Guides
How to find the right people, companies, and code.
Each guide covers one job end to end: the method, the signals worth trusting, the ways they mislead, and the tables and checklists to work from. Written to be used mid-task and revised as the ground shifts. A new one lands every few hours.
Every guide has a plain-Markdown twin at /guides/<slug>.md and the whole library is indexed at /guides/index.md.
Recruiting and sourcing
Finding, qualifying, and reaching the people you want to hire - from role brief to signed offer.
- Playbook16 minThe Standing Talent Pipeline: Warm Before the Req OpensYou will run a standing pipeline across your recurring role families so an opened req starts with a warm shortlist, not a blank search box.
- Teardown16 minBuilding a Target-Company List for a Product-Manager SearchYou can take one live Product-Manager req from a blank sheet to a ranked 20-to-50 company universe, each company sized by matching-candidate count and tagged include, expand, or cut.target company list recruitingtalent mapping target companiesfeeder companies sourcing
- Playbook15 minFrom Contributor Graph to Ranked Candidate ShortlistYou can turn any repository's contributor graph into a deduplicated, bot-free shortlist ranked by role fit and contactability, with every cut defensible.source engineers from github contributorsgithub contributor list to candidate shortlistfilter bots and forks github sourcing
- Playbook15 minThe Layoff Watchlist Playbook: Reach Affected Talent FirstYou will run a weekly watchlist that ranks target companies by live departure signals and tells you which one to work now and when to send.
- Framework15 minGrading a Company as a Talent Source for a Sourcing ListYou can score any company on four signals and place it as Tier-1, Tier-2, or exclude on a defensible, refreshable target company list.
- Framework14 minThe Candidate Openness Score: Message Now, Nurture, or SkipYou will produce a weighted openness score for any candidate, sort them into act, nurture, or skip, and explain why each signal counted.
- Teardown17 minOne Sourcing Search: From First Query to Ranked ShortlistYou can carry one search from a zero or a huge count to a ranked shortlist, deciding at each fork whether to fix the string or accept the number.sourcing search walkthroughboolean search returned zero resultshow to build a candidate shortlist
- Reference17 minThe People-Search Query Cookbook: Patterns That Return Real CandidatesYou will pick the query pattern that matches your intent, translate it to the platform in front of you, and know in advance how it will misfire.boolean search strings for recruitershow to find candidates on githubx-ray search linkedin syntax
- Standard16 minThe Search Brief Standard: When a Role Is Ready to SourceYou can grade any role brief pass or fail against explicit criteria and fix the failing parts before a single search is run.
- Playbook14 minThe Talent Sourcing Playbook: Role Brief to Ranked ShortlistYou will run a full sourcing cycle for one open role, from brief to ranked shortlist, sized against real funnel drop-off instead of gut feel.talent sourcing playbookhow to source candidatessourcing process
Sales and go-to-market
Building account lists, mapping who actually decides, and finding the moment to reach out.
- Framework15 minBuying-Committee Mapping: Finding Everyone Who Has to Say YesYou will be able to turn a target account into a named, role-tagged list of the people who decide, block, and champion, and score its coverage.
- Playbook15 minThe Job-Change Trigger Playbook: Turn a Champion's Move Into PipelineYou will build a monitored watch list, catch a champion's move within 72 hours, qualify the new employer, and send a warm first-touch inside the 30-day window.track when customers change jobschampion job change sales playpast customer new company outreach
- Framework15 minScoring an Account's Fit Before It Earns Rep TimeYou will take one named company, score its structural fit and buying window separately from public evidence, and assign a defensible pursue, nurture, or pass tier.
- Standard8 minThe Account Brief Standard: What a Rep Needs Before First TouchYou can grade any account brief pass or fail against a fixed evidence bar and name the single missing field that blocks it.
- Teardown18 minFrom One Account to the Person Who Owns the ProblemYou can turn one named account into a single confirmed, current name plus the right first point of contact, with the searches and checks that got you there.find the right person to contact at a companyidentify who owns the problem at an accountconfirm a contact still works there
- Teardown17 minOne Target Account List: From ICP to the Reps' QueueYou will carry one ICP from a single sentence to a deduped, tiered account list with a defensible surviving count at every filter step.
- Playbook15 minThe Warm Intro Path Playbook: From Target Account to Forwarded AskYou can take one target account, surface every viable connector path, rank them by real relationship strength, and send a request the connector forwards without editing.
- Playbook18 minBuilding a Reseller Partner Pipeline From Public EvidenceYou will turn an ideal partner profile into a ranked shortlist of candidate resellers, each scored on public proof of customer overlap, complementary offering, and capacity to sell.how to find channel partnersbuild a reseller partner pipelineideal partner profile
- Reference17 minThe Outbound Trigger Reference: What to Watch and When to MoveYou will be able to build a trigger watchlist ranked by buying proximity, know each signal's decay window and false-positive trap, and route every signal to outreach before it goes cold.sales trigger events to trackhow long do trigger events lastsignal based prospecting
- Framework17 minScoring a Buying Committee by Power, Stance, and CoverageYou can turn one named account into a scored roster where every person carries a role, a power score, a stance tied to evidence, and a coverage verdict.
Investing and deal sourcing
Spotting companies and founders early, and diligencing the team behind a round.
- Playbook16 minBuilding a Living Sector Map for Deal SourcingYou will build a thesis-driven sector map, prove its coverage with a recall test, keep it current on a fixed cadence, and rank who to contact first.
- Reference15 minThe Stealth Founder Signal Reference: Reading One Person's Pre-Launch FootprintYou will be able to take any single pre-formation signal on one person and state what it proves, how it misleads, and how fast it decays.stealth startup founder signalshow to find founders before they launchpre-formation founder signals
- Playbook14 minThe Public-Repo Technical Diligence Read for Early-Stage DealsYou can produce a go/flag/stop technical read of a startup from public repositories alone in under a day, with named red flags and the evidence behind each.
- Framework15 minGrading Whether a Repo's GitHub Traction Is RealScore any dev-tools repo across six authenticity dimensions and reach a defensible real, mixed, or inflated verdict before partner review.how to spot fake github starsevaluate open source startup tractiongithub metrics that predict adoption
- Standard16 minThe Deal Screen Standard: What a Company Must Prove Before Partner ReviewYou can grade any sourced company against fixed thesis gates and verified-evidence checks, produce a pass-or-advance verdict, and have a second associate reproduce it.
- Teardown15 minThe Off-List Reference List: Who to Call Before You WireYou can take one founder's name and, in a single sitting, produce a ranked list of 8 to 15 off-list references with a reason for each and a route to reach them.
- Framework14 minThe Public-Signal Momentum Score for Early-Stage TriageYou will score any early-stage company on five public momentum dimensions and reach a defensible pursue-now, watch, or pass call with a written rationale.how to evaluate startup momentum from public signalsscore a startup before a first meetingspot breakout startups early
- Playbook16 minThe Solo Talent Partner's Monthly Portfolio Hiring CycleYou will run a monthly cycle that triages every open portfolio role, picks the few worth sourcing by hand, and turns one search into candidates for several companies.how to prioritize hiring across a portfoliovc talent partner sourcing processshared talent pool across portfolio companies
- Framework14 minGrading a Founding Team on Public EvidenceYou will score any founding team across six weighted dimensions from public sources, reach a defensible go/hold/pass call, and know exactly what to verify later.how to evaluate a founding teamfounder due diligence public sourcesdiligence a startup team before investing
- Playbook16 minThe Pre-Announcement Deal Sourcing PlaybookYou can stand up a weekly routine that names specific forming companies from public signals and reach the founder before the round starts.find startups before fundingproprietary deal flowvc sourcing process
Engineering and open source
Reading code, repositories, and contribution history as evidence of what someone can do.
- Framework14 minScoring Maintainer Concentration Risk Before You Depend on a RepoYou can score any repository's maintainer concentration risk from public history and reach one of three verdicts, with the number that justifies it.
- Framework15 minScoring a GitHub Profile: Genuine, Gamed, or BorrowedYou will be able to score any developer's GitHub profile across authenticity dimensions, rule it trusted, needs-verification, or discard, and confirm authorship.how to tell if a github profile is fakeverify github contributions are authenticspot a padded contribution graph
- Playbook16 minFrom Package Name to Account List: Who Runs Your LibraryYou can go from one package name to a deduplicated, ranked list of companies that run it in production, each resolved to a real employer.
- Playbook16 minMapping the Repository Landscape Around One Seed ProjectYou will turn a single seed repository into a deduplicated, ranked landscape map where every project is classified as an alternative, dependent, or adjacent tool with evidence recorded.how to map an open source ecosystemfind projects that depend on a repositoryfind alternatives to a github project
- Playbook15 minThe Developer Champion List From Public Build SignalsYou can produce a ranked, evidence-backed shortlist of external developers to invite into a beta or champion program, sourced entirely from public signals.
- Standard17 minThe Dependency Adoption Standard: Grade a Library Before You Add ItYou can produce a documented adopt, adopt-with-conditions, or reject call on any candidate library that another engineer would grade the same way.
- Teardown17 minTracing Who Actually Wrote a Library From Its Commit HistoryYou will take any public repo and name the engineer who owns its core subsystems, separating real authorship from bot noise and formatting churn, with commit data to back it.who wrote most of a github repoidentify code owner from commit historyfind the real author of an open source project
- Standard15 minThe Maintainer Outreach Send Standard: Grade a Draft Before You SendYou will be able to grade any draft outreach to an open-source maintainer as send, fix, or kill against explicit criteria that two reviewers apply the same way.
- Framework16 minThe Public-Work Interview Screen for EngineersYou will be able to score a named engineer across five evidence dimensions and reach a defensible interview-or-pass call, or refuse to score when the trail is too thin.
- Reference16 minReading a Repository: What Each Signal Proves About a ContributorYou will be able to take any repository signal in front of you and state what it proves about a specific person, what it does not, and the one check that settles it.evaluate github profileopen source hiring signalrepository quality signals
Market and talent intelligence
Mapping a market, a competitor, or a talent pool, and turning the map into a decision.
- Framework11 minThe Competitive Set Inclusion Standard: Direct, Adjacent, Substitute, or OutYou will assign any company a defensible tier - direct, adjacent, substitute, or out - from public evidence, with a weighted score two analysts would reproduce within one band.
- Standard18 minThe Pay Benchmark Standard: When a Salary Range Is Ready to PostYou can grade any draft pay range post-ready or not-yet against six fixed criteria and produce a one-page evidence trail that survives challenge.
- Playbook17 minSizing a Private Company From Public Headcount SignalsYou will produce a defensible headcount estimate with a stated confidence range for any private company, correcting for the biases in each public source.estimate private company employee counthow to size a private company headcountprivate company headcount growth estimate
- Playbook16 minSizing a Skill's Talent Pool From Its Open-Source EcosystemYou will produce a deduplicated, geolocated headcount of the people who genuinely work in a niche technology, and defend it against labor-market data.
- Playbook15 minReconstructing a Competitor Org Chart From Public ProfilesYou can produce a defensible org chart of one target company with every reporting line tagged by confidence, and know when it is complete enough to hand up.
- Reference16 minThe Talent-Market Signal Reference: What Each Data Point ProvesFor any public talent-market signal you can name, you will state what it proves, what it does not, and the confound to rule out before you trust it.what does a spike in job postings meantalent supply demand ratio meaninghow is hiring difficulty index calculated
- Framework7 minTurning a Raw Candidate Count Into a Defensible Pool EstimateYou will convert a raw search count into a corrected pool estimate with an explicit confidence grade and a stated reachable subset, defensible line by line.
- Teardown15 minChoosing a Second Engineering Hub From the Talent NumbersYou will carry two or three candidate cities through one counting procedure and land on a defensible go / no-go for a specific specialty team, every number reproducible.how to choose a location for a new engineering teamestimate engineering talent pool size by citysecond engineering hub site selection
- Teardown14 minReading a Competitor's Roadmap From Its Open RolesYou can turn one quarter of a named competitor's public postings and org changes into two to three product or market bets, each with a confidence level.read competitor roadmap from job postingscompetitor hiring signals analysisinfer product strategy from job openings
- Playbook17 minBuilding a Talent Market Map That Survives a Leadership ReviewYou will produce a talent market map with pool-size figures, MECE segments, and a documented confidence range a skeptical VP or CFO cannot pick apart.
Process, data, and compliance
Keeping a search operation clean: data hygiene, lawful sourcing, measurement, and handoffs.
- Playbook15 minFrom Raw Commit Log to a Defensible Count of Distinct HumansYou can turn a repo's raw commit data into a deduplicated roster of distinct humans that a second analyst reruns to the same count.merge git contributor aliasesdeduplicate github contributorsfilter bots from contributor list
- Standard16 minThe Source Attribution Standard: One Tag, Two Graders, No DriftYou can write and enforce a source-tagging rule specific enough that two people credit the same record to the same source, so source reports reconcile.source of hire attribution ruleshow to tag lead source consistentlyoriginal source vs last touch field
- Standard16 minThe Data Provider Vetting Standard: What a Source Must Prove Before You BuyYou can grade any prospective data provider pass or fail on sourcing, lawful basis, rights handling, and accuracy, so two reviewers reach the same verdict.
- Reference15 minThe Data Freshness Reference: How Fast Each Field DecaysYou can look up any record field, read its decay rate and staleness tell, and set a defensible re-verify interval instead of trusting one blended annual number.b2b data decay ratehow often to re-verify contact dataemail list decay rate
- Reference16 minThe Candidate Record Retention and Deletion ReferenceYou can look up any candidate record type you hold and state its retention clock, its trigger, its lawful basis, and the exact deletion action required.
- Framework14 minThe Company Record Match Rubric: Merge, Link, or Keep SeparateYou will score any pair of company records on fixed signals and land on a defensible merge, link, or keep-separate decision another operator can reproduce.company record matching rulesaccount deduplication merge criteriasame company entity resolution
- Framework16 minScoring an Outbound Contact List for Lawful SendYou can score any prospecting list on six dimensions and land a documented send, fix, or hold verdict before the campaign launches.
- Playbook19 minThe Candidate Database Cleanup and Deduplication PlaybookYou will be able to run a start-to-finish candidate database cleanup: measure the true duplicate rate, merge safely, purge by jurisdiction, and keep it clean.
- Standard18 minThe Lawful Sourcing Standard for Candidate DataYou will be able to grade any candidate record your team holds as compliant or not, using fixed criteria for collection, retention, and first-outreach use.
Start with the basics
Plain-English explainers on the category itself.
Try it on your own search
Stop building boolean strings. Just describe the person.
Type one sentence and I plan the search, read GitHub, public LinkedIn and Crunchbase records, and the open web live, then hand back a ranked shortlist with the reasoning behind every name. No filters to learn, no export to clean up, no sales call to sit through.
- One sentence in, a ranked shortlist out. No boolean, no filters, no seat to buy.
- Read live at search time, not from a database that went stale last quarter.
- Watch every step as it runs, and see why each name made the list.
- Staff backend engineers in NYC who shipped Rust in production
- Series A fintechs in SF under 50 people, growing headcount this year
- Maintainers of fast-growing Rust web frameworks on GitHub
500 free credits on sign-up. No card, no demo call. See real searches.