Show HN: Under-the-Radar Startup Opportunities
nextplay.so
nextplay.so
I started next play a year ago as I was exploring what I wanted to do next. I wanted to create a space for people who might not normally be open about what they're looking for next, to explore and see cool opportunities out there in the startup world.
I've been collecting and curating under the radar opportunities (early teams hiring, co-founders looking for partners, breakout startups hiring) and sharing in a weekly newsletter http://nextplayso.substack.com
A bunch of folks have actually found their next thing and even started companies with other people through the newsletter which has been awesome to see.
Let me know if you have any feedback! Hope it's useful.
Early teams
PJ and Kat are building FilmPort, an operating system for commercial-grade AI filmmaking. They started three months ago and have already reached 25M+ viral views, signed >$30M in LOIs from Fortune 500 brands, and secured a film studio partnership. They are looking for founding team members - especially engineers and creative people. You can reach out here: kat@filmport.ai.
Ravin from Credal is hiring founding team members (across every role: engineering, chief of staff, operations). They did YCombinator last year and raised a seed round as they build an AI assistant for enterprise workflows. You can learn more here and email here: founders@credal.ai.
Simone from Fay is hiring for every role (operations, partnerships, engineering, etc.). Fay is a platform tens of thousands of people use to access licensed dietitians (covered by insurance). They have grown revenue 500% YoY after raising their Series A, bringing it well into the eight figures. You can learn more here and email simone@faynutrition.com.
JB was an early product / engineer at Airtable (one of the first 15 hires). He’s now building Chief, an intelligent email assistant. Howie, founder/CEO of Airtable, is a founding investor/advisor. They are hiring founding team members, especially technically great engineers and designers. You can reach out here: jbbakst@gmail.com.
Dennis, former founder of Foursquare, is hiring founding team members for his new consumer platform Hopscotch. You can think of it as “a mashup of OG Twitter ("what's happening"), OG Foursquare ("who's where doing what"), and Waze (but for walking thru cities).” You can learn more and get in touch here.
Marcel from GrowthX is hiring a chief of staff. They are building an ai-native GTM platform. They just hit $3m in revenue within 3 months of launching (and its been completely bootstrapped so far). You can apply here.
Justin from Truemed is building a platform that lets people use their HSA/FSA in more places. They are hiring a staff product designer. You can learn more and apply here.
Steph from PIN is building a platform to help founders raise money. They are hiring a biz ops lead. You can learn more and apply here.
Anna from Paradigm is reimagining spreadsheets (with AI its core). They are hiring founding team members (including engineers and generalists). You can learn more here and email: careers@paradigmai.com.
Tanooj was previously the head of engineering at Brex. Now he’s building Nerve, an AI knowledge worker copilot. They are hiring a founding engineer. You can learn more and apply here.
Co-founders / people to jam with
Cory is a designer who joined Notion as an early employee back in 2019 (and before that did design at the Wall Street Journal). He’s looking for a co-founder to work on a new AI project. You can learn more here.
Shashank is a Director of Engineering at a Series D company. He’s looking to start something new in the industrial AI world. You can reach out here: sha.iyer16@gmail.com.
Christian previously founded Wanderlust and Pitch. He’s looking for a technical co-founder for a new project working on autonomous mining operations. You can learn more here.
Rohan is a software engineer who has experience in AI research labs, startups, and big banks. He’s filed multiple ML patents. He’s looking to collaborate on exciting new projects. You can reach out here: rohansaphal@gmail.com.
Sebastian is both an electrical engineer and financial executive (ex-CFO and investment banker). He recently founded Brick, a smart energy management company. He’s looking for co-founders (both technical and non-technical). You can reach out here: seb@brick-data.com.