Stealth Founders

Discovering tomorrow’s PayPal Mafia Today

4.1.26 - Lightspeed-backed Founder, Crosby Builder, and Factory Engineers Starting New

Mar 31, 2026

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3 min read

4.1.26 - Lightspeed-backed Founder, Crosby Builder, and Factory Engineers Starting New

ScaleOps CTO ($800M valuation) and early builders from Crosby, Variance, and Factory (~$60M ARR, 6x growth).

Mar 30, 2026

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4 min read

3.31.26 - The Saronic & Whoop Mafia

WHOOP’s CTO (ex–Waymo Chief Engineer, Apple Autonomy, $130M co-founder), Saronic engineers launching a16z- and Boost-backed startups, a YC F25 repeat founder, and Whirl AI’s founding engineer

3.30.26 - The Physical Intelligence & Mistral Mafia

Mar 29, 2026

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3 min read

3.30.26 - The Physical Intelligence & Mistral Mafia

Founding MTS @ Physical Intelligence, Mistral Founding Member, Anduril early SF engineer, Mistral researchers from DeepMind, OpenAI, and Meta FAIR (Llama), and a founding team member from Bessemer-backed Sett

Mar 27, 2026

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6 min read

3.27.26 - Top Founders of the Week

Kalshi’s 1st FTE, Anduril’s Chief Engineer, Shield AI's COO, Dreamer's CTO, and an Early Palantir Member.

Mar 25, 2026

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5 min read

3.26.26 - The Shield AI Mafia

Shield AI’s COO turned founder, Anduril’s former Chief Engineer, Tesla Cybertruck lead and Mach Industries build head, Founders Fund/Index-backed founding ML engineer, and a $100M Felicis-backed founder transitioning out of CEO

3.25.26 - Founding Members from Verily, Cape, Halter and a Repeat 8-Figure Founder

Mar 24, 2026

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5 min read

3.25.26 - Founding Members from Verily, Cape, Halter and a Repeat 8-Figure Founder

Verily's founding GM, a16z Bio Fund partner, $70M founder with Tempus exit, Lilac AI's 1st engineer (acquired by Databricks), Cape's founding SWE & 11-year Palantir tech lead, and the early Halter team

3.24.26 - A16Z-backed Founder, Post-Acquisition Founders from Amazon and Meta Deals, Plus Shepherd's Day-One Engineers

Mar 23, 2026

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5 min read

3.24.26 - A16Z-backed Founder, Post-Acquisition Founders from Amazon and Meta Deals, Plus Shepherd's Day-One Engineers

Fauna Robotics co-founder (NYU prof, ex-OpenAI) building in robotics again, Dreamer CTO and 3rd FTE now free agents, Shepherd's 1st FTEs, and repeat founders across Aviato, Riveter, and Daedalus

Mar 22, 2026

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5 min read

3.23.26 - The Kalshi Mafia

Kalshi’s 1st FTE, founding engineers behind the core trading product, former Chief of Staff, and a YC-backed repeat founder

Mar 20, 2026

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5 min read

3.20.26 - Top Founders of the Week

Repeat founder (prior exit), founding engineers behind Rox ($1.2B) and Sunday ($165M), plus YC and Z Fellows-backed founders