Hot-co employees briefly join friends' startups to boost fundraises, then return

DesireeCachette · x · 2026-09-22

@rakgarg observes a pattern: employees at hot companies (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) "join" a friend's startup to legitimize and help secure a large fundraise, then bounce as soon as the money is wired — often back to their original employer. He notes this is the third instance he's read about in the past month.

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