Flint product engineer case study summary
Flint, a YC-backed healthcare startup that places internationally-trained nurses in US hospitals, needed a product engineer – someone who owns product decisions, not just executes tickets. Helio Bentes, Flint’s Head of Engineering, had exhausted his network, and two recruiters on the brief still left him doing the real screening himself: 16–20 interviews per hire, with the first ten minutes of every call spent explaining what Flint does.
lemonly evaluated 29,590 engineers, pre-qualified 764, interviewed 47, and introduced 15. When Helio realised his best engineers all built things outside work, he updated the brief in the lemonly platform and the candidate profiles adjusted immediately. 80–90% of introductions met the technical bar out of the box, and every candidate arrived already briefed on Flint. Flint was hiring for one role – the candidates were strong enough that they hired two, after just 10 calls in total.
Helio Bentes, Head of Engineering at Flint: “To be honest, I don’t see going anywhere else. It’s just so much easier – by the time candidates come to us, they’re already the best ones.”
Kenton Jarvie, CEO of Flint: “Previous recruiters cost us more than $30,000 to place a great engineer. lemonly cost us half that for 2 of them – and they find better candidates.”
Case Study
Engineers so good
they had to hire 2.
Flint · YC-backed healthcare staffing startup
×
$8,000
cost per hire
7
weeks to find 2 winners
lemonly helps companies like Flint find the talent they’re looking for.
The full market
lemonly’s AI considers thousands of candidates – a typical recruiter hand-searches 60 to 100.
Humans in the loop
lemonly’s recruiters interview the best candidates before you meet anyone.
One flat fee
Never a percentage of salary.
The Problem
Any engineer can code. Flint needed ones who create great product.
Flint is a YC-backed startup placing internationally-trained nurses in US hospitals. Its small engineering team owns product decisions end-to-end – so Helio Bentes, Head of Engineering, wasn’t just hiring for technical skills, he needed product engineers with exceptional product skills too.
His network was tapped out. Two recruiters were on the brief, but Helio was still doing the real screening himself – reading resumes, sitting through shallow pre-screens, re-explaining Flint on every call. Then he put lemonly to work.
“Before, I’d review the resume, get on the call – and see they weren’t what we wanted. Sixteen, twenty calls per hire. I had to do the entire screening job myself.”
Helio Bentes · Head of Engineering, Flint
The Approach
Helio rewrote the brief. The candidates changed overnight.
Mid-search, Helio spotted what his best engineers had in common – they all built things outside work. He updated the brief in the lemonly platform, and the very next candidates matched it completely. Every one arrived pre-briefed on Flint and already sold on the mission.
80–90%
of candidates met the technical bar
10
screening calls for 2 hires
“The difference is that lemonly actually did the work for me. Every candidate was worth chatting with – and they already knew everything about Flint.”
Helio Bentes · Head of Engineering, Flint
The Screen
lemonly screened for one thing: proof they build.
Lena S.
Product Engineer
Matches the brief
- 6 years building products
- Ships full-stack product end-to-end
- AI-native development workflow
- Builds things outside of work
Lena's bonuses
- Runs a profitable side-app with real users
- Led a 0-to-1 launch at a seed startup
PE-001
lemonly
The Search
Howlemonlyfoundthebuilders.
29,590
Engineers evaluated
10
Client calls, total
2
Hires from one brief
The Result
Briefed on one. Flint hired two.
The shortlist was strong enough that Flint hired both rather than lose one. Mid-search, Helio sidelined the other recruiters entirely – and Flint now has a proven engineer profile to rerun for every future hire.
“Previous recruiters cost us more than $30,000 to place a great engineer. lemonly cost us half that for 2 of them – and they find better candidates.”
Kenton Jarvie · CEO, Flint
“To be honest, I don’t see going anywhere else. It’s just so much easier – by the time candidates come to us, they’re already the best ones.”
Helio Bentes · Head of Engineering, Flint
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