Most of existing head hunter placement fees were obtained because a head hunter getting a 20% to 33% placement fee was only able to be obtained by a lot of manual sales labor. This company automates that with a low 5% placement fee winning over competition and not requiring the high manual sales labor.

Second, this company is trying to find companies that will hire most of their engineers through their system, instead of only 5% of their company hires. Also placement fees at 20% to 33% are only paid on: a) exec positions, or b) when a position takes a very long time to fill. That small category limits the percent of employees able to be hired with a contingency fee (from 3% to 7%). This company being cheaper means that companies can hire all levels of engineers and do it for quality reasons, since the 5% is no longer a blocker.

This product scans code and sends high-ranking profiles to an employer. It appears as though that is all the product really does, other than take in feedback once a hire is/isn't made.

Agency recruiters are unlikely to be able to evaluate code. But an agency recruiter will review a resume, speak to or meet a candidate, send the resume and bio to the client, schedule interviews, debrief one or both parties after interviews, serve as a buffer in negotiations, perform reference checks, and close the deal. Those are the elements of recruiting that are time consuming.

5% seems low, but the product doesn't address many other areas of recruiting. If anything, I could see this product being marketed to agency recruiters as a way they can vet the code of the candidates they represent.