Hiring Intelligence
What companies
like yours posted.
Fourteen questions founders, talent partners and hiring managers ask, each answered from the job postings of the companies we follow. Nine answer today; five arrive as the data does.
Who should I hire first after seed?
The roles seed-stage AI companies posted for this year, as the share of the group that posted each one.
See the answer DashboardWhen do companies like mine hire their first salesperson?
Account executive, sales leader and SDR postings, by company size, for the companies we follow.
See the answer DashboardShould we use a recruiter or hire one in-house?
Which companies posted for an in-house recruiter this year, by group and by size.
See the answer DashboardWhat did my portfolio post for this year?
What each investor portfolio we follow posted for this year, and how many of its companies run a board we read.
See the answer DashboardAre companies like mine posting AI engineering roles?
The share of each group that posted an AI or machine learning engineer role, and how many companies list one today.
See the answer DashboardWhich companies have a leadership search listed?
Leadership roles listed on the public boards we read, by seniority and by group, and how long they had been up.
See the answer DashboardIs the title asking for two jobs?
The titles companies used for six seats this year, and the level of every role listed on the boards we read.
See the answer DashboardHow does my portfolio compare?
Every group we follow side by side, role by role, with how much of each group we have actually looked at.
See the answer DashboardIs this normal at 10 people?
How big seed-stage AI companies are, and what companies of each size posted for this year.
See the answer Hiring benchmarkWhat companies at your stage posted for
The share of companies posting each role, across 4 groups and 329 companies.
See the benchmark Company categorySeed-stage AI companies
What 124 seed-stage AI companies posted for over the past year, role by role.
Read the study Investor portfolioBonfire Ventures portfolio
What 91 companies in the Bonfire Ventures portfolio posted for over the past year, and where the next searches are.
Read the study Investor portfolioVista Equity Partners portfolio
What 88 companies in the Vista Equity Partners portfolio posted for over the past year, and where the next searches are.
Read the study Investor portfolioValor Ventures portfolio
What 26 companies in the Valor Ventures portfolio posted for over the past year, and where the next searches are.
Read the study Growth studyRoles that precede growth
Which roles companies posted before their fastest stretch of growth. Collecting until each role reaches 30 companies.
Read the design Dashboard · arriving 1 November 2026What did Series A companies post that seed companies did not?
Seed and Series A side by side, role by role. Arrives 1 November 2026.
What it will show Dashboard · arriving late January 2027How long will this take?
How long listings at companies like yours stay up, by role. Arrives late January 2027.
What it will show Dashboard · arriving late January 2027What did peers post after a round like mine?
What companies posted in the months after a round like yours. Arrives late January 2027.
What it will show Dashboard · arriving April 2027Which seat first?
Which seats came before companies grew. Arrives April 2027.
What it will show Dashboard · arriving late April 2027What is new in hiring at my stage?
Which role is picking up at your stage this quarter. Arrives late April 2027.
What it will showAsked most
The questions founders and talent partners bring first.
- 01
Who should I hire first after seed?
Of the 124 seed-stage AI companies we follow, 26 posted a software engineer role in the twelve months to October 2026, 21 a demand generation role and 20 an account executive role.
- 02
When do companies like mine hire their first salesperson?
Of the 94 companies at 20 to 49 people we follow, 48 posted a role in the twelve months to October 2026; 27 of those posted an account executive and 9 a sales leader.
- 03
What did my portfolio post for this year?
Of the 91 Bonfire Ventures portfolio companies we follow, 27 posted a software engineer role and 27 an account executive role in the twelve months to October 2026, 30 in 100 each.
Every dashboard and study
Each page states its method, its denominators and when each figure becomes stateable under "Methodology and data", and publishes its data as JSON. A share is a share of companies, given only for 30 companies or more; a posting is not a hire, and a company can appear in more than one group.
Who should I hire first after seed?
When do companies like mine hire their first salesperson?
Should we use a recruiter or hire one in-house?
What did my portfolio post for this year?
Are companies like mine posting AI engineering roles?
Which companies have a leadership search listed?
Is the title asking for two jobs?
How does my portfolio compare?
What did Series A companies post that seed companies did not? (arriving 1 November 2026)
How long will this take? (arriving late January 2027)
What did peers post after a round like mine? (arriving late January 2027)
Which seat first? (arriving April 2027)
What is new in hiring at my stage? (arriving late April 2027)
Next step
The data is the starting point. The right hire is the outcome.
Bring the seat your company or portfolio needs to fill, and we will tell you what companies like yours posted and whether it needs a hire at all.