Why build Matcha and how it works
A few years ago I was looking for a new startup to join: tabs open across every job board, filters set, checking back every few days for something new. It technically worked, but it never felt right. I'd scroll past hundreds of postings for the one that mattered, and the filters couldn't ask what I actually cared about. Remote, sure, but remote for who? Backed by investors who could still write the next check in eighteen months, or already running on fumes?
I'd spent over a decade on both sides of this. I joined Roger.ai as a founding engineer, helped build it from zero to $5B in transaction volume before NYSE:CPAY acquired it, and I'd also been the one hiring, reading hundreds of applications trying to find the few that fit. I knew what good looked like from both chairs. I just didn't have a tool that respected either one. So I built one, first just for myself.
Plain text over filters
Instead of dropdowns and checkboxes, you tell Matcha what you're looking for in your own words: role, stack, team size, the things you don't want. Matcha reads the full text of every posting daily and matches against that, not a handful of tags. That's why it catches things filters can't, like a posting that says "fully remote" in the headline and buries "3 days in office" a few lines into the requirements. That contradiction shows up constantly, and only reading the actual text catches it.
Why there's no UI
I actually built a full app before this: search, saved filters, a dashboard. I killed it, on purpose, because it made people worse off. A UI asks you to come back and check. Email arrives instead. A match landing in your inbox feels like someone thought of you, not a task you're behind on, and it nudges you to go look while it's fresh. It also stays there after the role expires, unlike a dashboard listing that just disappears. People are roughly 5x more engaged this way, apply to more roles that actually fit, and spend less time doing it.
Why Matcha doesn't apply for you
Auto-applying to hundreds of roles is a numbers game, and it doesn't work. It floods hiring managers with applications that were never really meant for them, and spreads you thin across roles you don't really want. What works is finding the handful that are genuinely right for you and reaching out directly.
I know because it's how I found Roger.ai. Before any of this existed, I spent hours going through early-stage, often stealth startups, and sent a one-line email to each founder I found interesting. Most went nowhere. The founder of Roger.ai wrote back, we set up a call, and partway through it realized we were sitting two blocks apart in San Francisco, so we grabbed coffee instead. We clicked, and I joined as a founding engineer. No platform found me that role, a short honest note did. Matcha's job is to get you to that shortlist. The note is still yours to write.
Open line of communication
Every Matcha email ends with the same line: write me directly if anything. Those replies land in my own inbox, and I read and answer them myself. Unsure whether a role is really a fit, or why Matcha recommended it? Just ask. That door stays open whether you're actively looking or not.
Matcha is really just my own playbook for finding a good remote role, automated, running quietly in the background so you don't have to check it.
Cheers
Fico