Start where the rounds are
Open the market page and look at the treemap. AI, data & digital infrastructure is shaded green: 18 rounds in the last 28 days against 8 in the 28 before, clear of noise at 90%. You’ve designed developer tools, so this is a sector where your experience counts.
Click into it. The rounds table lists every raise of $1.0M or more, newest first, one row per company, each with its open roles and a hiring tag.
Look past the biggest round
Most people click the biggest round. You scroll for something else: a company you haven’t heard of, a round small enough that the team is still being built, and a hiring tag.
It’s Friday, Sep 25. Company B fits. It filed on Thursday, Sep 24, in Austin, TX, selling $4.0M of $5.0M offered. Its tag says Hiring actively, 3 roles.
Open its company page. Under the funding event, First-ever Form D reads Yes: the company’s EDGAR filing history holds no earlier Form D, so this is its first raise on record. Investors reads “No investors named: Form D does not list them”, and no press release is linked.
Read the page in thirty seconds
A small company on its first raise, with its officers named on the filing, is a good case for a direct note. At this size there may be no recruiter between you and the person who decides.
Why write to one person
You could apply through the careers page, and you should. But a short note to one of the officers does something the form can’t: it shows you read what they filed, not just what they posted.
You find the address yourself, on the company’s site. Then you write something like this, from your own inbox:
Rhea, congrats on the first round. I saw Company B is hiring a product designer. I’ve spent six years designing tools for developers, most recently a deploy dashboard used by 40 teams. If design is on your list for the next few months, I’d be glad to show you a couple of things I’ve shipped. Either way, good luck with the build.
One specific detail, one congratulation, one easy ask. One note to one person, written for this company, not a template sent to many.
When the tag says Quiet
Some first-time raisers show Quiet: no open roles found on a careers page we could read, or no careers page found. That isn’t a no. The roles may not be posted yet, or not on a page we can read. Save the company and look again in a week or two.
Role discovery, when it’s ready
Looking for a role? Role discovery opens when there are enough postings to be honest about it. Join the waitlist.