You've built from zero before. You shouldn’t have to over-explain what you bring.
We connect former founders with our network of pre-vetted startups, that have breakout traction, high talent density and solving the hardest technical problems
From thousands of profiles, we work with a highly selective group: YC alumni, SPC Fellows and early Unicorn builders all exploring their next mission.
Apply for access — sign up with LinkedIn
Our network is exclusively tier 1 VC-backed
We are super-connectors for the exceptional
70+ YC alumni
Ex-CTOs & co-founders
100s of early hires
From unicorns like Brex, Ramp & Retool
80%+ technical
Engineers, PMs & quant PhDs
Supporting them to land where they have maximum continued impact
- Former YC founders — CTOs and co-founders who've been through the 0-to-1 journey and come out the other side
- SPC & Thiel Fellows — Elite builder programs that select for raw founder-energy
- Early unicorn hires — The first engineers, PMs and operators at companies like Brex, Ramp, Retool and Scale AI
- Technical operators — Engineers and quant PhDs who move like founders high agency, high ownership
- Exited founders — People who've built, scaled and sold now looking for their next mission
We make hand-picked matches
Previously co-founder & CTO of WorkWhile (YC), $20M+ ARR through Series B. Tech lead at Airbnb, engineer at Facebook. LinkedIn
Previously founding CS at two unicorns — Director of CX at Fable and client onboarding lead at League. CS hire #1. Former D1 athlete. LinkedIn
Previously co-founder & CEO of Dropbase (YC W20). Product hire #1. McGill CS (NLP thesis), Rotman MBA. LinkedIn
Previously co-founder & CTO of Spoonshot (food-tech AI). Senior engineer at Myntra & Zomato. South Park Commons. IIT Madras (BS/MS). LinkedIn
Sai Kodur Data & AI Engineer, Coframe (Khosla)
Previously founded five startups, two YC-backed. Repeat founder who chose an IC founding seat at a seven-person team. LinkedIn
Previously co-founder & CPO of BeyondHQ (exited). Also founded ReblCare (healthcare AI). 3x PM, 2x founder, 1 exit. LinkedIn
Previously at IMC Trading (quant) & CSIRO. Vision Transformer research (Best Paper Runner Up). AI alignment at Oxford. ANU CS & ML (PhB). LinkedIn
Previously co-founder & CTO of DianaHR (YC W24). VP Engineering at Relay Payments, senior engineering manager at Medium. Carnegie Mellon CS (BS/MS). LinkedIn
What our network says
- “Increasing your surface area for luck is key in hiring. Traditional recruiters never felt like they were expanding my reach. Dynamism gave me direct access to ex-founders and CTOs—exactly who we love hiring.” - Robert Chandler, CTO Founder Wordware.ai (YCs largest ever seed round $30m and ProductHunt award winner)
- “It can be tricky for ex-founders to find great companies to work for - Richard and dynamism team went to extreme lengths to support me to successfully land the perfect next role. Dynamism's network is epic and no surprise they've become the go-to for technical Y Combinator alum exploring new opportunities.“ - Technical YC founder (Alum)
- “Richard’s been backing ambitious founders forever—he even prepped me for YC in 2019. He has an uncanny eye for high-agency people. We just hired an ex-Unicorn operator to build out a new function referred to Dynamism, the kind of candidate who could walk into any startup they wanted.” - Luke Harris, Head of Growth ElevenLabs.com Previous Co-founder Fella (YC W20) now at $20m ARR, Head of Product at PostHog
- “Before I worked with Dynamism, I always felt like I had to apologize for wanting a perfect fit. But Richard helped me realize it’s okay to keep the bar high and say, ‘No, this candidate isn’t right.’ It was actually pretty transformative for me as a founder.” - Natasha Baker, CEO Founder SnapMagic.com (YC backed, AI-platform used by 1.5m engineers at orgs incl. NASA, Apple and McLaren 🏎️)
Where ambitious former founders find their next mission
⚙️ How it works
"The secret of my success is that we have gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world." - Steve Jobs, Apple
🤷 Why startups and former founders request ⚡ dynamism
"The vast majority of founders don’t spend nearly enough time hiring…you should probably be spending between a third and a half of your time hiring " - Sam Altman, Open AI
🌟 Why we do this?
"I'd rather interview 50 people and not hire anyone than hire the wrong person." - Jeff Bezos, Amazon
🤝 “the best hires come from referrals“
"I will only hire someone to work directly for me if I would work for that person." - Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook
🎉 Our SF in-person events
“A company’s culture is the foundation for future innovation. An entrepreneur’s job is to build the foundation.” - Brian Chesky, Airbnb
Helpful notes on hiring and work
How to hire by Sam Altman
“The vast majority of founders don’t spend nearly enough time hiring. After you figure out your vision and get product-market fit, you should probably be spending between a third and a half of your time hiring. It sounds crazy, and there will always be a ton of other work, but it’s the highest-leverage thing you can do, and great companies always, always have great people.“
How to hire the best people you've ever worked with by Marc Andreessen
“First, drive. I define drive as self-motivation—people who will walk right through brick walls, on their own power, without having to be asked, to achieve whatever goal is in front of them. People with drive push and push and push and push and push until they succeed. Second criterion: curiosity. Curiosity is a proxy for, do you love what you do? Anyone who loves what they do is inherently intensely curious about their field, their profession, their craft. They read about it, study it, talk to other people about it... immerse themselves in it, continuously. And work like hell to stay current in it. Not because they have to. But because they love to.“
Founder Mode by Paul Graham
“In effect there are two different ways to run a company: founder mode and manager mode. Till now most people even in Silicon Valley have implicitly assumed that scaling a startup meant switching to manager mode. But we can infer the existence of another mode from the dismay of founders who've tried it, and the success of their attempts to escape from it.“
Zero to One, Foundations (Ch.9) by Peter Thiel
"The single greatest task for any founder or CEO is to recruit the right people. No company has a culture; every company is different, and the CEO is the one most responsible for the difference. At PayPal, we hired people who were extremely smart, independent, and had intense personalities. That made them independent-minded and sometimes difficult to manage, but that was okay because their work was exceptional.”