Former Google/Microsoft, BetterHelp founder, early Uber

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.

As a reminder for all the new people who have joined - our goal at next play is to help as many people as possible figure out what’s next. That could mean connecting you with a new role, introducing you to a co-founder, or even acquiring skills that help you level up at your current job. If you have any feedback or ideas for us - things we could do to further our mission, please do send us an email: hi@nextplay.so. (And also - please avoid spamming people in the community; if we hear about this we unfortunately have to remove you from the network).

If you’d like to support the community, and really get the most out of it, you may really like friends of next play:

• Private Slack community where you can meet like-minded people (and join our virtual events)

• Hundreds of dollars worth of discounts to our favorite products (like Notion, Perplexity, Suno, Granola, and new ones we are add every week)

• Opportunity database where you can filter roles by location, additional long-form content, and more!

You can join friends of next play here. Hope to talk soon!

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Co-founders and people to jam with:

• Ido previously worked at Google and Microsoft (primarily on AI, Saas, and language products). He’s building an AI tool that helps non-native english speakers sound more confident at work — Fluento is already being used by 2,500 people and he’s looking to find someone to help scale the business side. You can reach out here: ido@fluento.ai.

• Palle was early at Uber (as a launcher and product manager). He is building a new platform that helps streamline the immigration process and is looking for a co-founder. He already has paying customers. You can reach out here: pallebroe@gmail.com.

• Julien is a software engineer and former founder (sold one of them). He previously worked at Moonpay. He’s looking for collaborators to work on new ideas, especially in Web3. You can reach out here: hello@jcoulaud.com.

• Gates previously was the head of product at Attune. He’s now building a tech-enabled commercial insurance brokerage that’s being incubated at Tower Research Ventures. He’s looking for a technical co-founder (or first hire). You can reach out here: gates@arvorinsurance.com.

• Alex previously founded a VC-backed startup and sold it. He then joined a Series A fintech to lead product and growth. He’s now thinking of new ideas and is looking for collaborators. You can reach out here: alexosumin@gmail.com.

Early teams:

• Raunaq from Roam is building the “most affordable way for people to purchase a home in America” (3% rates right now!). He’s hiring a product manager (or a product-focused former founder) as well as their third full-stack engineer as they scale (their small team is currently serving hundreds of thousands of home-buyers). You can learn more and reach out here: raunaq@withroam.com

• Erik from Squint is hiring for several roles, especially a strategic account executive and a business operations person. Squint is a mobile app that uses AI and AR to automate data entry/generate custom procedures for operators in manufacturing facilities. You can learn more here and reach out here: erik.mejia@squint.ai.

• Ksenia from Tactiq is building an AI-notetaking/meeting transcript platform. They grew ARR 3x last year - and are hiring their first product manager. You can learn more and apply here.

• John just announced he’s left Ramp (after 4+ years as a tech lead there) and started a new company trying to transform the legal industry with AI. He’s hiring founding team members, especially software engineers. You can get in touch here.

• Molly from Nox is making a “Superhuman for iMessage.” She’s looking for a founding engineer. You can email her here: molly@heynox.com.

• Alon previously founded BetterHelp (which reportedly makes over $1b a year in revenue). He’s now working on Strawberry, a new AI-powered coaching platform, and it’s growing quickly. He’s looking for people interested in consumer to work on product, ad creative, and performance marketing. It’s Palo Alto only. You can learn more and reach out here.

• Levi previously built a parking technology company that scaled to $30m in annual revenue and sold to PE. He’s now building a new company in the same space in London. He’s hiring founding team members, especially technical people in Tel Aviv and London. You can reach out here: levisudak95@gmail.com.

• timeOS is an AI productivity companion that captures and summarizes your day. Tommy is hiring a founding marketer and a senior full-stack engineer. You can learn more and apply here.

• Adriana is building a new software company at the intersection of creators, travel, and AI (that empowers brands to design, sell, and manage experiences). She has a 100+ person waitlist and is hiring a founding full-stack engineer. You can reach out here: adriana@offmap.co.

• Ahmed from Vault is hiring a Senior Product Marketing Manager (ideally based in Toronto) to scale their marketing efforts quickly. Vault is a banking platform for Canadian businesses. You can reach out: ahmed@tryvault.com.

• Anthony from Cavela is hiring a front-end engineer and customer success lead (ideally based in SF). Cavela recently closed $2m in funding to automate product sourcing for e-commerce. You can reach out to careers@cavela.com.

• Passionfroot is building a platform that helps b2b brands scale influencer marketing. They are hiring a founding marketer and sales manager. You can learn more and apply here.

• Lorikeet is building an AI customer support agent. They are hiring in growth, engineering, biz ops, and design. You can learn more and apply here.

• Here are the startups that Will from Contrary Capital told us he would invest his life-savings into if he needed to.

Scaling startups:

• Will from Anrok is hiring a strategic partnerships manager to help build/execute GTM strategy across a book of advisory/integration platforms. Anrok is a Series B Sequoia-backed startup that automates sales-tax/international compliance for scaling companies. You can learn more here and reach out here: will.ziesing@anrok.com.

• Edley from DROOL is hiring a head of strategic partnerships (great candidate would be an ex consultant or someone with experience in partnerships) to scale its artwork marketplace and open up new revenue streams. DROOL is an 8-figure VC-backed e-commerce brand that grew 400% profitably last year. The role is UK-based (they’ll sponsor your visa if needed). You can learn more here and reach out here: edley@drool-art.com.

• Alice and Bob just raised $104 million to build the world’s first universal quantum computer. They are hiring for many roles across engineering, people, and operations. You can learn more and apply here.

• Flo from Lindy is building the “Zapier of AI” - a no-code platform for SMBs to build their own AI agents. They are hiring across many roles - including a head of marketing, head of sales, and a technical customer success manager. You can learn more here and reach out here: flo@lindy.ai.

• Arthur from Agentio is building an ad platform for creator content. They are hiring for many roles including a head of talent, senior product marketing manager, software engineer, sales director, operations associate, and software engineer. You can learn more here and apply here.

• Meghan from Copilot is building an app that helps people track and manage their money. They were a 2024 Apple Design Awards finalist and also raised a Series A. They are hiring engineers, especially iOS people right now. You can learn more and apply here.

• Pipedream is building an autonomous underground delivery network that offers near-instantaneous delivery of objects. They are hiring mechanical engineers and a “wildcard role.” You can learn more and apply here.

• Brandon from Meow is hiring a “finance fanatic” to help create a webinar and podcast series on topics like treasury management, interest rates, and more. Meow is a business banking platform. You can learn more and apply here.

• Olivier from Electricity Maps is hiring a growth lead. Electricity Maps is a global data platform that provides real-time electricity signals that helps devices reduce their costs and emissions. Their free platform is used by millions of people. You can learn more and apply here.

• Piotr from Eleven Labs is hiring for dozens of roles, especially in GTM/sales and product/engineering. They are one of the most well-funded foundation models for audio AI having just raised $180M. You can learn more and apply here.

Investing and other:

• Adam from Box Group is hiring investors in SF and NYC. You can learn more here and apply here.

• Antler is hiring a program manager based in Austin to help build community. You can learn more and apply here.

• Propel Venture Partners is hiring a senior associate. You can learn more and apply here.

Featured resources:

• Revealing questions: A list of questions to help you better understand the true motivation of other people, which may be useful in interviews or in talking with potential collaborators.

• How to read better: An actionable guide from Farnam Street on reading better.

• What’s it like to work with an executive coach? Andy Sparks, a former founder turned executive coach, writes about what you can get out of working with a coach.

Note:

• We heard from several people over the past few weeks that they a) founder their job or b) met their co-founder via next play. Please do reach out if this happens! Makes our day :).

• Are you hiring? Know of any interesting roles? We’ve connected many companies and candidates over the past few weeks - would love to do more of that. Send us an email: hi@nextplay.so. [Please feel free to share with founder friends/hiring managers you know].

Talk soon,

Ben + team