InformationWeek: The Business Value of Technology

"I already had the commitments for capital, but the investors had told me to go out and find the best talent," Bheemappa says. "He was looking for money, and I was looking for people."

StartupNetwork.com launched the service last month to make executive searches easier for entrepreneurs such as Bheemappa and Christopher. The Founder's Forum, where executive and board-level candidates and jobs are listed, gives members access only after being screened through a StartupNetwork.com interview. Entry-level, technical, and lower-level management jobs are available to anyone on the StartupNetwork. com site.

StartupNetwork.com provides cash or equity incentives to anyone who refers a person to the Founder's Forum if that person is placed in an executive job. The person making the referral gets 15% of StartupNetwork.com's commission, which amounts to $5,000 or 0.15% equity in the hiring company, to be cashed out when it goes public. "It may be literally several years later, and StartupNetwork.com will send them their check," says founder Robin Miller.

StartupNetwork.com isn't the first site to pay for candidate referrals. Career Rewards Inc. was launched in early February with a similar approach, offering average referral bonuses of $2,000 to $3,000.

However, StartupNetwork.com expects to stand out by focusing on the needs unique to its users. Companies that list on the site are asked to reveal whether they have venture-capital funding, who the backers are, and who their partners and customers are. "Asking the things that are relevant is what a niche job site is all about," Miller says. "These are questions you don't ask if you're looking for a job with IBM."