How to Spot Exceptional Talent Before Everyone Else
a16z · 2026-09-25 · 50 min
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ywZlfznTa4Video summary
a16z’s Cosign turns mentors, trusted colleagues, and early talent bets into durable professional reputation signals.
a16z’s Erik Torenberg, Josh Elman, Olivia Moore, and David Booth introduce Cosign, a professional reputation product designed to make trusted recommendations easier to find and act on. Rather than treating a Stanford degree or a generic LinkedIn connection as the strongest credential, Cosign highlights who shaped someone’s career, whom they would work with again, and whom they believe is worth watching. The panel describes private signals for hiring, funding, and introductions alongside public endorsements tied to profiles, company announcements, and specific questions. Olivia recalls running a startup jobs newsletter for six and a half to seven years; a past “person to watch” list included Russell Kaplan, then a 22-year-old Tesla engineer who is now Cognition’s president. The speakers argue that AI will increase the flood of applicants, making human conviction more valuable, and that granular endorsements can help talented people beyond founders get recognized. They invite the community to build Cosign together and say early public belief can pay off over the long term.
Chapters
- 0:00What Cosign Is & Why It Exists: Peer Endorsements, Three Profile Signals, and Russell Kaplan
- 7:24The Three Signals: A Startup Jobs Newsletter and Paky McCormack’s 37 Company Picks
- 10:27Building the Anti-LinkedIn: Granular Hiring Signals, Mutual Introductions, and Talent Discovery
- 16:36Why Reputation Should Be Granular, Not Generic: Private Lists, Durable Endorsements, and Positive Recognition
- 22:52The Feed: RISE Awards and Cosign’s Signal for Overlooked Operators
- 28:41The Meme Dynamic: X’s Missing Intent Signals and LinkedIn’s Trusted-Graph Origins
- 31:56The Meme Dynamic: Social Resumes, Granular Ties, and 2,000 Applicants
- 36:50Existing Platforms: LinkedIn’s Switching Costs, GitHub’s Niche, and AI-Built Cosign Profiles
- 44:03Silicon Valley’s Meritocracy: Early Cosigns Helped Sam Altman and Eric Rise
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