russ

I'm hiring a "talent scout" but not the "sit on LinkedIn/X all day scanning credentials" type. job to be done = produce a constant feed of interesting humans who should be on our radar. every day may bring a new focus "persona".. one day, you're scouting for invitees to Build (build.a16z.com) dinners and retreats hosted with/by our vertical funds (e.g. American Dynamism, Health & Bio, Infra, Apps, Consumer, Crypto, etc) the next day, it might be scouting for a New Media Fellowship cohort, high trajectory operators/experts we can drop into a WhatsApp together, people in a specific geography ahead of an IRL event, talent profiles to invite to "talent demo days" with our portfolio companies or feature in the a16z Build newsletter (a16zbuild.substack.com) the traditional approach to talent scouting optimizes for volume + data—where they've worked, what school, which logos. that's necessary but insufficient on its own. the real test is whether you can spot someone before they're obvious. pattern-matching on trajectory, not credentials. so, who are you? a collector of interesting humans. you thrive on being first to find breakout talent—the way some people thrive on discovering a band before they blow up. you're less "resume reviewer" .. more "human potential radar." you think in systems but don't over-index to "legibility bias." you see people for potential strengths, not lack of weakness. the work is part research rabbit-hole, part relationship cultivation, part editorial curation. you're not investing, but you're helping us build the ecosystem that will pay it forward to the next generation of great founders and operators, many of whom may go on to raise and build incredible companies. you? know them? tag or DM 🙏