[shanedanger]

you know what's similarly painful in nyc? apartment hunting. they eased that pain with brokers, and now at least you can find a place, even though it costs you a bit more.

someone needs to become a "broker" for engineers. find startups the talent they're looking for in exchange for x% of that talent's salary/equity/whatever.

[joubert]

I found my apt 5 years ago by simply walking into the (on-site) leasing offices of a few high rises downtown. After seeing 4 apts I had found my home, and have been in it since. No broker fees.

[tibbon]

Apartment finding, moving, etc (practically anything) in NYC can be easy provided you've got the money to make it happen. It can be the hardest, or easiest city in the world to live in.

Yet if you've got no more than $1200/month to spend on rent- good luck with that.

[MediaSquirrel]

Hmm. But would these folks really have the right incentives to find people good talent versus "a body"

[pw0ncakes]

New York apartment brokers are a frivolous class of overpaid, lazy parasites who collect 12-17 percent of a year's rent for doing virtually nothing. They also handle the nasty work of ethnic screening (which is, yes, still present in the real estate industry), if you've ever heard of a "code 22" building.

Brokers for engineers (and bankers, traders) exist on the business model you described. They're called headhunters. They won't work for equity.

[tibbon]

Headhunters generally don't work for equity you're correct. That doesn't mean that there isn't some market for it though.

The real downside on that is that (as someone who has been one) headhunters have a hard enough time as-is getting their fee occasionally from clients. If working WITH headhunters seems to be a pain in the ass, try being one and keeping the client and prospect in-line with a model that you can actually get paid on is rather difficult.