How Pluno hired two engineers in a month
Founder-led sourcing works right up until it doesn't. Pluno handed Clera a role description instead of a pipeline, and the first candidate introduced was the one they hired.
About Pluno
Pluno builds AI browser agents that learn the API behind a web service instead of clicking through its interface. Skipping the UI makes them roughly ten times faster than agents that drive the browser the way a person would.
The team was early. They shipped a retrieval system into Discord and Telegram communities to answer questions automatically before ChatGPT had launched.
- What they build
- AI browser agents
- Roles hired
- 2 engineers
- First introduction
- 1.5 weeks
- Both hires signed
- Within a month
- Brief handed over
- Role description
- Sourcing run by the team
- None
When founder-led sourcing stops scaling
Pluno had worked with a couple of recruiters and done a lot of the work themselves: manual LinkedIn sourcing, manual outreach, one candidate at a time. It took a great deal of effort and it competed directly with building the product.
Nowadays it's crazy for founders in the AI space to find the time to actually do all these necessities of doing outreach, recruiting, finding talent, doing the interviews.
The bar made it harder still. Pluno runs on ownership, so Korbinian was not looking for people to execute a task list.
It was very important for us to get high quality talent and find the right people who are really motivated, work hard, want to take a lot of ownership and can make critical product decisions, and not just execute the tasks that are given to them.
Clera at the front of Pluno's hiring
Pluno handed over a role description. That was the whole handover. No job post to write, no pipeline to maintain, no sourcing rota to keep staffed between shipping.
A week and a half later the first introduction arrived. It turned out to be the hire: the first candidate Clera put in front of the team is the one they signed.
Recruiting stopped being a second job the founder had to carve time out for.
Why Clera
Four things mattered to a small team with no recruiter and no spare hours.
- A brief, not a process
- Pluno handed over the role description and nothing else. No pipeline to build, no sourcing rota, no screening rounds to staff.
- The first introduction was the hire
- A week and a half after the brief, the first candidate Clera introduced turned out to be the one Pluno signed.
- Matched to the ownership bar
- Korbinian was not hiring for task execution. The search ran against the bar he set rather than against whoever happened to apply.
- Founder hours back
- The time that used to go into manual LinkedIn sourcing and outreach went back into building the product.
Impact and results
We were basically able to hire two amazing engineers who are now a core part of our team within the first month.
- First introduction 1.5 weeks after handing over the brief
- That first introduction became the first hire
- 2 engineers signed inside the first month
- Zero manual sourcing or outreach run by the team
- Day 0
The role description goes over
One brief, handed to Clera. No job post and no pipeline to maintain.
- Week 1.5
The first introduction
The first candidate introduced is the one Pluno ends up hiring.
- Month 1
Two engineers signed
Both are now a core part of the team.
We just provided the role description and they took care of the rest.
Korbinian AbstreiterFounder at PlunoSourcing your own candidates?
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