There’s a point when a spark becomes more than an idea; it becomes a calling. For Nathaneo Johnson, a Yale junior studying Computer Science and Economics, the spark flashed when he realized the immense weight of proximity and privilege in entrepreneurship. It wasn't just a notion, it was a question: what if luck could be engineered?
Johnson’s story begins not in Silicon Valley, but in a dorm room, co-hosting The Founder Series podcast with Sean Hargrow. They interviewed student entrepreneurs across Yale, tracing the invisible arteries of access, chance introductions, connections born of alumni networks, or family ties. When it dawned on them that their own entrepreneurial hunger wasn’t backed by the right address or surname, something clicked. They decided to build their own kind of bridge.
The result: Series, the world’s first AI-powered social app designed not for scrolls, likes, or vanity, but for introductions grounded in real, mutual value. In early 2025, Johnson and Hargrow raised $3.1 million in just 14 days, a whirlwind fueled by a viral LinkedIn trailer, spontaneous investor dinners, and the bold conviction that they were creating something urgently needed.
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But this isn’t just a funding story, it’s the story of two young Black founders refusing to fit the mold. As Johnson says, “We’re 6’5”, Black and technical, a direct foil to the Harvard story,” the one Harvard tale that began with Facebook and seems to define what success looks like in tech.
Series works like this: you tell your AI Friend through iMessage what kind of connection you need (a co-founder, mentor, investor), and that AI agent searches the Series network to deliver introductions with mutual benefit. No hearts, no followers, just warm, meaningful connections.
For Johnson, this was a reinvention of social media’s core mission. “Social media is great for broadcasting, but it doesn’t necessarily help you meet the right people at the right time,” he explained in an interview. Their intent: build what existing platforms dismantled, trust, context, and serendipity.
Along the way, they faced their own assumptions. Hargrow recalls being boxed into identity-based expectations because of how he looked; people assumed he was an athlete. Doors on campus slammed shut. And yet those same roadblocks revealed their purpose: finding the tribe that sees you and invites you in.
Now, months later, the Series is no longer a dorm-room project. The pre-seed round was led by Parable, steered by former a16z investor Anne Lee Skates, with support from Pear VC, DGB.VC, 47th Street, Radicle Impact, Uncommon Projects, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, and GPTZero’s Edward Tian. The blockchain of funding speaks volumes, not just dollars, but belief.
Today, Johnson and Hargrow are gearing up for a college tour, Stanford, MIT, Rutgers, UCI, to onboard student entrepreneurs and bring “a new face of entrepreneurship” to campuses across the nation. With tens of thousands of messages already exchanged between users and their AI Friends, and plans to expand into finance, dating, education, and healthcare, they’re building an infrastructure for what they believe the future of connection should be.
But as deep as this story goes, it’s colored by something more intimate, a childhood Johnson can now acknowledge. “When I was growing up, it was very hard to relate to people who had accomplished the things I wanted to do,” he reflects. “I can see my childhood self looking up to me now.”
That’s the true arc of Series, not just a tech edge, but the pulse of representation made real. When we emerge from this narrative, we don't just see an AI app; we see Johnson stepping into a space that he never expected, and inviting the rest of us to walk in beside him.
