hands the strongest candidates to your technical pipeline.