Startup hiring software
Startup hiring software that skips the first-round phone-screen scramble
Truffle is candidate screening software that combines one-way video interviews, talent assessments, and resume screening. Send one link to every candidate, then review Candidate Shorts and AI match scores between meetings. No 200-phone-screen weeks after a funding announcement.
7 days · 30 credits · no card required
Startup hiring's bottleneck isn't volume. It's evidence before the founder's first call.
A funding announcement pulls thousands of applications in 72 hours. Founders can't run 200 phone screens while shipping the MVP.
800 to 2,500 applications, most look the same
A funding announcement pulls 800 to 2,500 applications in the following 72 hours. Most look the same on paper: comparable schools, comparable past companies, comparable years of experience.
Strong candidates accept elsewhere in 10 days
Founders can't run 200 phone screens while shipping the MVP and closing design partners. Strong candidates accept the first credible offer in ten days, not three weeks.
The founder's first call is the bottleneck
Every hour a founder spends on a first-round phone screen is an hour not spent on the product or the next design partner. Truffle pre-loads the evidence so the founder's first call is with a candidate worth calling.
Startup-ready screening, live in 10 minutes per role
One screening workflow per role. Same link for the careers page, YC Bookface, Wellfound, and warm intros. Founders review between meetings.
Post the link on your careers page, drop it in YC Bookface, text it to a warm intro
Truffle creates one Position Link per role. Drop it on your careers page, in Work at a Startup, on Wellfound, or in an investor Slack. Text it from a coffee chat or a pair-programming session. Same screening experience for every channel.
Three to five behavioral questions. Five minutes. See who can think from zero.
AI suggests three to five questions per role, for founding engineer, first PM, founding designer, or first GTM roles. Accept, edit, or write your own. Qualification Questions capture work authorization, compensation, and start date before anyone records, without auto-rejecting anyone. Mobile-first, 5 to 7 minutes.
Replace the first-round phone screen with 30-second Candidate Shorts
AI compiles a 30-second Candidate Short for each completed interview, writes a one-paragraph AI Summary, and ranks against your rubric with a match score. Founders review between meetings, in the cab, on the way to the next pitch.
Every co-founder, every hiring manager, one review queue, same rubric
Founders assign co-founders, advisors, or first hiring managers as Reviewers. Each reviewer evaluates independently. Share shortlists via secure link with investors or advisors who don't have Truffle accounts. Every reviewer evaluates against the same operator-defined rubric.
The screening layer before the founder's first call
Sourcing, payroll, and work-authorization checks stay in the tools you already run. Truffle does one job: the first-round screen.
Phone-screening 200 applicants while shipping the MVP
One-way video does the first round for you. Candidates record five minutes on their phone; AI surfaces Candidate Shorts, match scores, and one-paragraph summaries. Founders review between meetings and decide who gets a founder conversation.
A ranked list you can't defend to a co-founder
Every score has a reason on the record. AI Match shows which criteria a candidate aligned with and where the gaps are, scored against the same operator-defined rubric for every reviewer and every applicant.
A tool that wants to replace your ATS, sourcing, or coding tests
Truffle doesn't. It's the screening layer before the founder's first call, not an ATS of record, sourcing network, or coding-test replacement. Ashby, Gem, Lever, Wellfound, HackerRank, and CodeSignal keep doing their jobs. Truffle plugs in via Zapier or native Ashby, Breezy HR, and Indeed sync.
An enterprise rollout before the next funding-round hiring sprint
Self-serve from $49/month, live in about 10 minutes per role. Paste a job description, accept the AI-suggested questions, add your branding, share the link. No procurement, no IT ticket, no implementation project. Free trial, no credit card.
Startup roles Truffle screens for
One workflow, tuned per role. Truffle surfaces the signal that matters for each job, from founding engineers to first GTM hires.
Engineering & product
- Founding Engineer — how they talk through a build-or-buy decision with conflicting signal
- First Product Hire — how they prioritize when a design partner asks for three things the roadmap can't fit
- Head of Engineering — how they hire engineer #5 when two co-founders disagree on the bar
Design & GTM
- Founding Designer — how they defend a design choice in front of a founder who disagrees
- First GTM Hire / Founding AE — how they qualify a lead when the ICP is still being defined
- First Growth / Marketing Hire — how they pick a zero-to-one channel with no attribution data
Customer & operations
- First Customer Success Hire — how they respond to design partner #3 pushing for a feature you can't build
- First Operations Hire — how they triage when payroll, vendor billing, and a legal review hit the same Friday
FAQs about hiring for startups
Will senior engineers actually complete a one-way video interview?
Yes, when the interview respects their time. Most startup roles run three to five questions in five to seven minutes, with upfront visibility on duration. Senior candidates from warm intros complete at rates similar to junior candidates. Completion itself is a signal of motivation.
How fast can I set up a founding-engineer role?
About 10 minutes. Paste the job description, accept the AI-suggested behavioral questions, add your branding, and share the Position Link. No implementation project, no onboarding, no IT involvement.
Does Truffle work if our founding team is remote or distributed?
Yes. Co-founders in different time zones review Candidate Shorts independently, leave comments, and rate candidates against the same rubric. You see every reviewer's ratings in one scorecard. Share shortlists via secure link with advisors or investor references without Truffle accounts.
Can I still run the founder's in-person conversation and pair-programming session?
That's the point. Truffle replaces the first-round phone screen, not the founder's conversation, the pair-programming session, or the extended trial. Those high-touch moments still happen. The difference is you walk into them with a Candidate Short, an AI Summary, and a match score.
Does Truffle integrate with Ashby, Gem, or Lever?
Zapier connects Truffle to Ashby, Gem, Lever, Workable, Greenhouse, and 7,000 other apps. Native integrations with Ashby, Breezy HR, and Indeed sync candidate data directly. Truffle works as a standalone screening layer or alongside an existing stack.
How does Truffle handle international candidates on H-1B or OPT?
Truffle captures work-authorization status via Qualification Questions before anyone records, without auto-rejecting anyone. The founding team sees the flag alongside the Candidate Short and match score. Truffle does not verify H-1B, OPT, STEM OPT, or TN status. Tracker I-9, Checkr, Deel, and Rippling handle verification downstream.
What's the price for a seed-stage startup?
Plans start from $49 per month. You get one shared monthly credit pool across resume screening, one-way interviews, and assessments, and every feature is on every plan. Unlimited team seats, unlimited positions, 7-day free trial with 30 credits, no credit card. Custom plans are available for later-stage teams.
Does Truffle replace coding tests like HackerRank or CodeSignal?
No. Truffle is the screening layer before the technical round. HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad, and Codility handle coding depth. Truffle surfaces zero-to-one instinct, communication, and bias to action in video responses, then hands the strongest candidates to your technical pipeline.
Skip the phone-screen scramble after your next raise
One-way video interviews, assessments, and resume screening on one platform. Review Candidate Shorts between meetings. Decide who gets a founder conversation.
Start screening engineers7 days · 30 credits · no card required