Sending a resume is now an outdated and ineffective way to get noticed by AI startups. The proven strategy is to demonstrate high agency by building a relevant prototype or feature improvement and emailing it directly to the founders. This approach has led to key hires at companies like Suno and Micro One.

Stripe's hiring criteria have evolved. Beyond craft, they now prioritize two key traits: a deep curiosity about AI's impact and "agency"—the proactive drive to build and experiment without being asked. They look for candidates with a "fire under their belly" who will push the company forward.

Getting hired at a premier AI lab like Google DeepMind often bypasses traditional applications. Top researchers actively scout and directly contact individuals who produce work that demonstrates excellent "research taste." The key is to independently identify and pursue fruitful research directions, signaling an innate ability to innovate.

When job applications are flooded with AI-generated resumes, they become meaningless. The way to stand out is to bypass the traditional application process by building a public portfolio of your work and expertise through content creation.

Lovable prioritizes hiring individuals with extreme passion, high agency, and autonomy—people for whom the work is a core part of their identity. This focus on intrinsic motivation, verified through paid work trials, allows them to build a team that can thrive in chaos and drive initiatives from start to finish without supervision.

To build an AI-native team, shift the hiring process from reviewing resumes to evaluating portfolios of work. Ask candidates to demonstrate what they've built with AI, their favorite prompt techniques, and apps they wish they could create. This reveals practical skill over credentialism.

The most promising junior candidates are those who demonstrate self-learning by creating things they weren't asked to do, like a weekend app project. This signal of intrinsic motivation is more valuable than perfectly completed assignments.

When hiring, focus on what a person has created, not their stated attributes or background. A great "invention" (a project, a piece of writing, code) is the strongest signal of a great "inventor." This shifts the focus from potential to proven output, as Charlie Munger advised.

When hiring for Zenly and Amo, the team prioritized a candidate's side projects over their experience at Meta or Apple. Side projects are the strongest signal of curiosity, ambition, and an entrepreneurial mindset—acting as a "Trojan horse" for getting noticed by top companies.