Startup recruiting
Startup recruiting for Seed to Series B companies
Refery is a startup recruiting network for VC-backed Seed to Series B companies. Each search combines specialist independent recruiters with referrals from founders, operators, and investors, then turns that network into a small, screened shortlist.
An illustration of how a Refery search is presented. The names and grades are examples, not real candidates.
Our clients are backed by investors including:
When this search fits
The roles Refery is built for.
Use Refery when the role is important enough that a broad applicant funnel is not the answer: a first functional hire, a senior individual contributor, or a leader who must work well with founders and ambiguity.
- Founding and senior engineers
- AI and machine learning engineers
- Forward deployed engineers
- Founding sales and GTM leaders
- Senior product and infrastructure roles
How Refery runs the search
From brief to a reasoned shortlist.
Define the bar
Share the outcome, constraints, compensation, location, and what this person must own.
The brief- Must own
- The outcome the team cannot ship without
- Stage
- VC-backed, Seed to Series B
- Still open
- Location, band, and the first milestone
Scope and fee agreed before the search15%Search both networks
Refery activates relevant recruiting specialists and people who know strong candidates from working, building, or investing alongside them.
The shortlist, with the reasoningEthan ChoCo-founder intro · work reviewedA+Ines CarvalhoSpecialist search · screenedA−Lena BrandtScout intro · screenedAReview a reasoned shortlist
Every introduction includes the evidence for fit, confirmed constraints, and what still needs to be tested.
What comes back- Evidence
- What they owned, and how we know
- Confirmed
- Interest, location, notice, comp expectation
- To test
- The one thing the interview should settle
An illustration of how a Refery search is presented. The names and grades are examples, not real candidates.
What the shortlist should prove
Evidence, not title matching.
- Evidence of ownership, not title matching
- Role and stage-specific recruiter judgment
- First-hand context from trusted referrers
- A short list designed for decisions, not pipeline volume
Commercial terms
- Placement fee
- 15% to 25%of first-year base salary, paid only when you hire
- Retainer and exclusivity
- Nonerun Refery alongside your own channels
- Guarantee
- 90 daysunder the client agreement
The exact scope and fee are agreed before the search starts. See fees and terms →
From a real search
What one Refery search looked like
The founder conversation came before the final job descriptions. Refery drafted the initial brief, collected the open questions, then shared example profiles so the hiring team could react to real work rather than a list of adjectives.
Those profiles were clearly marked as calibration examples with interest unconfirmed. Later recommendations explained relevant work, motivation, practical fit and the question the next interview should resolve. The client confirmed an interview booking in the same coordination thread.
The useful lesson
A useful shortlist makes the next decision clearer. It does not hide unknowns behind a confident recommendation.
Read the anonymized search story →Go deeper
Related searches and guides
Start a search
Tell us what this person needs to own.
Share the role, the outcome, and the constraints. Refery replies with how the search would run and what the shortlist should prove.