Startup Referrals

Warm Intros Into Startups With No Referral Program

Fast-growing startups like Cursor hire faster than they build referral processes, so the front door is a human, not a portal. The honest path: find one person who shares your school, and give them a reason to forward you in 30 seconds.

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A plain LinkedIn search buries the people who would actually help you.

It ranks by prominence, so the most-followed, most-messaged names sit on top. FindWarmIntros surfaces the coworkers who share your school or a past employer - the people most likely to reply - and hands you a ready-to-send intro.

Example - what you’ll see

Someone who works at your target company

🎓 Same university as you · 💼 Shared past employer

🔥 Strongest

A recruiter at your target company

🎓 Same university as you

🎓 Alumni

✍️ Ready-to-send intro“Hi - we both studied at [your school]. I’d love to hear about your path to a company you are targeting before I apply…”

… plus everyone else in your network who can put in a good word.

See who can refer you in - pick your target company:

Short answer: When a startup has no referral program, you skip the form and reach an employee directly. Find someone who shares your school (same alma mater, even different years), send a short note leading with that shared thing, and attach the exact role plus one line they can paste to a hiring manager. A vouch from an insider beats a cold application because founders trust people they already hired.

Why fast-growing startups have no referral program (and why that helps you)

A company doubling headcount every few months has not built the HR machinery yet. There is no bonus structure, no internal referral portal, no formal process. That feels like a closed door, but it is the opposite.

With no process, the decision to forward your name is personal and instant. One engineer who likes you can Slack the hiring manager directly. You are not waiting on a system, you are asking one human for 30 seconds.

How to find and reach the shared-school employee

Your alma mater is a standing reason for a stranger to help you. It does not require you to have met. Alumni forward alumni because it costs them nothing and feels good.

Search by school, not title. On LinkedIn, filter the company's employees by your university. Same school across different graduation years still works, and a smaller shared program (your major, a lab, a club) is stronger than the school alone.
Lead with the thing you share, not the ask. Open with 'Fellow (school) grad, saw you are on the (team) team' before you mention the role. The shared tie is the reason they read past line one.
Make helping you cost 30 seconds. Name the exact role and its link, and write one sentence they can paste to the hiring manager. Do not ask them to review your resume or 'hop on a call' first.
Ask for the forward, not the job. Request that they pass your name along, which is a low-stakes yes, instead of asking them to advocate for hiring you, which is a commitment they cannot make on day one.

Where FindWarmIntros fits

The slow part is the finding and ranking: scanning a startup's employees, spotting who actually shares your school or a past employer, and figuring out who is worth messaging first. FindWarmIntros does that part for you. You give it the target company and your background, and it surfaces the real people you have a shared path with, ranked, with a drafted intro that leads with what you share.

It is free and it does not send anything for you. You still write the human note and decide who to reach. It just removes the hour of manual searching so you spend your energy on the message that gets forwarded.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if no one at the startup went to my school?

Widen the shared thing. A past employer, a bootcamp, a hometown, or a former colleague who now works there all function as warm ties. The point is a real, specific connection you can name in the first line, not the school specifically.

How many people should I message?

Two or three well-chosen employees, not twenty. Pick the people closest to the team you want and personalize each note. A blast of identical messages reads as spam and gets ignored, while a targeted note from a fellow alum gets forwarded.

Should I still apply through the careers page?

Yes, apply so your name exists in their system, then get the warm intro that pulls your application out of the pile. The intro is what makes a recruiter open your file, the application is just the record it points to.

What do I say when they agree to forward me?

Send them a two-line blurb and the role link so they can paste it straight to the hiring manager. Say who you are, the one thing that makes you a fit, and the exact job. Never make them write it themselves.

Keep going

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