First Round is a venture capital firm that works with founders exclusively at the earliest stages of company building, often when all they have is an “imagine if.” We fill in where we can until the team is filled out, tackling crucial early hiring and equipping those who are great at building product with the skills to sell it, too. By getting the foundational firsts right, we increase the odds of finding extreme product-market fit. Our founders’ “imagine ifs” have turned into companies like Notion, Roblox, Uber, and Square.
At First Round, we invest in founders who possess not just strengths, but areas of true genius, whether it’s technical skill, product judgement, industry expertise, or a deep understanding of their customer’s pain point. But on the other side of every spike in talent are a few areas that are still underdeveloped, parts of the business where a founder doesn't have the skills and expertise — yet.
Simply put, there are many gaps that have yet to be closed when you’re only a 3-person startup. On the path to building a company of consequence, the very best founders are able to level up, both in terms of their own capabilities (by developing new muscles) and in the team around the table (by bringing in complementary talent).
That’s where our Founder Success team comes in, during the pivotal early years of company building. We fill in where we can until there's genius up and down the org chart, closing gaps around existing strengths while helping in the key growth areas on the transition from founder to founder & CEO. This might involve teaching a technical founder how to sell and take their product to market, or guiding them through making their first key hires.
Technical Sourcers on the Founder Success team have a mission critical role — to support founders in hiring their founding team members. Founders need to move quickly in making those early engineering, design, sales and marketing hires and we’re searching for someone to work hand-in-hand with them to find exceptional candidates. As a Sourcer, you will work with 3-5 Founders at a time, building quality candidate pipelines and doing sourcing outreach to help tee up candidate intro calls for our founders.
You’ll have exposure to some of the most exciting founders and companies on the planet, working side-by-side with the next Uber, Notion or Roblox founders in their very earliest days. You’ll have the opportunity to build strong relationships with exceptional people and may even join one of the companies you support at some point (we highly encourage that path).
Engage in high-volume candidate sourcing for a wide range of roles, encompassing technical and non-technical positions, (from founding IC to director-level).
Continuously refine your sourcing strategies to increase candidate acceptance rate through iterative improvements.
Craft compelling outreach messages to engage candidates and get them excited about the opportunity.
Act as the liaison between candidates and stakeholders, facilitating introductions and feedback gathering while maintaining timely communication.
Track your sourcing metrics and use data to inform your decisions. Analyze key performance indicators such as response rates, conversion rates, and time-to-fill to identify trends and areas for optimization.
Continuously iterate and refine messaging approaches based on data-driven insights. Test different messaging variations, subject lines, and calls-to-action to determine what resonates most with candidates, driving higher engagement and conversion rates.
Partner closely with founders to refine hiring profiles, including scoping out job roles and designing interview loops.
Provide general recruiting guidance, from compensation/leveling to candidate closing strategies.
You have 3+ years of primarily technical sourcing/recruiting experience in a fast-paced, tech environment.
You have at least one experience recruiting for an early stage (<50 employees) company.
You possess impeccable attention to detail and excellent written and verbal communication. When it comes to representing First Round, your communications, both written and spoken, are top-notch and error-free.
You are highly organized and skilled at juggling competing priorities. You recognize the importance of staying on top of things and aren't afraid to seek help when needed. You rarely drop a ball and have a tight system for managing multiple recs at one time.
You're a strong relationship builder, able to build rapport with people from all backgrounds and levels.
You are creative and gritty. Tough searches don't faze you. Instead, they fuel your drive to think outside the box and uncover every possible way to find that needle in a haystack.
You have a deep sense of ownership over your work. You care deeply about the people you’re working with and quality of the work you do. You're quick to recognize when things aren't on track and seamlessly transition into problem-solving mode.
You are a fast learner and able context switch quickly from one thing to the next. You move with a sense of urgency. With constant change being the norm here, you hit the ground running every time- whether that’s sourcing on a new, unfamiliar profile or learning the latest recruiting tool.
At First Round, we value resourcefulness, team-play, excellence and hustle. To give you a sense of what our team is all about, check out our values that guide our work:
Try harder for founders. They’re our customers — LPs are our shareholders. Going above and beyond for our founders is what we do. We strive to be a founder's most valuable investor. That’s why we don't pull term sheets, and we're always in for their second round. We respond to their emails in hours, not days. We build candidate pipelines, unprompted. We arrange meal deliveries when they become a new parent. Simply put, we go above and beyond to earn that right to be their first call every time there’s a bump in the road.
Give your unvarnished opinions and unwavering support. We strive to be kind, not nice. One of the most (counterintuitively) compassionate things you can do is to offer your unvarnished opinion — along with your unwavering support. That willingness to risk a fleeting moment of discomfort in exchange for someone else’s growth is long-term kindness.
Treat the little things like big things. Everything can always be made better. We’re all about the carefully crafted, the nitty-gritty, and the bespoke. Whether it’s hand cutting each nameplate, or debating the optimal shape of the dinner table, no detail is too small to sweat.
Make speed a habit. Whatever you’re building, remember that now is better than two weeks from now. We’re fans of starting small and iterating quickly. No matter what we’re launching, you’ll likely hear this question in a meeting: “How soon can we get something out there?”
Invent and wander. Never stop experimenting. The best ideas are born out of experimentation. Our flagship programs have always come from our penchant for going out on a limb and approaching problems with a different perspective.
Build wider doorways and longer tables. We're in the business of backing people and betting on their ideas — no matter where they come from. While talent is evenly distributed, opportunity is not. First Round is dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workspace and we encourage people from underrepresented groups to apply!
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