Hiring founding engineers
Hire your founding engineers
MiiMate helps pre-seed and seed founders hire their first engineers: builders who can take a product from idea to real users, and who want the ownership that comes with being early.
Your first engineering hires shape the product, the codebase and the culture. We look for people with a track record of shipping end to end, and we're honest with them about stage, equity and pace, so the people you meet are excited to build with you.
Who we find
- Founding full-stack engineersWho can own a product from database to interface.
- Founding backend and infrastructure engineersFor technical, data-heavy or AI products.
- Founding AI engineersFor AI-first products.
- First engineering managersAs your team grows past its first few engineers.
How it works
Tell us what great looks like
The role, the must-haves and the team.
Otto searches every night
Including people who aren't looking.
The candidate says yes
A recruiter talks with each one, and they approve how we present them.
You decide from one link
Interested, pass or request an interview. We book it.
Every placement comes with a written replacement guarantee. More on how we work
Where we hire
New York, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Boston, Austin, Chicago, Washington DC, Denver, Atlanta, Raleigh, Charlotte, Nashville, Detroit, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Dallas-Fort Worth, Phoenix, Miami, Pittsburgh, Huntsville, AL, Columbus, OH, and remote teams across the US.
Questions founders ask us
What makes a good founding engineer?
Someone who has shipped products end to end, is comfortable with ambiguity, and wants ownership. Prior startup experience helps, but we look at what people have built, not where they worked.
How do we compete for engineers at the seed stage?
With a clear mission, real ownership and a fair equity offer. We help you present the role honestly and move quickly once you meet someone great.
How much does it cost?
Our fee is agreed up front in a short, plain-English agreement you accept online: a percentage of the new hire's first-year base salary or a flat fee per hire. On a contingency search you pay only when you hire someone we introduced. On a retained search, a fee is due to start the search, and the remaining terms are agreed up front. Get in touch and we'll talk through the search and the terms.
Does AI decide who we see?
No. Otto AI does the heavy searching and matching, and a recruiter on our team reviews every candidate and makes every decision about who we introduce to you.
Where do you recruit?
Across the major US tech hubs, including New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Austin and Chicago, and for remote teams anywhere in the US.