Proto for Recruiters
James · Jul 2026
Proto is changing theway we hire talent.
We intend to register as a Delaware C-corporationand are actively raising a pre-seed round.
By James & Matthew LisondraJune 28, 2026
Companies still hire from résumés, phone screens, and panel interviews that rarely predict who can actually do the work. Recruiters spend weeks chasing candidates through stages that measure polish, not execution, while strong builders get filtered out before anyone sees what they shipped.
- Recruiters spend roughly two-thirds of their week on screening, scheduling, and inbox triage instead of evaluating real work.
- The average cost of a bad mid-level hire exceeds $50,000 once onboarding, ramp time, and team disruption are counted.
- Most hiring managers say traditional interviews fail to predict on-the-job performance for technical and product roles.
Work sample review
1 partScreening & admin
3 partsUnited States18 hrs/wk
Canada16 hrs/wk
Approximate share of recruiter time spent on administrative screening versus reviewing candidate work samples. Survey averages for in-house recruiters, non-evaluation hours per week.
Sources: LinkedIn Global Talent Trends; Greenhouse Recruiting Benchmarks; Proto market model, 2026.
Proof of work,not proof of talk.
Proto is a hiring platform where candidates complete real tasks inside a sandbox that mirrors your product, stack, and standards. Every action is tracked, scored, and replayed so recruiters compare applicants on evidence, not interview performance.
Most tools optimize the top of the funnel. Proto evaluates how people actually build: sandbox tasks, head-to-head scorecards, prototype validation with user feedback, and mobile-ready shortlists the moment work lands.
We are building for fast-growing companies hiring across product, engineering, ops, and design, starting in the United States and Canada where teams are competing for scarce talent and need signal beyond the résumé.
Companies post roles or open challenges. Applicants work inside Proto's sandbox while the platform captures replays, rubric scores, and comparison rankings. Recruiters review on desktop or phone, validate prototypes against real users, and move on strong talent before the interview loop decides.
$28B$21B$14B$7.0B0
U.S. recruiting softwareU.S. enterprise TACanada hiring softwareSkills assessmentNorth America TAGlobal hiring platform
$28B
Total Addressable Market
Global hiring & assessment software
Estimated annual software spend for Proto across recruiting, talent acquisition, and skills-assessment segments in Canada and the United States.
Sources: Grand View Research; IBISWorld; Gartner HR tech spend; Proto market model, 2026.
Resume screening62 %
Candidate sourcing55 %
Interview scheduling48 %
Offer & onboarding34 %
Work sample evaluation19 %
Prototype validation11 %
Share of in-house recruiting teams in Canada and the United States using AI for each hiring workflow, blended from talent-acquisition surveys and HR tech deployment data.
Sources: LinkedIn Future of Recruiting; Greenhouse AI in Hiring Report; SHRM Talent Acquisition Benchmarks; Proto market model, 2026.
Two brothers.two fields
Brothers James and Matthew Lisondra co-founded Proto to replace résumé theater with evidence from how people actually build.
James holds an MD from the University of Ottawa with experience bridging clinical operations and product judgment. Matthew holds a PhD from the University of Toronto with backgrounds in physics, robotics, AI, and computer science.
“The hire should be obvious before anyone schedules a panel..