MAVIK VENTURES

How we work

Hiring is a system, not a hunt.

Most searches stall for the same three reasons: nobody agreed on what great looks like, feedback is slow, and the pipeline is built on volume. We fix all three from day one.

The early-stage hiring problem

Hiring engineers at a startup doesn't work like hiring anywhere else.

Your CTO is screening resumes instead of shipping.

Every hour spent sourcing and running first calls is an hour off the roadmap.

You got 40 profiles. None were close.

Most firms send volume and hope something sticks. You end up doing the filtering.

The best engineers aren't applying.

The people you want are heads-down building somewhere else. They have to be found, understood and convinced.

Great at a big company isn't great at 15 people.

An impressive title can still struggle without a playbook. The right hire has done this before.

The hiring sprint

Five steps. One focused sprint.

  1. 01Day 0

    Prepared kickoff

    Before the call, we've already mapped your market: who's building similar products, where the talent sits and what compensation looks like. On the call we go past the job description. What will this person own in their first 90 days? Who have you passed on, and why? What would make you say no to an otherwise great candidate?

    What you bring

    60–90 minutes with the founder or CTO, and an honest view of the team and the role.

  2. 02Day 2

    Benchmark profiles in 48 hours

    Two days after kickoff, we share a small set of real profiles that fit the brief. You tell us what's right, what's wrong and why. This is where the search gets defined. Most firms take weeks to get here. We get there on day two.

    What you bring

    30 minutes of detailed feedback.

  3. 03Days 3–20

    Calibrated pipeline

    From here, every candidate is screened against what you've told us. If someone isn't a fit, you never see them. If someone doesn't look like much on paper but has done exactly what you need, we'll put them in front of you with the context to explain why.

    What you bring

    Feedback on every candidate within about a day.

  4. 04Interviews

    Interview and close

    We coordinate the loop, prepare candidates, collect feedback from both sides and keep momentum up. When it's time for an offer, we help you get to yes.

    What you bring

    A clear interview process and a decision-maker who's part of it.

  5. 05Days 20–25

    Hire

    Our target is a signed offer within 20 to 25 days of kickoff.

    Sprint complete

How we think about hiring

A few things we've learned building startup teams.

01

Calibration beats volume.

Ten candidates aimed precisely beat a hundred sent blindly. That's why the first 48 hours matter most.

02

Resumes are wrong in both directions.

Some polished resumes hide gaps. Some plain ones hide the exact engineer you need. We look at what people have built, not how they describe it.

03

A search moves as fast as its feedback loop.

Quick, honest feedback from you is the biggest single factor in how fast we hire.

04

Five searches run well beat fifty run badly.

We cap how many partners we take on, so every search gets real attention.

What we ask of you

We work best with founders who are serious about hiring.

Access. Direct time with founders and hiring managers, not a relay through a coordinator.

Speed. Feedback on candidates within about a day, with specifics.

Clarity. A defined interview process and a decision-maker who's part of it.

What we won't do

The things that make most searches fail.

Send resumes to fill a quota. If they're not right, you won't see them.

Take on more than we can deliver. We keep a small number of partners so each search gets full attention.

Pass on great people over a thin resume. Talent doesn't always come with the right logos.

Questions

Common questions.

Start a search

Hiring your next engineer?

Tell us about the role. Within 24 hours we'll reply with kickoff times and a short prep list.

Seed–Series C · SF & NY · Engineering roles