Ask Once, by Lei Wu. My application for the Product Engineer role on the speedrun talent team.Skip to the ask
Each column is one open role, and each window is a question candidates need answered before they apply. A window is lit when the listing answers it.
Pick a line to see only those windows.
Try it as a founder with a role open. Each question takes one tap in Slack, and everyone who looks at the role after that sees the answer.
This part is a mock with a made-up role and made-up counts. Nothing here reaches a real founder.
In 2024 and 2025 I sent hundreds, if not thousands, of applications. By January 2026 I was burnt out, so I quit applying and put my work out there instead.
It's been my best year of job hunting. The jobs came to me.
Most people don't get to stop. They keep applying without knowing what a role pays, whether they can get a visa, or if anyone is still hiring.
This is the first thing I'd run as your Product Engineer. Founders would see their own blanks privately first, before anything goes public.
Book 15 minutes on whether founders would answerOr email me at lw2002@hotmail.ca
It works if 7 of 10 founders answer within 48 hours. If they don't, you still have a live map of what every listing leaves out.
The goal is more people landing jobs at speedrun companies: candidates rule roles in or out in seconds, and the ones who apply already know the terms. Fewer, better applications counts as a win.
I'm Lei Wu. I design, build and deploy things myself, like TFThandbook (70k monthly users, with robinsongz) and the rest of what's on laywu.com.