Video interview software for startups, where the founder is still the recruiter
Video interview software for startups replaces the founder's intro calls. A posting goes out, a few hundred people apply, and instead of thirty half-hour calls the founder reads a ranked list of recorded answers, each transcribed and scored against criteria the team wrote. VoxScreen offers that on a permanent free plan covering 50 candidates a month, with no card, no per-seat fee and no sales call, so it can be running the same afternoon. It is a screen for communication and judgement. For engineers and designers it sits beside a work sample, never in place of one, and for a senior hire approached directly it is the wrong tool.
Where screening breaks down
At a startup the first round is done by someone whose time is the company's scarcest resource. A founder or an engineering lead posts a role, gets three hundred applications because the posting was shared widely, and faces a choice between a week of intro calls and skimming résumés in an evening.
Skimming wins, and it selects for the wrong thing. Early hires succeed on how they think and communicate with very little structure around them, and a résumé reports employers and titles. The candidate from a well-known company gets the call. The better one, with an unfamiliar background, doesn't.
Tooling rarely helps at this stage. Most hiring software is sold by demo and annual contract, priced per seat, and built for a recruiting team that doesn't exist yet. A founder hiring a third engineer is not going to sit through a procurement process to do it.
How a round runs
- Describe the role and what good looks like at your stage. VoxScreen drafts questions and a rubric, and you rewrite them until they ask about the things that actually worry you.
- Put the link in the posting, or send it in reply to applications that pass a quick look. Candidates record in a browser with no account.
- Read the ranked transcripts in an evening. Each answer has a score per criterion, and nothing is filtered out, so the unusual background is still on the list for you to notice.
- Share the list with whoever will work with the hire. Seats are free and unlimited, which matters when the whole team is the hiring panel.
- Move the top few to a work sample and a real conversation. The recorded round has done its job once it has told you whom to spend that time on.
What it replaces
The founder's intro calls
Thirty half-hour calls is fifteen hours of a founder's week. Reading thirty transcripts and watching the six that stand out is an evening.
Screening by logo
Hearing every applicant answer the same question is the cheapest way to find the strong candidate whose résumé you would have passed over.
Buying hiring software before you have a recruiter
A free plan with no end date and no seat fee needs no budget conversation and can be dropped between hires at no cost.
What it costs at your volume
Plans differ in one thing: how many new candidates you add in a month. A candidate counts once, the first time their email address is added, and never again. Everything else is the same on every plan.
| Situation | New candidates a month | Plan | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| First support hire, 40 applicants | 40 | Free | $0/mo |
| One engineering role posted publicly | 300 | Starter | $39/mo |
| Post-funding: six roles open at once | 900 | Premium | $149/mo |
The tools you're probably comparing
Startups compare on what it takes to begin: whether there is a free plan or only a trial, the first paid month, and how many teammates can review before the price moves.
| Tool | Free plan, not a trial | Free trial, if there is no free plan | Entry price | Team members included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VoxScreen Our product | Yes, 50 candidates a month | Not needed. The free plan has no end date | $39/mo | Unlimited, on every plan |
| Hireflix | No | 1 month | $75/mo | Unlimited |
| Hirevire | No | 7 days, no card | $49/mo | 1 on Essentials |
| Truffle | No | 7 days / 30 credits, no card | $49/mo | Unlimited |
| Vervoe | Not stated on their site | Not stated on their site | Not stated on their site | Not stated on their site |
- Hireflix. Sources: hireflix.com/pricing , help.hireflix.com · VoxScreen vs Hireflix
- Hirevire. Sources: hirevire.com/pricing · VoxScreen vs Hirevire
- Truffle. Sources: hiretruffle.com/pricing · VoxScreen vs Truffle
- Vervoe. Sources: vervoe.com , vervoe.com/pricing · VoxScreen vs Vervoe
When this is the wrong tool
- You're hiring an engineer, a designer or an analyst and want to see the work. A graded task tells you more than any answer about the work, and Vervoe is built around that. VoxScreen has no assessments. VoxScreen vs Vervoe
- You want candidates to attach a portfolio or files alongside their answers. Hirevire collects file responses. VoxScreen takes video and voice only. VoxScreen vs Hirevire
- You're hiring a senior leader, or anyone you approached yourself. Asking them to record answers to a link sends the wrong signal. Take the call.
- You have twelve applicants. Talk to the six best. The setup pays for itself when the pool is bigger than your calendar.
Interview questions for these roles
Each guide gives the questions in full, with what a strong answer sounds like and a scorecard to rate against. No sign-up.
Product and engineering
Go-to-market
Common questions
Is it really free for an early-stage company?
Yes. The free plan covers 50 candidates a month with no end date and no card, and includes AI scoring, ranking, unlimited open roles, unlimited team members and the API. Paid plans raise the monthly candidate allowance and add nothing else.
Should engineers be screened with a recorded interview?
As a first filter on communication and reasoning, it works: ask how they approached a hard bug or a design trade-off. It doesn't test whether they can build, so pair it with a work sample or a technical interview for the shortlist.
Will strong candidates be put off by a one-way interview?
Some are. It is least welcome for senior and passive candidates, and you shouldn't use it for them. For a public posting with hundreds of applicants, most accept a short, well-explained recorded round, especially when told a person will follow up.
Our team is remote and spread across timezones. Does that matter?
It helps. Nobody schedules anything, candidates record when they like, and each teammate reviews in their own hours. Interviews also return a spoken-language level, which is useful for roles that work in English as a second language.
Can we connect it to the tools we already use?
Through a REST API and signed webhooks, on every plan including the free one. A webhook fires when a candidate is scored, carrying the score and summary, so results can be sent wherever the team discusses candidates.
Do we need an applicant tracking system first?
No. It runs with a link and an inbox. Many small teams add an applicant tracking system later and keep the recorded round in front of it.
Try it on a real role
Set up an interview in five minutes, send one link, and read the ranked results. The free plan takes 50 candidates a month and needs no card.
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