Introducing The Shortlist New York
A new way to discover NYC's best startup opportunities.
đ Hey, itâs Andrew.
Happy New Year! Iâm excited to share my newest project with you today. Keep reading below.
đ
Upcoming Events
Jan 21 | đ˝ď¸ Brandmakers Dinner Club (NYC) â a 20-person salon dinner for CMOs and heads of marketing at consumer companies.
Jan 27 | đ The Shortlist Founder Showcase (NYC) â an application-only evening connecting six breakout founders with exceptional engineers and GTM operators.
Jan 28 | đ˝ď¸ Junto Founder Dinner (NYC) â for seed to series B founders/CEOs.
Jan 30 | â Founder Breakfast Club (NYC)
Feb 10 | đşđ¸ Extraordinary Founders Dinner (NYC) â for ambitious immigrant founders and builders - hosted at our favorite Chinese restaurant.
Feb 17 | đ˝ď¸ Junto Founder Dinner (NYC)
After spending the last few years hosting 200+ events across NYC, SF, and Austin, and connecting founders with talent, I kept seeing the same problem:
The best startup opportunities never make it to job boards.
By the time a company is âhiring publicly,â the founding team is already set. The early equity is allocated. The people who built the product, the processes, and the culture got in because someone made an intro before the headlines.
Meanwhile, I know so many incredible second and third-time founders who are building again. People who have succeeded massively before and are now working on their next thing.
And yet nobody knows about them.
So Iâm launching The Shortlist New York - a monthly event series and newsletter connecting ambitious talent with breakout founders in NYC.
How it works
Monthly Founder Showcases
Every month, we host an event where six founders take the stage to tell you what theyâre building and why you should join them. This is a carefully curated lineup of vetted founders and CEOs building companies I believe will explode in the coming months.
Weâll invite ~50 of the top engineers, designers, and GTM operators (sales, growth, marketing) to meet them. Free to attend, but application-only. Our first event is on January 27 - apply here.
Bi-weekly Newsletter
Between events, youâll get a newsletter featuring under-the-radar job opportunities at seed through Series C companies, founder spotlights, and curated events worth attending in the NYC ecosystem. Subscribe here.
Our north star metric: Hires made following the event.
Who is this for?
This is for ambitious engineers, designers, and GTM operators who are:
Looking to join the next unicorn before itâs obvious
Currently at a big tech company or mid-stage startup, wondering whatâs next
Ready to join something earlier where equity and ownership matter
Looking to meet founders before everyone else figures out theyâre the next big thing
My goal is to make this the best in-person event for startup hiring in NYC.
Iâve spent years building community in tech. Iâve seen what works and what doesnât. This is the event I wish had existed when I was exploring my next move.
Why should you attend?
Youâll meet founders before everyone else does
These are second and third-time founders who are 6-12 months away from their breakthrough moment. Youâre getting introduced before the hype, which means better roles, more equity, and influence over product decisions. And youâll hear directly from the founders and CEOs of these companies.
Curation is our single most important factor
Youâre not one of a thousand people, but one of 50. The person sitting next to you might be a senior engineer at Google exploring their next move. The person across from you just left a Series C startup to go earlier. These are your peers, and the connections youâll make in this room are just as valuable as the pitches.
It wonât be boring
After sitting through dozens of corporate speaker events, I know exactly what not to do. This will be casual and fun, hosted in a cool venue with some music and food⌠somewhere you actually want to spend your Tuesday night.
Get involved
Attend our first showcase â January 27. Limited spots, application-only.
Join our talent network â Tell us what youâre looking for. Weâll connect you with companies that match before roles go public.
Founders: Apply to pitch â Hiring for key roles? We want to feature you.
Subscribe to the newsletter â Get jobs, founder spotlights, and events delivered bi-weekly.
A quick note: Iâm lucky to be building this with Ivor Stratford and our marketing associate Sangavi. A big thank you to our Fibe team: Jacob, Maks, Danielle, Anna, Anya, Vitoria, and our branding consultant, Jamie Dong, who led our full design sprint and created the brand from scratch.
See you on January 27th.
â Andrew
đ Andrewâs Bookmarks
My favorite links to help you be wiser and more creative.
Marketing Ideas â One of my favorite newsletters. It's written by my friend Tom Orbach, who runs growth at Wiz (the $32B cybersecurity company). Every Thursday he breaks down one tactic that's actually working right now. No fluff, just marketing ideas you can steal. 60,000+ marketers subscribe.
Standing Out in 2026 â Lulu Cheng Meservey might be the best in the world at what she does: comms and personal branding. Here she drops a masterpiece on why 2026 is the year of doing real things
37 Pieces of Career Advice I Wish Iâd Known Earlier â Ryan Holiday is one of my earliest inspirations. at 15, he was working at a small deli and grocery store. Shortly after, he was the director of marketing for a publicly traded company. Heâs also been a research assistant to an author, an analyst at a talent agency, an entrepreneur, a freelancer, a speaker, and an author himself. His advice for building a career.
đ Tech Community Plugs
Resources for entrepreneurs, investors, and tech professionals.
â RARE OPPORTUNITY: My friend Andrew DâSouza is helping 100 founders raise capital in 2026. Fill this out.
đ˘ Looking for an office space in NYC? I know of a few great spots opening up. Hit reply if youâre searching.
đ¸ Fundraising â Are you raising capital? Get your startup in front of my network of 2,000+ top-tier VC investors, angel investors, and family offices. Sign up here.
đ Investors â Looking for deal flow? Receive curated deal flow from my network in your inbox every month. Sign up here.
đŁď¸Wispr Flow â Your time is way too valuable to waste typing. Use Wispr Flow instead. This is by FAR my favorite productivity tool.
â¨ď¸ Kondo â The best LinkedIn tool money can buy. Kondo is Superhuman for LinkedIn DMs. It turns your LinkedIn inbox into a lightweight CRM â you can label, sort, archive, and do a bunch of stuff amazingly fast. Get it here.
đ˝ď¸ InKind â the ultimate dining app for foodiesâearn up to 30% back when you eat out, plus get $50 off your bill every month at select spots. And as a bonus, we both get $25 free when you sign up. Sign up here.
đŚ Fidelity Private Shares â the best-in-class equity management platform with 409A valuations and a secure data room. With Fidelity Private Shares, youâre always fundraise-ready. To learn more, reach out to Charlie Stephens at Fidelity for support! Learn more.
đ Superpower â Achieve peak performance and improve your health by tracking 100+ biomarkers to get a comprehensive view of your body and get a customized action plan (P.S. I invested in this company!) Learn more.
đşđ¸ Looking for a US immigration lawyer? Reply here for an introduction to the lawyers I recommend for O1A/EB1 visas.
đ´ Equinox â Reply here for a free trial and discounted membership.
What other perks should I include? Let me know.
Thank you for sharing!
This is awesome and I look forward to attending Jan 27th!