Etherealize Case Study - Founding Team Built

How TechChain Talent built the founding technical team of Etherealize, the company rewiring Wall Street with Ethereum, backed by Paradigm and Electric Capital.

Back to Insights

Etherealize x TechChain Talent

Five hires. Zero compromise. Founding team built. How we built the founding technical team of Etherealize, the company rewiring Wall Street with Ethereum, backed by Paradigm and Electric Capital, introducing a candidate the same day a role opened.

Download PDF

01 / The Brief

Five roles. One founding team. No room for compromise.

The five roles we filled were not incremental. They were the seats that would define the company's technical credibility, security posture, product quality, and AI capability.

02 / The Approach

Multi-touch sourcing. Every channel. No stone unturned.

We do not post and hope. Every candidate in this engagement was found through active multi-touch sourcing across the channels where real crypto talent actually lives. The best engineers, ZK researchers, and security professionals are not on job boards. They are in private communities, working groups, and referral networks built over years.

03 / Spotlight - Founding Engineer

Four candidates in three days. Two hires in two weeks.

For a founding engineer role at a company backed by Paradigm, building institutional Ethereum infrastructure, there is no margin for error. Speed matters. Quality matters more.

We introduced four candidates within three days of being instructed. Three were offered positions. Two were hired within two weeks. This is the result of existing relationships, not reactive searching. The right people were already in our network because we had built those relationships before the brief arrived.

04 / Spotlight - ZK Engineer

Eighty sourced. Two introduced. One hired.

Zero-knowledge proof expertise at the depth Etherealize required is genuinely rare. The talent pool is small, mostly not actively looking, and almost entirely outside any job board you can buy access to.

We sourced 80 candidates. We screened 20 in depth. We introduced 2. One was hired. This is what we mean when we say we do not throw CVs at the wall and see what sticks. We are harsher in our screening than our clients need to be, so they do not have to be.

05 / Spotlight - Product Designer

Competing counter-offer. Chose Etherealize anyway.

The right candidate had another offer on the table. We worked closely with the Etherealize leadership team to deliver an exceptional candidate experience from first contact to final decision. Speed mattered. Communication mattered.

The candidate accepted because of how the process felt: responsive, clear, and human. Not despite having another option on the table. The counter-offer was real. The candidate chose Etherealize because of the experience, not in spite of the competition.

"TechChain was great to work with when I was considering a new role. They delivered a position that I was excited to pursue and kept me updated each step of the way. I appreciate their coordination, partnership, and proactive approach, which helps both the candidate and the company who is hiring. TechChain is a top-notch firm from my experience."

Placed Candidate

06 / Spotlight - CISO

Three candidates. Two finalists. One hire.

A CISO with genuine crypto-native security expertise is one of the rarest profiles in the market. We introduced three candidates, all qualified, all credible. Two went to final stages. One was hired. The quality of the shortlist is what makes the difference here. Not volume.

07 / Spotlight - AI Engineer

Four months of relationship building. Introduced the same day.

We introduced a full-stack engineer four months before this role existed. He made it to final stages for a different role, performed exceptionally, and was culturally perfect. TechChain and Etherealize kept him warm, communicated with transparency at every stage, and made him feel like a person rather than a number in a process.

The candidate kept an eye on upcoming roles because he was so impressed with the people and the technology. When the AI Engineer role opened, it overlapped directly with his passion for AI integration and building developer environments of excellence. He was introduced the same day the role opened. He was hired. This is what a long-term talent relationship looks like in practice.

08 / Results

Five placements. Five still in seat.

09 / In Their Words

What the founding team said.

"TechChain has been a true partner in scaling Etherealize's early team. They've delivered on some of the most important seats to nail: founding engineers, zero-knowledge specialist, product designer, and CISO. They understand the high bar our team expects. We appreciate the hustle and the caliber of people they've brought our way."

Zach Obront, Co-Founder, Etherealize

"We hired 3 excellent engineers, 2 local through a competitive process with multiple recruiters. TechChain absolutely crushed it, leading to 2 of our 3 hires. One candidate was so strong he's likely to be our next technical hire. Highly recommend."

Brittney, Head of Operations, Etherealize

10 / Reflections

Two things, over and over.

i. Candidate experience is a competitive advantage.

The candidates Etherealize needed had options. They chose Etherealize because of how the process felt: fast, honest, and human. That is not a soft metric. It is the reason the counter-offer lost.

ii. This talent market rewards depth, not reach.

The ZK researchers, security leads, and AI engineers at the frontier of onchain infrastructure are not on job boards. They are in private channels. You find them through relationships, not postings.

If you are hiring, let's talk.

Bawar and Julian, our cofounders, take these conversations directly.

Etherealize Case Study - Founding team built, zero compromise

How TechChain Talent built the founding technical team of Etherealize, the company rewiring Wall Street with Ethereum, backed by Paradigm and Electric Capital.

Etherealize x TechChain Talent Case Study

TechChain Talent

noopener noreferrer

Etherealize case study cover

Offer Acceptance

Still In Seat

Raised · Paradigm

GitHub X-Ray

Mining repositories, commit histories, and contributor profiles to find engineers who actually ship.

Telegram Groups

Active in the private communities where the best ZK researchers and protocol engineers spend their time.

Slack & Discord

Protocol-specific channels and ecosystem working groups where the real conversations happen.

X & Juicebox

Identifying builders who share their work and contribute to open source in the communities that matter.

TechChain was great to work with when I was considering a new role. They delivered a position that I was excited to pursue and kept me updated each step of the way. I appreciate their coordination, partnership, and proactive approach, which helps both the candidate and the company who is hiring. TechChain is a top-notch firm from my experience.

Founding Engineer

4 introduced, 3 offered, 2 hired within 2 weeks

80 sourced, 20 screened, 2 introduced, 1 hired

Product Designer

Competing counter-offer. Accepted on speed and candidate experience

3 candidates, 2 finalists, 1 hired

4 months relationship building, introduced day role opened

TechChain has been a true partner in scaling Etherealize's early team. They've delivered on some of the most important seats to nail: founding engineers, zero-knowledge specialist, product designer, and CISO. They understand the high bar our team expects. We appreciate the hustle and the caliber of people they've brought our way.

We hired 3 excellent engineers, 2 local through a competitive process with multiple recruiters. TechChain absolutely crushed it, leading to 2 of our 3 hires. One candidate was so strong he's likely to be our next technical hire. Highly recommend.

setMenuOpen(false); return (

Building the decentralized future, one placement at a time.

For Candidates

For Employers

Our Services

M19.59 6.69a4.83 4.83 0 0 1-3.77-4.25V2h-3.45v13.67a2.89 2.89 0 0 1-2.88 2.5 2.89 2.89 0 0 1-2.89-2.89 2.89 2.89 0 0 1 2.89-2.89c.28 0 .54.04.79.1v-3.5a6.37 6.37 0 0 0-.79-.05A6.34 6.34 0 0 0 3.15 15a6.34 6.34 0 0 0 6.34 6.34 6.34 6.34 0 0 0 6.34-6.34V8.71a8.19 8.19 0 0 0 4.76 1.52v-3.4a4.85 4.85 0 0 1-1-.14z

Live crypto roles

View all open crypto roles

Hire blockchain engineers

Vetted crypto engineering talent across every major ecosystem.

Retained executive search

Dedicated search for senior and leadership crypto hires.

Browse open crypto roles

Live roles from teams hiring right now.

More insights

Newsletters, reports and case studies on crypto hiring.