Candor closed two senior engineering candidates for Park following their Seed round.

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ABOUT

Park is a remote-first team that creates software for campgrounds across the United States and Canada — ranging from RV sites to cabins and kayaks. When they started working with Candor, they were a small team of 3: two founders and one engineer.

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CHALLENGE

After closing their Seed round, Parkʼs #1 priority was to start hiring.

Like many startups after fundraising, Park needed to scale - fast.

Although the team was no stranger to hiring talent, and had collaborated with contractors in the past, sourcing and vetting full-time team members was different. It took tremendous energy - something in short supply for a small founding team already stretched thin.

“I was so busy after our fundraise. I had a huge backlog of engineering stuff AND hiring on top of that. I was overwhelmed with the sheer number of tasks in my todos."

Park needed to find exceptional frontend and full-stack engineers at startup-friendly rates. And with co-founder John Donner already working remotely from Lisbon, hiring from there felt like the next logical step.

The catch? Park's usual hiring playbook - tapping into campground networks for sales folks and calling friends for referrals to engineers - wasn’t working to find the talent they wanted on the timeline they needed.

That's when John and his co-founder Rylan turned to Candor.

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SOLUTION

How Candor found “startup work ethic” talent for Park.

With Candor, the Park team felt like they were working with friends.

“They had the same vigor, enthusiasm and energy that we have about building a product — except they were doing it with hiring.”

John Donner, Co-founder of Park

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We sat down with John to understand what they valued most - both in terms of technical skills and cultural fit - then took over the hiring process from there. Here's how it played out:

• Day 1: we began outreach to top engineering talent in Lisbon
• Day 3: we vetted shortlisted candidates using targeted questions that mapped to Park’s requirements for competency, value alignment, and tactical alignment
• Day 4: we introduced standout candidates for technical assessments
• Day 16: Park made an offer (which was accepted!) to their top candidate
• Day 24: Park’s new fullstack engineering hire started working

The entire process — from when we started our search to Park’s engineer starting his first day — took just four weeks.

“It just made a lot of sense for us to work with Candor. They were checking all the right boxes: asking us all the right questions, bringing in a good culture fit that aligns with “startup work ethic” at a fraction of what we would pay in the United States, and also facilitating our initial connection.”

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RESULTS

Candor closed two engineering candidates for Park.

Candor helped Park close two senior engineers - one fullstack engineer and one frontend engineer. Rylan and John are pumped about their newest team additions. When talking about one of their new hires, John said:

“He’s all about product, engineering, growth, hacking stuff and building beautiful experiences. He’s already built a prototype of a 3D booking experience for us before his first day! It was sick. We’re all so excited.”

What stood out the most was how quickly Candor was able to find a hires that fit Park’s precise culture requirements. As a startup ourselves, we know finding the right teammate isn't  about ticking boxes on a resume - it's about finding someone who fits the team culturally and tactically, too.

“Working with Kelsey and Candor made our hiring process easy and took the most time intensive stuff about recruiting off my plate. We ended up offering a senior full stack engineer two weeks after I drafted the JD. It moved way faster than it would have if I was owning the process and Iʼm super stoked about the hires we made.ˮ

John Donner, Co-founder of Park

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Park’s new hires are incredibly happy in their new roles.

Gonçalo Raposeiro, one of Park’s new hires, said:

Working with Park has been an amazing experience so far. The team is incredibly goal-driven, and it’s inspiring to be surrounded by such focused and motivated individuals.

As for working with you and Candor, I can confidently say it’s been a very positive experience. Your direct guidance throughout the interview process, along with your proactive replies and follow-ups, ensured I never felt left in limbo, something I’ve often experienced with other recruiting companies. The part I enjoyed the most was the fast-paced recruiting process. I was in four other recruiting processes, finishing three of them and declining the offers, because Park was the one that made me feel the most wanted with this approach. It was clear how intentional and engaged the team was throughout the process, and that left a lasting impression on me.

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Hire the best startup talent with Candor 👉 Learn more at joincandor.com.