[krschultz]

Great story, and I love the author's initiative.

The author overlooked the first major factor in their success - finding the startup they wanted to work at! I actually think the more specific you get in your job search the more successful you will be. People often think that by being 'flexible' in what they want to do they are increasing the number of companies they can work for. That is true, but you aren't trying to work for a bunch of companies, you are trying to work for one. By being that general you will never find the place where you specifically are the best candidate.

To be concrete, I'd rather find the 5 companies that are really aligned with my skillset and target them very specifically than apply to 50 random companies looking for someone kinda sorta like me.