Gateway X — An invitation for Julie Rathert

Why we're fired up

You

Finding the best founder talent is the whole game for us right now. We've got the capital and the ideas — what compounds from here is our ability to find and attract exceptional people. That's the engine we're building, and we want someone exceptional to own it.

When we look at you, we see a rare fit:

You've done the actual work. You've placed dozens of leaders across two venture studios we admire. You know how this job is really done.
You're in St. Louis. That's not a footnote for us — it's a huge plus. We're building here, in person, and you're already home.
You're taking AI seriously. When we asked how you use it, your answer showed a clear appetite to improve, not just adopt. That instinct matters a lot for where this role is going.
You get the problem. You understood what we're trying to do quickly, and you were genuinely into it.

The idea

Instead of more interviews, let's work together

A role this important shouldn't come down to a few conversations across a table. We'd rather spend a few weeks building something real with you — and have both of us come away knowing whether this is a great fit.

So here's what we're proposing: a short, paid working sprint on a live search we actually need done. You lead it, your way. We work alongside you and learn how you operate. At the end, we'll both have a real answer.

For you

What you'll learn

An honest, unfiltered look at how we actually work — the team, the ideas in our pipeline, and the pace we move at. Real time with Jesse, Nak, and Adam. And a clear read on whether Gateway X is where you'd want to build the next chapter of your career.

For us

What we'll learn

How you find people, how you judge who's great and who isn't, and what you need from us to run at full speed — plus what we can build together when a domain expert like you pairs with our product and engineering team to 10x how Gateway X finds talent.

What you'd be working on

The real work

Here's the honest version of what we do all day: we explore new ideas worth building and go find the right founder-level talent to run through the idea maze with us. Doing that well — again and again — is the engine you'd own. So for the sprint, we want to drop you straight into a live one.

One of the first companies we're starting is Ampush for ChatGPT Ads.

Ampush for ChatGPT Ads

The short version: brands are losing traffic to ChatGPT, and almost nobody knows how to run ads on the platform yet. We're building a specialized, tech-enabled service to buy and optimize ChatGPT ads for them — the same playbook Jesse ran when he built Ampush on the first Facebook ads, 16 years ago.

It's about as clear a wedge as we've seen. Jesse gets roughly an email a week from a former CMO asking when we're launching it. We're already in conversation with OpenAI. The only thing standing between us and starting is the right person to run it.

That's your search. We want to find the person — and the few people around them — who could lead a business like this. Senior operators from the performance-marketing and ad-platform world: people who've lived in paid acquisition at a high level and have the horsepower to build something from zero.

What "done" looks like

Roughly five outstanding candidates with conversations booked on Jesse's calendar by the end of the sprint. Not fifty names in a spreadsheet — five people who make us go "yes, that's who we need to talk to."

How we'd run it

The shape of the sprint

Your approach

We're not going to hand you a playbook — the whole point is to see how you'd do this. Make a plan of how you'd attack it, and go.

About two weeks

We're thinking a two-week sprint, but we mean it when we say we'll move at your pace. We want your best effort, not a rushed one — especially knowing you're early in a new role. Tell us what's realistic and we'll build around it.

In person when you can

We'd love some time together in St. Louis during the sprint — as much as your schedule allows. A lot of the magic is in the room.

Time with the team

At some point we'd carve out a session with Adam, our CTO, to think about the tools and systems that could make a search like this 10x easier. Less "tell us what to build," more "let's build it together."

You tell us what you need

Tools, data, access, a Gateway X email — you tell us what'll help you do great work, and we'll set it up.

The details

A real commitment, both ways

This is paid, hourly, with a cap we'll agree on together — we'll never put you in a spot where you're working for free or guessing at scope.

But this isn't a contracting gig. We're not looking for a vendor for two weeks — we're hoping this is the first chapter of working together for a very long time. The sprint is just the lowest-pressure way we know to find out if we're right about each other.

What's next

If this sounds like something you'd want to do

Let's talk timeline and get you everything you need to start. No pressure on speed — just tell us what works for you, and we'll make it easy. We're genuinely hoping you say yes.

— Nak, Gateway X