Culture beats code: Matt Schwinden's web3 talent playbook

Meet Matt Schwinden

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Matt Schwinden helped develop full-cycle recruiting engines at Facebook Seattle (from 600 to thousands), helped scaled Web2 startups through IPO, and while at Facebook dove into crypto in 2017. At The Graph, he designed web3 recruiting practices like: ecosystem-based hiring, GitHub-first sourcing, ambassador-powered amplification, and two-tier culture screening. Now at Trojan Trading, he's building lean talent systems for a 30-person team.

His core belief: Web3 recruiting requires scrappy, relationship-first approaches that traditional tech recruiting can't touch.

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Key Takeaways

Culture fit is a deal-breaker, not a nice-to-have

Most companies treat culture as secondary to skills. Schwinden flipped that script. At Edge & Node, candidates went through two dedicated culture interviews before even meeting executives. At The Graph Foundation and across other core dev teams, culture fit was woven into every step of the process: covering belief in decentralization, alignment with Web3 values, and team/company fit.

"The biggest lesson is that skills without values alignment doesn't work. When team members don't believe in the mission, like building web3 without believing in web3, it creates tension that affects the whole team."

His two-tier culture assessment:

• Team culture interview: Work style, remote experience, ownership mentality
• Ecosystem culture interview: Open-ended philosophical questions like "A government says we don't believe in open data - what do you do?"
• Non-negotiables vary by role: A UI/UX designer has different influence on core values than a protocol engineer
• Screen for builders, not pitchers: Value founders and builders who "code and build just because they love it" over those great at selling pitch decks

The Graph treated decentralization as non-negotiable. It wasn’t dogmatic, but the ecosystem held firm to Web3 values. New hires quickly learned that suggesting centralized shortcuts, even for speed, often signaled a deeper misalignment.

Traditional web2 sourcing is dead in crypto

Schwinden's team spent months targeting big tech candidates the "old school Web2 way" with almost zero success. The shift required completely rethinking where crypto talent actually lives.

What actually works:

• GitHub archaeology: Find open-source contributors, then cross-reference with hackathon participation and crypto project contributions.
• Event presence mapping: Track attendance at ETH Global, Solana Breakpoint—see who's genuinely engaged
• Ambassador amplification: The Graph's ambassador network amplified job posts across Discord/Telegram, creating a “huge influx” of applicants and interested candidates.
• Back-channel networks: One A+ candidate every 1–2 weeks through trusted referrals beat thousands of cold applications
• Ecosystem partnerships: Collaborating with foundations and aligned VCs opened trusted channels, surfaced vetted candidates, and offered real-time market insight

"You can't be a lazy recruiter. It's not just: post a job, get candidates, fill role."

The 90-day onboarding is really 90 days of education

Web3 founders typically have zero experience with internal recruiting. They're used to agencies flooding them with candidates in 24-48 hours without understanding the true cost of building the recruiting engine that allows for deeper candidate engagement.

Schwinden's first 90 days at Trojan:

• Week 1-2: Assess what we have and don’t have (no ATS, no CRM, pure referral chaos)
• Month 1: Implement basic tooling while still filling urgent roles
• Month 2-3: Educate on ROI - "Yes, this tool costs $X,000/year, but when we stop paying $40k per hire..."
• Ongoing: Recruiting isn’t a one-and-done function. It’s a continuous cycle of talent pooling, employer branding, and candidate experience—driven by constant analysis, iteration, and improvement.

"Hiring teams don't know what they don't know. They think: agency = candidates. They don't understand you're outsourcing your culture."

Quality over quantity isn't advice – it's survival

In Web3, the funnel looks very different. Bulk inbound applications rarely yield results. What matters most are trusted networks and consistent referral flow. One strong candidate a week through back-channels is far more valuable than thousands of weaker leads.

The math of Web3 recruiting:

• Inbound applications: “Very, very low” success rate
• Hackathon attendees: Two camps—junior builders or serial founders (neither ideal for hiring)
• Back-channel referrals: Steady stream of A+ candidates, about one every 1–2 weeks
• Traditional sourcing: At The Graph, near-zero success targeting Web2 big tech. Today at Trojan, focus has shifted to big tech talent with 1–2+ years of Web3 experience. Still, recruiting directly from FAANG remains difficult since many haven’t yet “taken the leap” into Web3.

“Quality over quantity a thousand percent of the time.”

Hackathons produce builders and founders - not employees

Early at The Graph, the team hit hackathons hard for talent. The pattern quickly emerged: you get passionate juniors or serial entrepreneurs, but rarely the experienced builders you actually need.

The hackathon reality:

• Camp 1: Junior developers seeking medals and experience (great for ecosystem, not ready to hire)
• Camp 2: Serial founders and experienced builders—often experimenting with new tech or spinning up MVPs to pitch into accelerators. Occasionally, they’d flip the script and try recruiting you to their project.
• Missing middle: The experienced, hireable builders have already been approached by "five or six different projects"
• Better approach: Track hackathon participants over time, engage when they're ready to join vs. build

"There's not that middle ground... the diamond in the rough unfound candidate."

Build networks before you need them

The best Web3 candidates often lack updated LinkedIns or public resumes. They move through trusted networks as "known entities." This makes traditional recruiting infrastructure nearly useless.

Schwinden's network-first approach:

• Ecosystem recruiting networks: In the Solana ecosystem, recruiters are tightly connected—regularly sharing ideas, asking for help on open roles, and trading candidate leads. The Solana Foundation recruiting team has also been consistently responsive and supportive.
• Two-way trust building: Share your rejected-but-good candidates with other recruiters
• Community >>> competition: "I love the Solana community... everybody is so friendly, so passionate"
• Long-term cultivation: Set 2-3 month follow-ups with perfect-but-not-ready candidates

"Your network is everything... earn that two-way trust where you can share candidates."

Metrics that matter

Sourcing effectiveness

• Traditional Web2 sourcing: "Almost no success"
• Inbound application rate: Very low conversion (focus on quality not quantity)
• Back-channel success rate: ~1 A+ candidate per 1-2 weeks
• Ambassador and community amplification: Created "huge influx" in applications when activated

Culture screening

• Assess deliberately: Don’t just test for skills—ensure interviews reflect the culture you want and need
• Look beyond resumes: Pay attention to how candidates show up in open-source, communities, and ecosystem spaces
• Follow through: Revisit culture fit during onboarding and early months to confirm alignment holds

Talent leader effectiveness

• Core tools early: Don’t wait—set up candidate tracking, job tracking, and basic recruiting organization from the start. The faster the ATS/CRM is in place, the quicker the team sees value.
• Cost per hire reduction: Track movement from 20% agency fees to internal costs
• Pipeline building: Number of candidates in long-term nurture (2-3 month follow-ups)

Key takeaways

✅ Screen for culture and passion, not just skills. In Web3, technical gaps can be learned, but cultural misalignment is far harder to fix. Prioritize mission-aligned candidates—then layer in team fit and ecosystem values through dedicated culture interviews.

✅ Ditch copy-paste Web2 playbooks. Targeting big tech alone won’t cut it. In Web3, effective sourcing starts with GitHub contributors, hackathon builders, and event participation—because the best builders are already building.

✅ Invest in networks or fail. Join Telegram groups, build two-way referral relationships, share rejected-but-good candidates. One warm intro beats 1,000 cold applications.

✅ Your first 90 days are scrappy education. Balance quick wins with teaching. Show founders the cost of agencies, the value of talent pooling, and why culture screening matters—while building process inside the system you’ve inherited.

✅ Think like a community organizer, not a recruiter. The old transactional model is dead. Success means building relationships before you need them and turning rejected candidates into ecosystem participants.

Pro tips

💡 Most talent leaders fail at Web3 because they're still in Web2 mode. If you're posting jobs and waiting for applications, you've already lost. Get into GitHub, get into Discord, get into the community.

💡 Ex-founders make great hires if they're builders, not just pitchers. Look for technical founders whose projects failed for business reasons, not engineers who are just good at fundraising.

💡 The Solana ecosystem has exceptional recruiter collaboration. The Telegram channels and peer support are "phenomenal" - tap into established networks rather than building from scratch.

💡 In crypto, "one year equals seven dog years." What worked six months ago is already outdated. Stay nimble, keep experimenting, and maintain beginner's mind about sourcing channels.

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