AI roles, early Uber, special projects
opportunities at breakout startups, early teams hiring, and co-founder searches
✨ Hey there this is a free edition of next play’s newsletter, where we share under-the-radar opportunities to help you figure out what’s next in your journey.
Co-founders and people to jam with:
Andrew runs Tiny, where he is the chairman of companies like Dribbble, MetaLab, and WeCommerce. He made an AI fashion stylist and he’s looking for someone to be the founder/CEO of it. You can learn more and reach out here. (Remote)
An anonymous technical second time founder (with an exit) is looking to jam on vertical AI SaaS ideas with potential co-founders or early stage investors. You can reach out: hi@nextplay.so and we’ll try to connect you. (SF)
Dity is building an ai-powered design tool for architecture. The product already has thousands of users. They are looking for a cofounder to run business and community. You can reach out here: dity@arkdesign.ai.
An anonymous sales/ops leader is looking for people to brainstorm with about b2b ideas. They previously helped grow a company from $5m to $600m+ in ARR. You can reach out: hi@nextplay.so and we’ll pass along your information.
Alex (employee #35 at Uber) and Garrett (aerospace materials chemist) are exploring aerospace and defense, aiming to eventually build an alternative fuel commercial passenger aircraft. They are looking for an aerospace engineer to join as cofounder: alex@solstice.aero.
⭐ The friends of next play Slack group is filled with people building new ideas, looking to make connections, and organizing gatherings. “Joining was a no-brainer and the people I’ve met have been honestly amazing” - person who met their cofounder! “You can join here ⭐
Early teams:
An anonymous seed-stage startup has grown 5x in the last 2 months. They raised some money from Bessemer, and the founders are from YC, Amazon, Meta, and HBS. They are hiring their first software engineer outside the founding team. You can learn more and apply here. (Boston)
Tom from Didero is building an AI agent for procurement teams. The founders have 2 exits have raised $200m+ from Sequoia and Google Ventures. They are hiring a product designer and a software engineer. You can learn more here and reach out here: tcp@didero.ai. (NYC)
Niina from Otis is building an accessible healthcare platform for pets (90% less expensive than alternatives). They are hiring a founding engineer. You can learn more and apply here. (NYC)
Sam from Meadow Memorials is building a modern funeral service. They are hiring a head of marketing, a founding engineer, and a field sales rep. You can learn more and apply here. (Remote, LA)
Aman from MadMen AI just closed a $3.5m pre-seed round. They are building an ad creation platform powered by AI that is growing 20% MoM. They are hiring a growth marketer. You can learn more and apply here. (Bay Area)
Seb from Telli shared their revenue growth rate from the last 3 months: +55%, +38%, +96%. They are building an ai-powered call automation platform. They are hiring a founding product engineer as well as a founder’s associate. You can learn more here and reach out here: jobs@telli.com. (Berlin)
David from Submagic has reached over 2 million users in just a few years since launching. They are building an AI short-form video making platform. They are hiring a head of SEO and an affiliate marketing manager. You can learn more and apply here. (Remote)
Yuval from Berries is building an AI scribe for mental health professionals that is already used by over 4,500 clinicians. They are hiring a growth lead. You can learn more and apply here. (Remote, Israel)
Austin from Unify is hiring a founding product manager. Unify is building a “system-of-action” for go-to-market teams that already has customers like Perplexity and Together AI. You can learn more and apply here. (San Francisco, NYC)
Alta is an AI-powered GTM platform that just raised a $7M seed round and already has 100+ paying customers. They are hiring an account executive and engineers. You can learn more and apply here. (Remote, Tel Aviv)
A stealth company building an AI platform for the life sciences vertical is hiring founding team members, especially early engineers and scientists. The founding team comes from Palantir. You can reach out here: directors@perceptic.ai.
Quanta is hiring a business generalist, accountant, AI engineer, and more. They are building a tech-enabled accounting service. You can learn more and apply here. (SF)
Raghav from Terminal is hiring a founding account executive. They are building a universal API for telematics data. You can learn more and apply here. (Toronto)
We made this directory of tiny teams that have achieved impressive revenue numbers. You can check it out here: TinyTeams.
Scaling startups:
Several companies reached out that are looking for operations people - think business operations, chief of staff, revenue ops - people who like to get stuff done. You can fill out this short form and we’ll do our best to connect you.
Flo from Lindy is hiring a head of sales (and many other roles). They recently raised $52m to build the “Zapier of AI” - a no-code platform for small businesses to build their own AI agents and automate their workflows. You can learn more here and reach out here: flo@lindy.ai. (SF)
Megan from Miter is building the “Rippling + Ramp + Gusto + Lattice” built for the construction industry. They’ve raised $38m and 3x’d revenue with 500+ customers YoY. They are hiring across sales, customer success, launchers, and engineering. You can learn more and apply here. (Remote, NYC, SF)
A stealth enterprise SaaS company has grown 3x in their second year, and have 50+ of the world’s biggest companies as customers (like Coca Cola, Nestle, CVS, etc.). They are looking for a product leader. You can reach out here: hi@nextplay.so and we’ll try to connect you.
Violet from Paradromics is hiring someone to work on special projects (in the office of the CEO). They are building a brain computer interface platform. You can learn more here and reach out here: vdiaz@paradromics.com. (Austin)
Erez from Freed just announced a $30m Series A from Sequoia and is hiring for 17 roles (across every department). They are building an AI scribe for clinicians and have 17,000+ paying customers. You can learn more and apply here. (Remote)
Marlon from Copilot is making their first full-time marketing hires (product marketing, growth marketing). Copilot is generating millions in revenue and has 15+ years of runway. They are building a modern client portal for services businesses. You can learn more and apply here. (NYC)
Teddy from Black Ore is making their first biz ops hire who will work directly with the leadership team (in addition to many other roles across engineering and sales). They are building an ai-first tax prep platform for CPAs. They have raised $60m in funding. You can reach out here: teddy@blackore.ai. (Remote, Austin, NYC)
John from Biograph is building a preventative health clinic. The company is co-founded by Peter Attia. They are hiring for several roles, especially product people (designers, engineers, and product managers). You can learn more and apply here. (NYC)
Burkay from Fal is building a generative media platform for developers. They have 1m+ users. They just announced a $49 million Series B, and are hiring account executives and engineers. You can learn more and apply here. (Remote)
Paul from Patlytics has seen an 18x in paying customers in the past 6 months. They just announced an $14m round and are hiring for many roles: customer success, growth marketing, product management, and more. They are building an AI platform for patents/intellectual property. You can learn more and apply here. (Remote, NYC)
Airtable is hiring for 48 roles, especially an “AI product manager.” You can learn more and apply here. (SF, NYC)
Yoavv from Guidde is hiring a VP of marketing (and several other roles). They are building an AI-powered video documentation platform. They have 100,000+ users, 2,000+ paying customers, and recently raised $30m. You can learn more and apply here. (NYC, Israel)
Beam just announced an $11m fundraise for their financial operating system for the construction industry. They grew revenue 15x in 2024. They are hiring for customer success, growth, and engineering. You can learn more and apply here. (SF)
Here are recommendations on companies to join from PearVC.
Are you hiring? Email us: hi@nextplay.so - we have many amazing candidates to connect you with (just last week we heard of several companies giving out offers to people (engineers, sales, operations) they met via next play.
Investing and other:
Riva Tez is hiring a chief of staff. She’s looking for someone interested in operations, design, and event planning. There will also be some tech/investments exposure. You can learn more here. (US West Coast)
Christine from Bessemer Venture Partners is hiring a content manager. You can reach out here: cdeakers@bvp.com. (Remote)
Ali from Equal Ventures is hiring a platform manager. You can learn more and apply here. (NYC)
Featured resources:
How to be more agentic: “I often hear agency talked about as if it’s an inherent trait: Either someone has it or they don’t -- in which case, too bad, they’re doomed to a life in the minor leagues. This hasn’t been my experience.”
From no connections to a successful tech career: Tactics and insights from one person's story breaking into the tech world.
Consider the opposite: One idea for making decisions is to consider the opposite of what may be considered the best practice. This essay explores that idea seriously, which may be helpful as you think about your next move.
Note:
Has been really fun meeting more and more of the community members. The easiest way to get in touch is via the friends of next play Slack — but if there’s ever anything in particular we can do, or if you have ideas for next play, just send us an email: hi@nextplay.so. We do respond to every message.
The next play community now organizes dozens of gatherings every month in cities around the world. Do you want to host an in-person or virtual gathering for people exploring what’s next? You can submit your information here and we’ll reach out if it’s a good fit.
Have any experience using AI tooling? We’re looking for someone who could write long-form “guides to using AI productively” (super in depth, super detailed). If interested, email: hi@nextplay.so.
Thanks again for the support! Really appreciate when you engage with next play (and also share with your friends).
Top list!
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