Hey, this is next play’s newsletter, where we share under-the-radar opportunities to help you figure out what’s next in your journey.
If you’re looking to connect with like-minded people, you should check out friends of next play. When you join, you get access to a directory of 100s of people interested in collaborating on projects, companies, etc. (in addition to extra content, filterable jobs, virtual events, and more). It’s a great way to accelerate whatever your goals may be. You can sign up here for $10/month + we really appreciate you supporting the community :).
Exciting opportunities:
We get a lot of startups reaching out who want to hire “all-around generalists” “business athletes” “people who can do whatever it takes.” This generally means they are looking for someone to take on lots of roles that don’t neatly fit into one bucket - everything from making internal spreadsheets to structuring new partnerships programs. If this sounds like you, fill out this form and we’ll try to connect you with the best companies.
Dwarkesh has built a large subscriber base following his mission to create “the highest quality intellectual content in the world” (currently primarily via his podcast/Youtube). He’s looking for someone exceptional to help him run things. This is an everything role - “you’ll be involved in ad sales, operations, content, and some exciting, yet-to-be announced projects.” You can learn more and apply here.
Hummingbird Ventures is hiring multiple venture investors (based in SF). They are looking for people with experience in deep tech and/or AI. You can reach out to recruitment@hummingbird.vc.
Sahir from Tandem is looking to hire a generalist. Tandem is supporting thousands of patients every week and doubling their physician user count every month. Particularly looking for someone who is early in their career and wants to work really hard and get things done. You can learn more and apply here.
Jeff Morris Jr. used to lead product at companies like Tinder and now runs a venture fund. He’s hiring a product intern to work closely with him on incubations. You can apply here.
Co-founder searches:
A data science PhD with background in AI is looking for a cofounder to work on a supply chain software company, ideally someone whose done supply chain or technical work. Email hi@nextplay.so and we’ll try to connect you.
Pete was previously an early employee at Airtable and also solo-built a newsletter with 100k+ subscribers. He’s looking a technical cofounder who'd like to build AI products for main street businesses. You can reach out here: peteh22@gmail.com.
Ed is a designer–founder based in NYC building a simple social camera app that gives people the ability to imbue any physical object with compute (and software, games, and cognition as a side-effect). He’s currently building a demo of the core product and actively seeking ambitious cofounders to “remake the world or simply chat about how to spin up a virtual machine with the press of a shutter button.” You can reach out: ed@floral.computer.
Myriam runs a community of foodies called @flirtyforfood that now has a cult-like following. She just left her consulting job at Bain and is looking to connect with people interesting in building something in the hospitality space. You can reach out here: myriamharrouche@gmail.com.
Csongor spent the past 5 months building an ai product studio that’s already profitable (with 7 people). He’s looking for cofounders to collaborate with on ai projects across industries like law, marketing, and healthcare. You can reach out: csongor.barabasi@gmail.com.
Almog was previously an AI researcher. They are now looking for cofounders to build an AI-first hybrid-casual mobile games publisher. They already have signed pilots with publishing partners and game studios. You can reach out: almog@playgen.gg.
Andy is a 2x Product / GTM-focused founder who has raised from Founders Fund, YC, and others. He’s exploring an opportunity to help AI agents interact with tools more safely and reliably and looking for a cofounder to explore with. If you've built production agents, please reach out to him at andrew@inroad.co.
Early teams:
A stealth company is looking for someone well connected in the hotel/hospitality industry to help with a part-time (to start) project. Email hi@nextplay.so and we’ll try to connect you.
Maor is the former CMO of Walkme (acquired by SAP for $1.5B.). He’s hiring a chief of staff for his new company ai.work. You can apply here.
Santi from the Institute for Progress (IFP) is hiring an assistant editor. IFP is a non-partisan think tank focused on innovation policy. Their hope is to make it easier to build the future in the United States. You can learn more the IFP here and apply here.
Emuye, the former head of engineering at Superhuman is building Eudo, a tool to help product teams make more data-driven decisions. She’s hiring a product designer. You can reach out here: emuye@eudo.app.
Darius previously built AI evaluation/testing at companies like Waymo and Uber. He’s turned this into a company called Scorecard. They’ve just raised and are hiring early employees, especially engineers. You can reach out: darius@scorecard.io.
Lettuce manages back-offices for SMBs (formation, payroll, bookkeeping, takes, etc.). They just raised a Series A from Oren Zeev. They are hiring a product manager and a UX designer to work closely with the founder. Open to fractional people. You can reach out: hiring@lettuce.co.
Aymanna is building Nuanced. Their missions is to help detect authenticity in the age of AI/deepfakes/etc. They are hiring engineers. You can reach out here.
Kevin from Magnusta Capital is hiring part time interns to join their early stage investment team. You can learn more and apply here.
Lumos is building an internal app store for companies. They want to create a meta app for companies to manage all their apps. They are hiring for several roles including an hr person. You can apply here.
Bobby was an early designer at Facebook and spent the past several years angel investing. He’s now building a new social app and is hiring an iOS designer. You can learn more and apply here.
Alex is the former cofounder of Morning Brew. He’s hiring a bunch of writers, strategists, and customer success people for his new thing, storyarb. You can apply here.
Scaling startups:
Local Kitchens makes a vertically integrated kitchen platform to help local restaurants scale. Their team was on the founding team at DoorDash. They are hiring a general manager. You can learn more and apply here.
Backbone is a device that turns your phone into a portable Xbox. They are hiring a growth marketing manager. You can apply here.
Synthflow is a platform for AI phone calls. They recently raised $9m and are hiring a head of growth/product marketing. You can learn more and apply here.
Eppo just raised $28 million to scale their experimentation and feature management platform. They are hiring a VP marketing, head of demand gen, and head of product marketing. You can learn more and apply here.
Maven is trying to build a modern university, starting by building the largest marketplace of expert-led cohort-based courses on the internet. They have 300k+ registered users and are now hiring a growth product manager. You can learn more and apply here.
Neuralink’s mission is to create a generalized brain interface to restore autonomy to those with unmet medical needs today and unlock human potential tomorrow. They are hiring for many roles. You can learn more and reach out here.
Eightsleep is hiring a business operations manager. They are building what they call “a sleep fitness company where their mission is to fuel human potential through optimal sleep.” You can learn more and apply here.
Note:
We’re trying something new - we’d really appreciate if you shared next play (on social or to any communities or groups or clubs you are in). You spreading the word helps us source and support more and more interesting opportunities. And if 50 people use your referral link to sign up, we’ll give you 3 months of “friends of next play” for free. Reply to this email if you have any ideas or questions.
Our latest podcast episode with Amanda Kleha is now live. Amanda joined Figma in 2018 when it was $1M ARR and built out the global go-to-market (sales, marketing, support) organization. Prior to Figma she joined Zendesk as employee #13 and built and led various marketing and sales teams along with playing a key role in the IPO process. You can listen here (includes link to Spotify, Apple, etc.).
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As always, you’re welcome to reach out to us simply by replying to this email.
Ben + team
Would love to hear your feedback!
I love reading about the stories and what folks are looking for/need. Thanks for putting this together.