Three founding roles, hundreds of applicants each
How Chad Wittman used SHOWCASE to screen candidates across ELDRICK, applyapply, and JUICE, and why only about 15% of candidates went on to the final round.
Chad founded SHOWCASE and owns ELDRICK, applyapply, and JUICE. This is his account of hiring at those companies.
The roles
- A founding growth lead at ELDRICK
- A founding engineer at applyapply
- A content and social marketer
Each posting drew hundreds of applicants. All three teams lean heavily on AI, so how someone works with it mattered as much as their resume.
The old process
- A 15-minute phone call.
- An hour-long technical call.
- A conversation about fit and culture.
Stage 2 was the expensive one: an hour per candidate adds up fast with hundreds of applicants, and there was still no way to see how someone actually worked with AI. A resume that says “AI‑native” doesn’t show whether they check what the AI tells them.
What changed
Stage 2 now included a 20-minute SHOWCASE test. Each candidate did a realistic task for the role with Claude, and the report showed how they set it up, what they handed off, whether they checked its work, and whether the answer was really theirs. That gave both the candidate and Chad something concrete to talk through, instead of a conversation about how they’d hypothetically use AI.
“When you post a job you get thousands of applicants. This was a real way of testing them in a way that’s reliable, hands-off, and affordable. In stage 2, the 20-minute test supercharged the conversation for both the candidate and me.”Chad Wittman, founder
The result
About 15% of candidates passed stage 2. The final round went only to people who work with AI the way these teams do: giving it the full context, checking what it says, and owning the result.
All three searches are still under way. For screening, Chad calls it tremendous: the time that used to go to hour-long calls now goes to the candidates worth meeting.
Try it on your own role
Pick a test for the role or have us write one, send candidates one link, and read the reports. $5 a test.