AI · San Francisco, United States
Unusual
Unusual helps brands understand and influence how large language models perceive them through applied interpretability research and Brand Engineering tools. Founded by NLP experts with experience at SpaceX and MIT, the company quantifies AI opinions to guide brand strategy.
Backed by Y Combinator, BoxGroup, Long Journey Ventures and 1 more
- Location
- San Francisco, United States
- Team size
- 1-10
- Founded 2024
- Total raised
- $3.6M
- Seed · last round Jan '26
About Unusual
Unusual helps brands understand how LLMs talk about them and provides tools to change those representations. It defines and aims to lead Brand Engineering, a field that measures LLMs' opinions of a brand and quantifies brand performance relative to peers. Its mission includes helping people control their own narrative rather than large AI companies. The company is led by cofounders Will Jack, CEO, and Keller Maloney, with Sarah Xu as Head of GTM, and the team includes alumni from MIT, Princeton, and SpaceX. Will Jack has been involved in NLP research since 2014 with experience at SpaceX and MIT and was the first to commercialize AI code generation in 2019 on HBO’s Silicon Valley, while Keller Maloney has built AI applications since 2019, graduating cum laude in Econometrics from Princeton and serving as a D1 All-American water polo captain. Sarah Xu has driven 10x growth at Circle Medical (YC W17) and built Ambience Healthcare’s GTM from pre-revenue, contributing to about $350M raised by Oak HC/FT, Kleiner Perkins, OAI, and a16z, and has designed growth engines at Google that scaled revenue 5–10x.
Culture & values
Engineering team focuses on reverse engineering sources, implicit biases, and reasoning patterns that guide model behavior
Team is driven by mission to help people control their own narrative rather than large AI companies
Company works on applied interpretability research
Funding
$3.6Mtotal raised
- Jan 2026 · SeedY Combinator, Phosphor Capital, Long Journey Ventures, BoxGroup$3.6M
- Y Combinator
- BoxGroup
- Long Journey Ventures
- Phosphor Capital
Company at a glance
The team at Unusual
1-10 peopleSee everyone on LinkedIn
Team breakdown
Team Distribution
- Leadership25%
- Design25%
- Business Operations25%
- Specialized25%
Where the Team Studied
- 1.Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 2.Princeton University
- 3.University of Oxford
- 4.Columbia University
- 5.University of Massachusetts Amherst
Team Worked At
- SpaceX
- Ares Management Corporation
Location
Team Composition
3 people- Arts and Design1
- Entrepreneurship1 senior1
- Leadership1 senior1
Life at Unusual
Frequently asked questions
Unusual is based in San Francisco, United States.
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