Early-stage startups need face-to-face collaboration. Yet, I'd like to hire remotely for cost savings. Can I have BOTH?

My solution: hire internationally and fly periodically to co-work in person. Details in my previous post.

In this post I describe how to find, screen and hire remote talent quickly. Here's what actually works.

The LinkedIn Problem

I Posted a "Full Stack Developer" role → 1,000 applications in 24 hours.

Sounds great until you realize:

  • 1,000 resumes to screen (no time as solo founder)
  • Schedule interviews with promising candidates
  • Co-working sessions (standard for early-stage)
  • Negotiate salary, equity, benefits
  • Repeat for each role

Time cost: weeks. I stopped after two attempts.

The Upwork Solution

I switched to Upwork (not affiliated, just sharing what works). Here's my actual process:

1. Hire Freelancers Directly, Not Agencies

Why no agencies for early-stage?

  • Pre-PMF, I don't have a spec. I'm iterating MVP prototypes rapidly—build, test, discard, rebuild. The spec emerges through iteration.
  • Agencies need specs upfront
  • Quality drops when agencies swap devs without telling you (happened multiple times)
  • No agency overhead
  • I interview the actual developer, not a manager
  • Contract-to-hire path for growing headcount

Exception: If you have a well-defined project scope and aren't growing staff, agencies can work fine.

2. My Screening Process

  • Post job with clear description + skill tags (no paid promotion initially)
  • Shortlist: Top 10%+ badge AND in a location I can visit (safe, accessible)
  • Filter out hidden agencies:
  • Check profiles for "team" mentions
  • Skip freelancers with $500K+ earned or 100+ jobs (likely agencies)
  • Read feedback between the lines (I've been pressured to change <5 star reviews to 5 stars)
  • Paid trial task (up to 8 hours)
  • Zoom interview with video ON (watch for interview proxy services)

3. Key Questions I Ask

  • Explain your project
  • Look for genuine signals the dev feels your project is not difficult - confirm the reasons are right
  • Are you OK with me visiting to work face-to-face periodically?
  • Do you use Claude Code or similar AI tools? (Required for my projects)
  • Communication test: Can we understand each other easily?

4. Trial Task

"I'm hiring you for a paid trial (up to 8 hours). You must do this yourself. If you don't pass, that's fine—5 stars and we may work together on another project. If you pass, expect regular Zoom video calls."

This discourages interview proxies.

Cost Optimization

  • Use basic Upwork membership (5% fee). Premium (10% fee) shows top 1% badge, but I don't see meaningful difference vs. top 10%.
  • SF Bay Area founding engineer: ~$183K total comp
  • International senior engineer: $40-80K (via Upwork)

Result: 2-4x headcount for same budget

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