IIRC TripleByte was supposed to be that org - I thought I remember some of their framing being that they'd be like a Hollywood talent agency for developers. Th

IIRC TripleByte was supposed to be that org - I thought I remember some of their framing being that they'd be like a Hollywood talent agency for developers. The big problem with the model is again misunderstanding your competition and how the industry actually works. The market for skilled developers already functions largely like this. The "talent agents" are engineering managers, both on the sell-side (through references, and bringing over good engineers they've worked with when they join a new company) and on the buy-side (through identifying and recruiting good talent that may not be trying hard to sell themselves). This is a core EM skill - many teams will live or die by how well their managers can identify actually-talented devs, even ones who may not be slick or polished, and bring them onto the team. It's also the EM's responsibility to understand the recruitment process at their company well enough to shepherd candidates who won't look impressive to recruiters through it.