Markets expand to fill empty spaces

How does a start-up founder hire a software engineer or a tech worker find a date in 2025? They could share a job posting on LinkedIn, log on to a dating app — or leave a handwritten note in a Waymo.

That’s what Influur CEO Alessandra Angelini was thinking when she and Jennifer Lo Chan, Influur’s head of marketing, tucked a piece of paper into a self-driving taxi’s center console on a recent trip to San Francisco.

“Looking to hire senior software engineers to work on AI/music project,” said the note, a retro touch in a futuristic setting, with the company’s website and Angelini’s email scrawled below. That same day, another Waymo rider snapped a photo of the note and posted it on the social media platform X, where it has been reshared nearly 200 times, received more than 4,000 likes and more than 300,000 views…

A few days later, another handwritten ad found in a Waymo was shared on X from a single man looking for a date. The bachelor described himself as a 26-year-old who works in tech but “doesn’t make it my whole personality” and left a phone number for interested parties to text. The post has gotten more than 200 replies.