Pie
AI growth platform that gets small businesses found in AI search, local channels, and answers their phones
Last verified August 17, 2026 · Updated daily
What Pie is building
Pie sells growth, not software, to Main Street businesses. Three products: AI Search does Generative Engine Optimization so a local auto shop or salon shows up when someone asks ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity for a recommendation; Growth automates customer acquisition campaigns across Google Maps, Yelp, and Nextdoor; and the just-launched Front Desk is an AI agent that answers the business's phone 24/7, takes bookings, and handles customer questions — a four-layer real-time voice stack (speech-to-text, LLM reasoning, workflow orchestration into the business's calendar/booking system, text-to-speech) that has to complete in roughly 300ms to feel human. The wedge is economic: local merchants have historically paid agencies $2,500-$5,000/month on long contracts for opaque marketing work, and Pie replaces that at a fraction of the cost. Distribution is the clever part — beyond direct sales, Pie embeds into vertical SaaS platforms like Tekmetric (15,000+ independent auto repair shops), reaching merchants who never respond to cold outreach. Claimed results: 100,000+ calls driven, customers typically seeing 15-20% year-over-year sales increases.
Why this matters
Two signals stand out. First, the founder-market fit is unusually literal: Syed Ali and Akhil Mantripragada ran new ventures at Toast (per Lightspeed's investment memo), shipping some of the first AI products small businesses ever used, and Syed spent years at Square before that. They collectively spent 15 years building SMB products and kept hearing the same thing — owners don't want more software, they want more customers. Second, Max Levchin (PayPal, Affirm) invested through SciFi VC and said the quiet part: 'Small businesses are notoriously hard to build for and even harder to reach, but the Pie team seems to have the rare combination of founder-market fit, distribution strategy, and product velocity to win this historically challenging market.' The market timing is the shift of local discovery into AI search. One regulatory wrinkle worth knowing: AI phone agents now face state disclosure laws (California's AB 2905, Texas's AI governance act), which makes compliance-aware voice engineering a real need.
Open roles at Pie
5 positions we're tracking. Roles are re-checked daily and removed when filled.
AI/ML Engineer (Voice Agents)
First seen last month
Full-Stack Product Engineer
First seen last month
Partnerships Manager (Vertical SaaS)
First seen last month
Growth/Performance Marketing Engineer
First seen last month
Customer Success Manager (SMB)
First seen last month
Know when Pie is hiring before anyone else
A role stays uncontested for about four days. Here's the window — and where we put you in it.
From $9/month, cancel any time.
Watching Pie
0 applicantsRole spotted & verified
1You get the alert
1You've applied
~8Hits the job boards
250+Hiring outlook
The funding announcement explicitly says the money goes to scaling the distribution model, deepening the product suite, and growing the team. They just launched a third product (Front Desk, an AI phone agent) simultaneously with the raise, which means voice AI engineering capacity is an immediate need. Emerging from stealth also typically triggers the first real go-to-market hiring wave.
Working at Pie
Since , Pie has built AI growth platform that gets small businesses found in AI search, local channels, and answers their phones. The team is now people. Working at a AI company at this stage means opportunity to shape your role based on the company stage.
Most openings are based out of New York.
How to actually get hired at Pie
Why applying the normal way doesn't work
There's an ATS, but at Pie, referrals get priority. Your cold application competes with sourced candidates and internal recommendations.
Who to contact at Pie
What to show them
Shipped production voice AI: real-time speech pipelines, telephony integration (Twilio/LiveKit), latency optimization for natural conversation (their pipeline targets ~300ms per turn), and handling of booking/scheduling logic with real-world edge cases. A demo of a voice agent you built that handles interruptions and ambiguity gracefully beats any resume line. Awareness of AI-disclosure laws (CA AB 2905, Texas) is a differentiator almost no candidate will have.
A cold email that works at Pie
What Pie screens for
Knowing the Tekmetric partnership (15,000+ auto repair shops) and the Moxie/Supercuts case study (65 salons, double-digit YoY sales growth) shows you understand the distribution model is the moat, not the AI. CEO Syed Ali's quote captures the thesis: 'Every owner I talked to said some version of the same thing: I need more customers, and I can't afford an agency.' An F-Prime investor's split of the two founders is useful outreach intel: Akhil is the zero-to-one product builder, Syed is the go-to-market outlier who scaled to thousands of businesses while still in stealth.
A tailored CV beats a generic one. Use Pie's job description language to clear filters.
Don't make these mistakes
Don't frame this as adtech or another marketing SaaS tool — the founders' entire origin story is that SMB owners are exhausted by tools and agencies. Pitching enterprise-grade complexity or agency-style services misses the point. Also avoid treating SMB as a downmarket stepping stone; both founders chose this market deliberately after Square and Toast.
Mistakes that kill Pie applications
Generic CVs stand out at a -person company — and not in a good way. Fastest path to rejection.
Don't open with what you want. Open with what Pie is dealing with right now — Two signals stand out, and what you'd do about it.
Applying and waiting = silence. Follow up at day five — it roughly doubles your odds of a reply.
Applying to Pie? Get the contact, not the form.
The Pie interview process
4 stages · 14 days typical · take-home: yes · modelled from similar companies
We don't yet have verified candidate reports for Pie. What follows is the typical process for a -person AI company — treat it as a model, not confirmed detail.
Interview stages
Recruiter Screen
Phone or video · 30 min
Basic qualification and logistics
Recruiter or HR
Hiring Manager Interview
Video call · 45 min
Role fit and experience deep-dive
Hiring manager
Technical/Functional Round
Video call · 60 min
Skills assessment and problem-solving
Team members
Final Round
In-person or video · 60 min
Culture fit and cross-functional alignment
Senior leadership
Pie take-home assignment
Pie includes a take-home exercise in their interview process. For AI roles, this typically involves a practical problem that takes 2-4 hours. Focus on clean, working code over premature optimization. They're evaluating how you think and communicate, not just the solution.
Pie interview timeline
Timeline: ~ days. That's about average than the AI median (14 days at people).
Interviewed at Pie?
Tell us how it went — stages, questions, timeline. Takes 90 seconds and it's how this page stays accurate for the next person.
Submit your Pie interview experience →Pie jobs, frequently asked questions
How many jobs does Pie have open?
5 open roles at Pie, last checked June 2026.
Does Pie hire remotely?
Pie doesn't have remote openings at the moment. All roles are in New York.
What roles is Pie hiring for?
Pie is hiring across Engineering, Other, Customer. The most recent opening is AI/ML Engineer (Voice Agents).
How do I apply for a job at Pie?
Apply via the links above. For tips, read our guide on how to get hired at Pie.
Does Pie respond to cold emails?
Not enough data yet on Pie's cold email response rates.
Who is the hiring manager at Pie?
At this size, hiring is usually run by the hiring manager.
How competitive is it to get hired at Pie?
Typical applicant count for AI roles ( people): 100-250 in two weeks. Apply fast.
How many rounds is the Pie interview?
4 stages: Recruiter Screen, Hiring Manager Interview, Technical/Functional Round, Final Round.
Is the Pie interview hard?
Focus on technical depth and system design, not puzzles. Technical Interview is reportedly the most challenging round.
Does Pie give a take-home task?
Yes, Pie includes a take-home assignment.
How long does Pie take to get back to you?
Around 14 days across the full process.
What should I prepare for the Pie interview?
Focus on technical depth and system design. At people, they're testing whether you can operate without process, not whether you memorised algorithms.
Where is Pie based?
Pie is headquartered in New York, US.
Get Pie roles before they're posted
A role stays uncontested for about four days. Here's the window — and where we put you in it.
From $9/month, cancel any time.
Watching Pie
0 applicantsRole spotted & verified
1You get the alert
1You've applied
~8Hits the job boards
250+