Former OpenAI co-founder, stealth companies, Pinterest founder

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:

• Nico is a designer engineer. He most recently was a senior software engineer at Rainbow. He’s exploring new ideas in crypto/fintech/AI and looking for people to brainstorm with and potentially cofound. You can reach out here: hi@nico.gl.

• A long-time software engineer from Shopify is exploring leaving and starting something with AI. They are looking to collaborate/build with new people. You can reach out to hi@nextplay.so and we will pass along your information.

• Sebastian previously led creator growth at Patreon, was a PM in Facebook’s core growth team, and is a 2x founder. He’s a technical generalist and looking for people to join his exploration of b2b ideas. You can reach out here: sebleon2@gmail.com.

• A former engineering leader from a large tech company is exploring new hardware, robotics, and AI ideas. They are looking for people to jam with on ideas. You can reach out to hi@nextplay.so and we will pass along your information.

• Dana and Kelly are building BetterFunction, aiming to pioneer the future of psychiatry using AI. They are looking for a third co-founder to focus on managing the product. You can reach out here: breakstone.k@gmail.com.

If you’d like to meet people (co-founders, brainstorming partners, peers), you should check out friends of next play. When you join, you get invited to: a private slack community, weekly virtual gatherings, in-person meetups, a co-founder directory, 1000s of dollars worth of discounts, and much more. You can join here 😇

Early teams:

• Ben previously was the founder and CEO of Pinterest (a $25 billion company!). He’s now building a new product at the intersection of audio storytelling and AI. He’s looking for founding teammates who are passionate about storytelling and product building, especially software engineers and designers. You can learn more here and reach out here: team@parta.com. (SF)

• Caroline from Arcade is hiring people in nearly every department: growth, product marketing, customer success, account executives, engineers. They just raised a $14m Series A to build a content collaboration platform that helps teams build and share interactive demos. You can learn more and apply here. (SF/Hybrid)

• Aaron and Andrew from Escargot are building a platform that aims to make “greeting cards as easy as texting” (and much more fun!). They've already signed 20 creators with 18M+ combined followers to promote their product. They are hiring a creative content producer, a founding engineer, and a product designer. You can learn more here and reach out here: bonjour@helloescargot.com. (Remote, NYC)

• Din from Intail is building a platform that lets you “leverage your organization’s collective network to drive growth.” They just raised $4m and are looking for a founding account executive. You can reach out here: din@intail.ai. (NYC)

• Rob from Steppingblocks is building an education analytics platform. They raised $7m last year and are hiring a chief technology officer and a customer success associate. You can reach out here: rob@steppingblocks.com. (Remote)

• Andrés from Copilot Money is building a money tracking app. They have won several Apple Design Awards and hiring engineers and designers. You can learn more and apply here. (NYC)

• Durable is an ai-powered website builder. They are hiring a director of marketing and software engineers. You can learn more and apply here. (Remote)

• Andreas from Pulley is building an all-in-one permitting solution to help project teams get permits faster. They are hiring a recruiter, a product operations associate, a product marketer, and an engineer. You can learn more and apply here. (SF, NYC, Hybrid)

• Sebastian from Rilla is building a sales rep coaching platform. They are hiring in GTM, finance operations, people operations, and sales. You can learn more and apply here. (NYC)

• Jordan from Yendo is building a credit card secured by your car. They are hiring a growth product manager and a partnerships lead. You can learn more and apply here. (Remote, Dallas)

• We asked Adrian, a partner at Lightspeed Ventures, for his behind-the-scenes list of recommendations for people looking to join a new startup. Here's that list.

Are you hiring or do you know of any interesting roles? Email us context: hi@nextplay.so.

Scaling startups:

• Ethan from Motion is building an ai-powered project management system. They are hiring a senior product designer (in addition to all sorts of roles like customer support, sales, and engineering). You can learn more here and reach out here: ethan@usemotion.com. (Remote)

• Nick from Candid Health is building a platform to streamline medical billing. They are hiring for 18 roles across accounting, recruiting, product, and sales. You can learn more and apply here. (NYC, Remote, Denver)

• Parafin is building an embedded financial services platform that serves SMBs. They recently announced a $100m Series C and are hiring a product manager, engineers, and analytics people. You can learn more and apply here. (SF)

• Mira was the co-founder and CTO of OpenAI. She recently started Thinking Machines Lab, an AI research and product company, alongside a team of engineers who have built some of the most widely used AI products. They are hiring product builders, machine learning experts, and research program managers. You can learn more and apply here. (SF, NYC)

• Carter from Charlie Health is hiring for every role: business operations, engineering, operations, design, partnerships, people and more. They are building a digital mental health treatment platform. You can learn more and apply here. (Remote, NYC)

• AtoB is building “Stripe for Transportation.” They have raised $125m+ and are hiring in sales, support, engineering, and product design. You can learn more and apply here. (SF, Remote)

• Hooman from Collective is building a digital back-office platform for self-employed entrepreneurs. They are hiring product managers, engineers, designers, and a revenue operations manager. You can learn more and apply here. (Remote, SF)

• Jay from Eve is building a legal AI tool that automates case management for law firms. They recently announced a $47m Series A. They are hiring for GTM, engineering, customer success, and sales. You can learn more and apply here. (Remote)

• Ari from Flock Homes is hiring a head of marketing, head of product, and a growth associate. They are building a platform that helps landlords minimize their taxes. You can learn more and apply here. (Denver, NYC, SF)

• Michael from WorkOS is building a platform that helps companies quickly integrate enterprise features into their applications (like SSO). They are hiring in GTM, design, and engineering. You can learn more and apply here. (Remote)

• Here’s a list of the 36 fastest growing companies based on their hiring rates.

Investing and other:

• Elad Gil is an investor in companies like Airbnb and Anduril. He is hiring paid interns to “help translate some of the greatest works of human knowledge using AI.” You can learn more here and apply here. (Remote)

• Softbank’s Vision Fund is hiring an investment analyst and a VP of Communications. You can learn more and apply here. (SF, London, Remote)

• Techstars is hiring an investment manager. You can learn more and apply here. (SF)

• Blackstone is hiring an SVP of innovation investments. You can learn more and apply here. (NYC)

Featured resources:

• Not financial advice: a collection of financial related tips for people who work around startups (around things like equity compensation and tax planning).

• Everything you need to know about negotiating tech offers: Our deep-dive interview with expert compensation negotiator Josh Doody.

• What can someone learn from working with an executive coach?: Should you have a coach? What are the types of things you can learn? An interview with Andy Sparks.

Note:

• If you enjoyed, we would appreciate it if you gave it a thumbs up and share it with your friends of network. Our goal is to help people figure out what’s next - and so if you’re looking for a job, trying to find a co-founder, or just want advice on what to do, when perhaps you do not know what to do—we want to be helpful to you 🙂.

• If you have people spamming you with unsolicited opportunities (the type that don’t really feel written by a human), feel free to forward to us: hi@nextplay.so and we’ll warn and if needed remove them from the community.

• Thanks again for being a part of the next play community. If you have any ideas or feedback - please send us an email: hi@nextplay.so. (And hope to talk to you soon in Slack!).

Talk soon
Ben + team