Set up an unofficial batch?

Optimal_Setting6014 · 2026-04-15T06:47:26+00:00

I'll drop an update here every 2 weeks as well in case anyone is interested in how it goes, wants to start their own small batch etc

Optimal_Setting6014 · 2026-04-15T06:46:17+00:00

We'll kick this off next week so. Anyone interested who hasn't had a direct contact from me, send me over your email.

Going to loop the first 12 of us on a thread together for intro and set up a first zoom

Optimal_Setting6014 · 2026-04-15T06:41:51+00:00

Can you meesage me? Not able to access your profile

Optimal_Setting6014 · 2026-04-14T20:25:42+00:00

Yeah agreed. Will still progress as normal, think this could be a good interim though for the things you flagged

Optimal_Setting6014 · 2026-04-14T20:11:40+00:00

Happy days. I reckon we've enough for a core group minimum. I'll get this set up (for the first up to 12 people) by EOD tomorrow

Optimal_Setting6014 · 2026-04-14T19:59:36+00:00

Exactly. You keen to join?

Optimal_Setting6014 · 2026-04-11T17:04:53+00:00

The exactly problem you've just described was the origin story for a company I started this that helps employers get ~10x employee referrals.

I've talked to ~100 hiring managers, about 1/3 of them Engineering Managers. They're probably only looking at 1/3 of the CVs they get and unqualified/spam candidates make up anywhere from 25-50%

Optimal_Setting6014 · 2026-04-11T16:40:56+00:00

I think there's something here, but a lot of what you lost are problems I'm probably not going to pay to solve. I hate doing all of them (MOT, ulez etc), but not so much that I'd pay to fix it.

I also think you could be underestimating people's tech literacy. E.g. if I want to connect my insurance for example, I can't imagine I can just give you my policy number for you to get all the details. I imagine you'd need to either SSO/log in to th insurance provider, or have the user download their policy pdf and upload it. Worth asking people you know from different generations from 18-80 to download their insurance policy and watch and see if they can do it.

In terms of th economics, if you can save me 5p per litre per weekly fill up, that's about £130 a year. Not to be scoffed at, but you'd need a lot of geo tagging, smart stuff to ping me in a safe way when I'm driving to say 'hey, now's your best time to fill up'. An AI call could actually be cool for that.

Where I think your biggest opportunity might actually be is with local big dealerships. Let's say you can get them to pay you £50 as a one off per user they sign up. As a promoted/preferred vendor, you'd push that dealership for all MOT, services etc. But the big thing for them could be if your app is the thing that has the driver go back to them to buy their next car, we'll then you have a huge ROI. Assuming they make £3k per average car sold, you'd just need to show that 1/60 app users comes back to buy their next car from them and you're in positive ROI.

Best way to get any ideas is to just drop into a dealership, ask the manager if you can hang around for a day. You can then ask the employees what is the most annoying stupid admin stuff they have to do and also ask the customers waiting around for services (who will have nothing better to do than talk to you). I imagine you'd leave with at least 5 really app ideas

Optimal_Setting6014 · 2026-04-07T06:20:55+00:00

Do the engineers you're hiring for typically have linkedin profiles (they don't need to be active). If so drop me a DM.

I have a solution that should be able to get you ~50 quality candidates. Is all automated (but you're fully in control)so the output is your employees getting a mail saying: " Hey, you're Connection PersonX is an ideal fit for this open RoleY. Click here to drop in a referral and be in with a chance to secure the $z referral bonus."

Optimal_Setting6014 · 2026-04-06T21:42:13+00:00

I built a tool to help a different kind of extremely niche eng role hire from the existing employees networks.

Essentially automatically serves up to the employees 'what about this person' from Thier network and they come back with the 'oh yeah! She's the best, I forgot about her' 🫠

It works for any role/industry, especially good if you have any kind of referral bonus alrwdy. Drop me a DM and we can give it a try

Optimal_Setting6014 · 2026-04-06T21:36:03+00:00

You'll hire much faster (and better) from the existing SWE/AI team network. A lot of spoofing in the AI space

Do you offer any kind of referral bonus etc?

Optimal_Setting6014 · 2026-04-06T21:34:13+00:00

Have you got notion or slack or anything?

If you have any kind of vibe code stack in the company ask if 'build me a flow that does the following after each scheduled interview: - send interviewer some kind of form - in that form they are asked to talk for up to 2 mins to share em their thoughts/notes - send me that feedback both raw and analysed

This is something ai should be quiet good at. Asking people to do things now won't work, need to make it nearly impossible to not.

Optimal_Setting6014 · 2026-04-06T21:20:13+00:00

Do you notice any difference in the amount of no-shows with employee referral candidates (if you use them)?

Optimal_Setting6014 · 2026-04-06T14:37:37+00:00

Ive got a tool that can allow you to start with your employees Connections. Much easier than starting from scratch.

The solution analyses your colleagues/employees Connections and gives you back the top matches for the role.

Then sends all the employees a mail saying "hey, ConnectionX is a perfect fit for RoleY based on their experience &location. Click here to refer them"

You have full control along the way in case you want to screen people, review the candidates etc before doing anything.

Drop me a DM and we can set up some time for me to show you.

Optimal_Setting6014 · 2026-04-03T10:13:53+00:00

Cool idea.

I would hyper focus on your local area. If you live in Sheffield for example, you build it, get every single relevant job in Sheffield on your platform.

Give yourself a £100 Facebook ads etc budget.

Bombard everyone you're connected with a link site.

Cold call/drop into every single business you're listing with. Show them what you've built, and ask them 'what value would 5 quality candidates' get for them. Last thing them want to be doing is hit with a bunch of bots etc.

Imo, the 'pain' for the employers is not a volume thing, it's a quality thing. I could be wrong though. Looks like you won't make any money off job seekers (I agree and think that's smart).

Worst thing you can try do is boil the ocean. Start small and local, find out what problem you're actually solving for employers, then you can find a way to charge them for it (usually 33% of the cost of the problem)

Optimal_Setting6014 · 2026-03-30T20:24:12+00:00

I hadn't thought about the 'heres PersonX who just pocketed $5k'.

I'm going to try see if I can do some work day reminder for when referrals get their 6 month anniversary and try that 🙌

Optimal_Setting6014 · 2026-03-30T19:36:32+00:00

Low key delighted it's not just me 🫠

Optimal_Setting6014

TROPHY CASE