Job Description
Technical Co-founder / CTO - Inbo
Lead the Future of Newsletter Reading
The Opportunity
Gmail wasn't built for reading. We're building what should have existed all along.
Inbo.club is solving a $12.5B market problem: 360M newsletter readers worldwide are stuck using email clients designed for communication, not consumption. We're creating a dedicated home where newsletters finally get the reading experience they deserve.
We need a Technical Co-founder who can both architect our future and build our present.
Proven Traction
Live Product: V1 shipped on iOS & Google Play Store
Active Users: 50+ beta users with strong engagement
Y Combinator: Application submitted for Fall 2025
Revenue Path: Clear $500K Year 1 target with proven monetization
This isn't a 0-to-1 challenge. This is a 1-to-100 scaling opportunity.
Your Role: Balanced Leadership
Technical Leadership (40%)
- Own technical vision and long-term architecture roadmap
- Lead and scale engineering team (2 developers 4+ person team)
- Make critical technology decisions for platform scalability
- Establish engineering culture and best practices
Hands-On Development (40%)
- Build core features: email processing, AI recommendations
- Write foundational code for critical systems
- Code reviews and technical mentorship
- Jump in to solve complex technical challenges
Co-Founder Responsibilities (20%)
- Product strategy and roadmap collaboration
- Technical communication to investors and stakeholders
- Team building and engineering hiring
- Translate technical capabilities to business opportunities
Technical Challenges You'll Lead
Email Processing Infrastructure
- Challenge: Scale from 10 emails to 100K+ daily newsletters
- Your Role: Architect system + code critical components
- Impact: Foundation for millions of newsletter readers
AI-Powered Recommendation Engine
- Challenge: Build personalized newsletter discovery
- Your Role: Design ML pipeline + implement algorithms
- Impact: Drive user engagement and platform stickiness
Creator Analytics Platform
- Challenge: Build revenue-generating analytics dashboard
- Your Role: Define requirements + code real-time data systems
- Impact: $300K+ annual revenue target
Scalable Platform Architecture
- Challenge: Prepare for millions of users across mobile/web
- Your Role: Microservices architecture + core platform development
- Impact: Technical foundation for global scale
Market & Revenue Opportunity
Market Size:
- 360M newsletter readers globally ($12.5B industry)
- Creators spend $1-5B yearly on subscriber acquisition
- Average $0.80-$4.00 per engaged subscriber on Facebook/Google
Our Advantage:
- Lower CAC through organic product-driven growth
- Higher LTV with highly engaged newsletter readers
- Multiple revenue streams: subscriptions + creator tools + ads
Year 1 Revenue Targets:
- Sponsored Onboarding: $50K
- Creator Analytics: $300K
- Ad Marketplace: $100K
- Premium Features: $50K
Current Tech Stack
Production (Working & Proven):
Frontend: React Native + React.js + TypeScript
Backend: Node.js + Express + PostgreSQL + Redis
Infrastructure: Azure + Docker + Custom Email Pipeline
Your Technical Leadership Will Add:
AI/ML: OpenAI GPT-4 + TensorFlow + Vector Search
Scale: Microservices + Event Architecture + CDN
Analytics: Real-time pipelines + BI dashboards
Integrations: APIs + Webhooks + Platform connectors
What We're Looking For
Technical Leadership (Must-Have):
- 5+ years full-stack development with scalable system architecture
- 3+ years leading engineering teams while staying hands-on
- Startup experience scaling products from MVP to 100K+ users
- Technical decision-making - choosing technologies and architecture
- Team building - hired, mentored, and grown engineering teams
Core Technical Skills:
- Full-stack expertise: React Native, Node.js, PostgreSQL, cloud infrastructure
- Email/messaging systems: SMTP, email processing, deliverability
- AI/ML integration: APIs, recommendation systems, data processing
- DevOps capabilities: CI/CD, monitoring, deployment automation
Co-Founder Qualities:
- Strategic thinking: Translate business goals to technical roadmaps
- Communication skills: Explain complex tech to non-technical stakeholders
- Product mindset: Understand how tech choices impact UX and business
- Ownership mentality: Take responsibility for technical and business outcomes
Ideal Background:
- Previous co-founder or founding engineer with equity experience
- High-traffic consumer apps serving thousands of daily users
- Y Combinator or accelerator alumni preferred
Co-Founder Package
Equity & Compensation:
- Equity stake (based on experience and contribution)
- Nominal salary initially, competitive post-funding
- 4-year vesting with 1-year cliff
- Full benefits package post-funding
Leadership Authority:
- CTO title with full technical decision-making power
- Participation in strategic decisions
- Hiring authority to build your ideal engineering team
- Conference speaking and thought leadership opportunities
Lifestyle & Growth:
- Remote-first culture
- Direct founder relationship
The Technical Co-founder We're Seeking
We need someone who understands that great technology serves human needs, not the other way around.
You're not just a technical leader - you're someone who believes that the best software feels invisible, that elegant architecture enables beautiful experiences, and that the most powerful feature is often the one you don't have to think about.
You've built systems that scale, but more importantly, you've built systems that matter. You understand that when we're processing 100,000 newsletters daily, we're not just moving data - we're preserving thousands of hours of human creativity and enabling millions of moments of discovery and reflection.
A Final Thought
Reading deserves a sanctuary. We're not here to fight for attention. We're here to protect it.
We're building Inbo.club for everyone who has ever saved a newsletter to read later, only to lose it in the noise. For everyone who believes that the best technology is the kind you don't have to think about. For everyone who thinks the internet could be a little more thoughtful, a little more human.
If you're someone who wants to build technology that serves human flourishing rather than exploiting human attention, we should talk.
More Info
Key Skills
deployment automation
Email messaging systems
CI CD
recommendation systems
OpenAI GPT-4

