The 3-day brief → shortlist playbook for founders

A step-by-step guide founders can hand to their head of talent — what to write in the brief, which levers to pull, how to read the shortlist.

Most founder briefs are job descriptions in disguise. That's fine for a career page and disastrous as an input to AI sourcing. Here's what to write instead, and how to read what comes back.

The brief: three sections, one page, no more

The problem they'll solve in month one

Not the team, not the mission, not the stack. One concrete, shippable problem. If you can't name it, you're not ready to hire yet.

Non-obvious disqualifiers

"Has only worked at companies over 1,000 people" is a real filter for most early-stage roles. Say it out loud so the AI can use it.

The success tell

What does this person look like six months in? One sentence. This becomes the scoring lens for the shortlist.

A one-page brief written on Monday beats a five-page JD refined for two weeks. Calendar always wins.

How to read the shortlist

Read the outliers first. Whoever the AI flagged as the highest match — and whoever it flagged as the strangest match. Both teach you whether your brief communicated what you meant. If both groups look off, rewrite the brief; don't re-run the sourcing.

The founder move:: Do the first shortlist review yourself, even if you never plan to do another. What you learn about your own hiring taste in that hour is worth a year of hiring-committee meetings.