How re:cruit is helping startups hire world-class engineers

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Hey! I'm Dhananjoy. I have been building software for more than ten years. I started my career at Google and later joined Backpack (YC S14) as the founding engineer. At Backpack, I led the engineering team and by the time I left in 2019, we were the largest ecommerce company in Bangladesh, a country with a population of over 160 million people.

In 2020, I left Backpack to eventually start my own company. But before starting something myself, I wanted to explore working at a few other startups, so I started working as an engineering consultant at a couple other Y Combinator startups. I helped the founders develop and scale their product and team.

What is re:cruit?

Re:cruit helps founders hire amazing frontend and full stack engineers without any upfront commitment. We bring together a network of engineers who have previously worked at great startups (including YC companies).

With re:cruit, you can easily hire engineers who understand how to develop, scale and maintain a product for the long term. At the same time, you don't have to commit to hiring them upfront, so you’ll have plenty of time to determine whether there’s a good fit.

It all started when another founder referred me to an internal YC forum called Bookface. This led to a flood of emails from 50+ YC founders who were looking for help building and scaling their engineering teams.

I took the opportunity to connect them with engineers from my network. From there, it didn’t take long for re:cruit to grow into its own business.

What made you incorporate in the US?

We were working with about a dozen YC startups, all of which were based in the US. Naturally, we started to encounter issues with compliance and payments. That's when I decided to incorporate in the US. 

Why did you choose to incorporate with Firstbase?

When I was exploring different ways to incorporate in the US, I came across Stripe Atlas and a few other options. But then I heard about Firstbase through the YC community.

I found great reviews about their support, which was especially important to me given the uncertainty of the pandemic. The combination of being a YC startup and having amazing support made me go with Firstbase over any alternatives.

What was your experience with Firstbase like?

My experience with Firstbase was buttery smooth. I was worried that it would take forever to incorporate, but it was surprisingly fast. There was a short delay with the IRS regarding the EIN (not Firstbase's fault), but Firstbase kept me updated regularly and I never had to worry.

How did Firstbase help you achieve your goals?

We wouldn’t have been able to grow to where we are now without Firstbase. Initially, I was mostly serving startups within my existing network. After incorporating with Firstbase, I was able to close more deals with new customers.

Furthermore, Firstbase offered a lot of deals and perks that ended up saving us thousands of dollars. Without a legitimate US company, we wouldn't have been able to scale our business the way we did.

Do you have any advice for other entrepreneurs?

Now more than ever, it's important to be smart with your capital. We are in an economic downturn and there is a lot of uncertainty.

At the same time, it is important to continue to build and strive in order to stay ahead of your competitors. That's why you need to leverage deals and cut costs wherever possible. Fortunately, Firstbase offers a lot of deals and perks that can help you save a lot of money.

It is also risky to hire employees at this point, since you can't be sure if the person is the right fit for your team. That's why I advise entrepreneurs to hire contractors instead of employees. You don't have to commit to hiring someone upfront, and you can always opt for contract-to-hire if things work out.

Finally, tie your budget to a measurable outcome. That way, you’ll know what you are getting out of every dollar spent.

Anything else you’d like to share?

If you are looking to build and scale your product, without taking a lot of risk or spending too much money, then I highly recommend checking us out.

We have a network of engineers who have previously worked at great companies like Virtually (YC S20), Osmind (YC S20), Replo (YC S21), and many more. You can hire them without any upfront commitment, and we offer a two-week trial so that you can work with new engineers risk-free.

We are also a proud Firstbase partner – check us out in the reward section in your Firstbase dashboard.

Good luck with your journey!