Article · Long read

The Best Hires Are Right Under Your Nose: Mine Your Network for Early-Stage Hiring Gold

Peter Kazanjy · First Round Review Free Intermediate

This is the most direct support for the network-first approach: a concrete system for surfacing the strong people already one or two connections away from you. It turns vague advice to use your network into an actual repeatable process you can run. Read it if job portals are giving you volume but not the right people.

• The best early hires are often already loosely connected to you or your team
• Build a deliberate system to mine those connections instead of hoping they surface
• Warm intros give you signal and credibility that cold applications cannot