SkillScore uses production-realistic systems, coding exercises and code review simulations to assess engineering judgement, communication, and code quality. Most technical assessments focus on pattern memorisation: we assess real world performance, with our without AI assistance. The best part? You don't need a technical co-founder to hire your first founding engineer: Athena by SkillScore is your technical interviewer sidekick
Hey everyone, Luca here, founder of SkillScore.
For 11 years, alongside my day job in engineering leadership, I consulted for startups as a technical interviewer for hire. Founders who didn't have the in-house expertise would bring me in to run their assessments and tell them who to hire.
Between interviewing engineers for my main job and the side gig, I have spent over 1,700 hours assessing candidates. Paid to sit in the room and make the call some non technical founders couldn't make themselves.
And they shared the same fears every single time:
"How do I know if this person is actually good?"
"I can't afford to get this wrong, this is my whole product."
"Do I really have to keep paying someone just to run an interview?"
Those founders weren't being naive. Technical hiring is genuinely hard, even for people who've done it for years. For someone doing it without a technical safety net, it's close to impossible, and expensive to outsource every time.
I built SkillScore because I kept thinking: I shouldn't need to be in that room.
Send a candidate a structured take-home assessment (architecture, coding, PR review) and get back an
evaluation that tells you not just how they scored, but why, and assess their chance of success in your specific company, product and role. And if you want to go deeper in a live interview, Athena joins the call with you, follows the conversation in real time, and tells you exactly what to ask next.
You don't need to hire someone like me anymore. Athena is there instead.
We're early, we're hungry for feedback, and we'd love to talk to anyone navigating this right now. If technical hiring feels like a black box, drop a comment or reach me directly at luca@skillscore.dev.
Thanks for being here on launch day!
YouTeam
Congrats on the launch! Best products come out of real problems!
@halyna_di thank you so much! We are hoping a lot of founders will be able to benefit from it