Name	Notes	Product	Stage	Tags	Investors	Location
	Working at Opendoor; great team; strong growth; huge market	Buy/sell your home online	Mid-size	Breakout	KV, GGV	SF
	Hiring hackers; network effect; strong growth; great team	Startup funding and advice	Early	Breakout	Sequoia	SF/MTV
	Working at AngelList; exceptional team; strong growth; growing market; incl PH subset	Fundraising and recruiting for startups	Early	Breakout	Atlas, GV	SF/NYC
	Large market	Engineering microbes	Mid-size	Breakout	DCVC, Softbank	Emeryville, CA
	Strong growth; large market	Freight forwarding	Mid-size	Breakout	FF, 8VC	SF
	Strong growth; large market	Online content	Mid-size	Breakout	Greylock, A16Z	SF
	Strong growth	Background checks	Mid-size	Breakout	Accel, YC	SF
	Strong growth	Data backup, recovery, compliance etc for enterprise	Mid-size	Breakout	LSVP, Greylock	Palo Alto
	Strong growth; large market	Moneyball for clothing	Mid-size	Breakout	Baseline, LSVP, Benchmark	SF
	Strong growth	SaaS for law enforcement	Mid-size	Breakout	GC, Spark	NYC/DC
	Strong growth	Single sign-on for enterprises	Mid-size	Breakout	A16Z, Greylock	Various
	Working at Intercom; strong growth	Customer messaging platform	Mid-size	Breakout	Social Capital, Bessemer	SF, Dublin
	Working at Segment; strong growth	Analytics	Mid-size	Breakout	Accel, Thrive	SF
	Strong growth	In-memory databases	Mid-size	Breakout	Accel, KV	SF
	Working at Tanium; Strong growth	Enterprise security	Mid-size	Breakout	A16Z	Emeryville, CA
	Strong growth	Mortgage enterprise software	Mid-size	Breakout	A16Z, LSVP, FF	SF
	Working at Docker	Application containers	Mid-size	Breakout	Benchmark, Greylock	SF
	Strong growth	Brick and mortar analytics	Mid-size	Breakout	F8, FF	SF

View the list as a PNG image.

Breakout List 2017, Extended

A few more companies that the $5mm gross profit in 2017 requirement, with less certainty on whether they will increase gross profit by the target of 8x over 3 years.

Name	Product	Stage	Tags	Investors	Location
Hyperloop One	Transportation tube	Mid-size	Breakout	Sherpa	LA
Affirm	Loans	Mid-size	Breakout	KV, Spark	SF
Gusto	Payroll, benefits & HR	Mid-size	Breakout	GC, CapitalG	SF
Wish	Walmart, but online	Mid-late	Breakout	F8, GGV	SF
Thumbtack	Find service professionals	Mid-late	Breakout	Javelin, Sequoia	SF
PlanGrid	Construction software	Mid-size	Breakout	Sequoia, Tenaya	SF
Optimizely	A/B testing	Mid-size	Breakout	Benchmark, A16Z	SF
Soylent	Meal replacement	Mid-size	Breakout	Lerer, A16Z	LA
Synack	Penetration testing	Early	Breakout	KPCB, GGV, Icon	Various
Lyft	Car rides	Mid-late	Breakout	Mayfield, FF	SF
Slack	Team chat	Mid-late	Breakout	Accel, A16Z	SF
Illumio	Data center security	Mid-size	Breakout	A16Z, GC	Sunnyvale, CA
Qadium	Network information for enterprise	Mid-size	Breakout	FF, NEA	SF
Collective Health	Health benefits management	Mid-size	Breakout	FF	SF
Instacart	Grocery delivery	Mid-size	Breakout	KV, Sequoia, A16Z	SF
OfferUp	Local buy/sell classifieds	Mid-size	Breakout	Jackson Square	Bellevue, WA
Quora	Q&A	Mid-size	Breakout	Benchmark, Thiel	MTV
Reddit	Online communities/forums	Mid-size	Breakout	Altman	SF
Magic Leap	Augmented reality	Mid-late	Breakout	Google	Various
Asana	Enterprise task management	Mid-size	Breakout	Benchmark, FF	SF
Wealthfront	Online investment management	Mid-size	Breakout	DAG, Index	PA
Pinterest	Save and discover products	Mid-late	Breakout	Bessemer, A16Z	SF
Radius	B2B marketing tools	Mid-size	Breakout	AMEX, F8	SF
Nuna Health	Healthcare data for enterprises	Mid-size	Breakout	Non-public	SF
Oscar Health	Health insurance for consumers	Mid-size	Breakout	Thrive, KV, GC	NYC

The best companies have a) large markets or markets that will be very large in 10-20 years b) a strong moat c) the potential for many years of compounding growth without proportionally increasing costs, amongst other things.

To assess moat/defensibility, ask "how easy would it be for a competitor to build a cheap competitor and be more attractive?"

There is a large difference between a decent company that is likely to experience some growth and one that is likely to experience compounding growth for many years with a massive ceiling. Opportunities will be richer at the latter. If you're optimizing for opportunities, seek startups that are great, not hot.

Future Breakouts 2017

Companies where data makes us expect they will be on the 2018 Breakout List

Name	Notes	Product	Stage	Tags	Investors	Location
Shogun Inc.	Read: Interview with the CEO	Stealth	Very early	Future Breakout	8VC	SF
???	Announced via Twitter/this email list.					???

April 2018: We have a new company that is early-stage and super interesting.

• You may want to consider [redacted] if you're an excellent front-end engineer and you want challenges that enable you to grow as a front-end eng.
• If you want to substantially impact a very large industry, you may want to consider [redacted].
• If you’re comfortable with ambiguity and great at figuring out your own priorities without direction, you may want to consider [redacted].
• If this sounds suited to you, request the name here.

Foundational List 2017

Can be $100bn companies with minimal product changes by 2026.

As a side note, if joining Amazon, go to AWS. If joining Facebook, go to the AI lab or Oculus. If joining Alphabet, go to DeepMind.

More obvious

Name	Notes	Product	Stage	Tags	Investors	Location
	Great network effect; strong growth; huge market	Accommodation	Late	Foundational	Sequoia, Greylock, A16Z	SF
	Working at Uber; strong growth; go to the Uber ATC or Otto teams	Car rides	Late	Foundational	FRC, Benchmark, Menlo	SF, Pittsburgh
	High energy market; go to Tesla Autopilot Team	Cars and energy	Late	Foundational	Elon	Palo Alto

Likely

Name	Notes	Product	Stage	Tags	Investors	Location
	Lots of hype lately in part due to Spectacles; nice network effect	Cameras and messaging	Late	Foundational	LSVP, Benchmark, IVP	LA
	Without SpaceX, no-one is working on colonizing mars.	Rockets 🚀	Late	Foundational	Elon, FF	LA
	Expect Stripe to be building up defensibility; large and growing market	Accept payments online	Mid-size	Foundational	Thiel, Elon, Sequoia, GC	SF

Earlier bets

Name	Notes	Product	Stage	Tags	Investors	Location
	Working at Opendoor; exceptional team; strong growth; huge market	Buy/sell your home online	Mid-size	Foundational	KV, GGV	SF
	YC's Hiring Post; lots of action going on; strong brand; strong growth; exceptional team	Startup funding and advice	Early	Foundational	Sequoia	SF/MTV
	Working at Slack; repeat founders; central to customers' lives; momentum/growth	Team chat	Late	Foundational	Accel, A16Z	SF

Important problems, The "Mission List" 2017

Important and valuable problems. Mission = "How would the world be different if this company didn't exist?"

Name	Mission	Tags	Investors	Location
	Without Open Phil, big philanthropists won't systematically work out the most important problems for humanity and work on them — instead, people will choose emotionally. See also: 80,000 hrs, and more.	Important	Dustin, Cari	SF
	Without OpenAI, AI will pose a bigger risk to humanity. See more companies working on this.	Important	Sam, Greg, Reid, Jessica, Elon, Peter	SF
	Without SpaceX, no-one is working on colonizing mars.	Important	Elon, FF	LA
List: Climate/Energy	Without these companies, climate change will pose a bigger risk to humanity.	Important	Various	Various
List: Biosecurity	Without these companies, biosecurity will pose a bigger risk to humanity.	Important	Various	Various

More missions in draft as well as specific lists e.g. bringing people out of poverty, helping elect a tech/engineering candidate in 2020 (indicate interest), or helping people be more satisfied and create more value (collaboration with Arik).

Depending on your values, these mission statements also apply:

"Without us, people will die of old age."

"Without us, people will factory farm huge numbers of animals."

"Without us, people governments and territories won't have incentives to compete."

"Without us, most people won't develop a sense of purpose."

"Without us, people won't be able to trust scientific research."

"Without us, addiction will remain a massive societal problem."

Ambition List, 2017

This list is a first in 2017. A few items on here are experiments from a friend, and as a result, the list will probably be a little confusing.

Breakout companies are great for ambitious people for the same reason schools like Stanford are great

a) you meet other ambitious people — future co-founders/employees

b) you get a high quality signal — useful for helping future co-founders find you, and allies/getting people to help you

c) you get a "paypal mafia" — great for future collaborators

The ambition list is more ways to get a) and b) and c), without joining a company.

PG on the best way to learn to make a startup successful:

“So really what you need to know early on to make a start up successful is developing products. You would be better off going to design school if you would want to go to some sort of school. Although frankly the way to learn how to do it is just to do it. One of the things I got wrong early on is that I advised people who were interested in starting a startup to go work for some other company for a few years before starting their own.”

— Paul Graham, Co-founder of Y Combinator

What should I apply to?

Don't limit your options before you need to. First, create options. Then, choose. Choosing first places unnecessary constraints.

Ambition List 2017, Extended

A few more high potential opportunities that are worth noting.

Name	Notes	Product	Tags	Time commitment	Location
Venture Associate	Venure firms + AngelList Analyst Program, etc	High information environment + exposure to ambitious founders	Future Founders	1-3 years	SF/Menlo Park
Lab/Studio Gig	Expa, Betaworks, HVF, etc	High information environment	Future Founders	Various	SF/NYC
Chief-of-Staff Roles		High information environment + exposure to smart people	Future Founders	Various	Various

Resource List

Be relentlessly resourceful.

Resources for companies

List of services for tech companies looking to hire engineers

Comprehensive Guide to Resources for Hiring Great People (very long, was non-public from Dec 2015 until now)

Resources for ambitious employees and future founders

Resource List: Figuring out what you want / your “purpose”

Life purpose questions

Resources for ambitious employees

Remember, building a great company takes time. Don't join a company and leave after three years because it hasn't won yet. Seek a company that you believe either has a) people so great you want to work with them for life or b) a problem so valuable you're willing to put 10-15 years into it. Then figure out where your current and future skills can help it win, and make it win.

Resource List: Getting hired at technology startups

Checklist: Engineer/data scientist resume checklist

Use A-List to get intros to founders and hiring managers and TripleByte to demonstrate your skill through programming tests.

Breakout List annotated version of the 2017 Wealthfront Career Launching Company List

Breakout Careers: Deciding which company to join, applying, interviewing, negotiating, comparing offers, and what to do after getting hired.

What type of company/opportunity is right for you?

Marc Andreessen Career Guide

Dustin's notes on "Somewhere that’s right for you: choosing your first startup"

List of great technology recruiters to reach out to

Offer checklist: checklist for deciding whether to join a specific company

How to get hired at small companies without standardized hiring processes (e.g. venture firms, labs/studios, chief-of-staff roles)

Guide to interviewing your future manager before deciding where to work

How to make the most of an opportunity (e.g. working at a startup) — for if you're already at a breakout, or once you get hired — if you apply to any breakouts, definitely read this!

"Is the list always correct?"

No

Why are some companies featured?

At Breakout List we curate a list of the best companies. We also want to make money so that we can stay in business so that we can keep curating this list, for you. Therefore, we sign recruiting agreements with companies. We think all the companies should sign recruiting agreements. However, not all are willing to — we can't force them. But what we do do with the others is, we want to give them an incentive to sign a recruiting agreement. And the incentive is we allow them to put more in depth content about their company on the Breakout List, and be listed in a more prominent location. That's it! We ignore requests asking to pay to be on the list, and we don't knock any company off the list because they won't do a recruiting agreement with us, we simply allow the ones that do to give more content and more description to you, and to be shown in a more prominent location. That's it! And all this allows us to continue, indefinitely, to keep giving you the best curated list possible.

“Why isn't {company} on this list?”

Many companies are well known. Some companies have decent sized monetizable consumer attention or gross profit. Fewer companies have very high growth rates.

How do you get data? Why is this better than looking at an investor's portfolio? Can I get my company on the list? FAQ

Previous lists

View the 2016 (end of 2015) list as a PDF (size: 285KB) and as a Quip document.

View the Q2 2015 list

Contact

[email protected] this domain

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