A search firm sells its judgement and hides its evidence. We show every quotation.
306of 307
Every fact quoted
Each quotation the readers offered on a real brief was found again on the stored page. The one that was not was removed before anything was printed.
6of 6
Planted names, rejected
Six invented people and one control go through every run. If one is ever accepted, nothing is released until a person has looked.
27min
A morning, not eight weeks
A real brief: 16 people listed, every requirement read against their page, for ten dollars of compute. Quoted per search, not a third of first-year pay.
0scores
Fit is a word
Strong, Good, Stretch or Unproven, with the requirement readings beside it. No percentage, no bar, no badge: words you can act on.
Seven roles, one report. Each one refuses something.
Not one model asked to find a chief financial officer. A planner, searchers, a filter written in code, a reader, a verifier with planted names, two independent graders and a gate that can hold the whole search. Each figure below answers your pointer.
- 01Plan
The planner reads the brief and writes the lanes
Three lanes of searches, each a different way into the market: by title, by employer type, by the deals the brief names. It writes the queries itself, and two runs never write the same ones.
Refuses: a lane the brief does not justify.
72 searches
in 3 lanes, on one real brief
From the ledger
Run 2 of the Gate 0c trial, 2026-10-04: 72 searches in 3 lanes, from the engine's own ledger of every call it made.
- 02Search
The searchers run the lanes
Every search is stored with what it returned, so a result can be traced back to the query that found it, and a lane that reaches nothing says so in its own notes.
Refuses: a name with no page behind it.
544 people surfaced
from 72 searches
From the ledger
544 people surfaced by 72 searches in Run 2; each search and its results are stored, content-addressed, so the trail from query to person is kept.
- 03Filter
The filter is code, not a model
A location outside the brief, an excluded title, an employer on the never-approach list: each removal is a named rule in code, counted, and never a matter of opinion.
Refuses: a removal nobody can name.
267 removed
each by a named rule
From the ledger
267 of the 544 were removed before reading, each under a rule the ledger names (location, title, never-approach). A location that names no country is no longer a reason: a defect Run 2 exposed and fixed.
- 04Read
The reader reads every page in full
Not a summary, not the first screen: the whole public record, read against the brief, with a verdict and a reason for every person. Reading costs about three cents a page, so nobody waits in a queue.
Refuses: a verdict without a reason.
277 read, 18 kept
about one in fifteen
From the ledger
277 pages read in full in Run 2, every one with a verdict and a reason; 18 kept. Reading and judging cost $7.37, about 2.7 cents a person.
- 05Verify
The verifier plants names and checks every quotation
Six invented people and one real control go through every run, unmarked. A second source is sought for each person. Any quotation not found on the stored page is dropped before it can be printed.
Refuses: a quotation that is not on the page.
6 of 6 rejected
306 of 307 quotations found
From the ledger
Run 2: 6 of 6 planted records rejected and the control accepted; 306 of the 307 quotations the readers offered were found again on the stored page, and the one that was not was removed.
- 06Grade
Two graders read each requirement independently
Each requirement in the brief carries an evidence descriptor, the way a search firm's own checklist does. Two separate passes grade every requirement against the page and must agree on the quotation behind it.
Refuses: a score. Fit is a word.
Strong 1 · Good 10 · Stretch 4 · Unproven 3
the fit words on that brief
From the ledger
The fit stage runs two prompts per person (engine/ofrecord/pipeline.py, fit_stage); fit scoring for the 18 people cost $1.84 in Run 2. Labels on the list and reserve: Strong 1, Good 10, Stretch 4, Unproven 3.
- 07Gate
The gate releases, or holds
Thirty checks on the finished report: the planted names, the quotations, the second sources, the layout of every page. Below eighty-five of a hundred the search is held for a person to look at, and a held search is never charged.
Refuses: a thin list padded to look full.
99.6 of 100
released: 16 listed, 2 in reserve
From the ledger
Run 2 released at 99.6 of 100 with 16 listed and 2 in reserve; the floor is 85. Run 1, on the same brief before eight defects were fixed, was held with 8 listed.
Built on how retained search actually works.
The engine does not improvise the craft. The brief it runs on is the one a search partner writes by hand, made strict so that no step can be skipped and no requirement can be graded without saying what proof would look like.
- A seniority band with target titles and excluded titles, so a Group Controller is not sold as a chief financial officer.
- A never-approach list, with the hiring company always on it: it is the employer, not a pool.
- Three to twelve requirements, each with an evidence descriptor that says what proof would look like on a page.
- Reachability read from tenure and the record, not guessed.
- Identity confirmed by a second, independent source, or said plainly when it is not.
A mail, then the first three people, then the full report.
- 1
A mail with a private link, to the one address you give. Nothing runs until you open it, and nothing is charged.
- 2
In about ten minutes, the first three people: ranked, each with the case for and against, swiped through on your phone with the record behind every card.
- 3
When they look right, ask for the full report. A quote follows within a working day: twelve to twenty people, every fact with its source, and the printed report.