Successful Founders Work As ‘Founder Associates’ First — Here’s Why

• A founder associate is a relatively new job open to career starters and young professionals.
• The role supports founders in running their startups while offering useful training.
• Insider spoke with several founder associates and venture capitalists about the position.

This is an edited, translated version of an article that originally appeared on September 15, 2022.

Charlotte Niklahs, the head of development at Project A, a venture-capital firm, says that while founder associate is a relatively new job title, it fills an important need.

Between 20% and 30% of the startups in Project A’s portfolio employ a founder associate, Niklahs said, describing them as “project managers to the CEO.”

“The classic problems for founders are I don’t have enough time, my calendar is full, and I have to look after my management team, defining their goals and keeping an eye on progress,” Niklahs added.

Kerstin Sandow, a senior talent manager at the Berlin-based VC fund Atlantic Labs, said: “Regardless of whether it’s an early-stage or late-stage startup, at some point founders ask, ‘Do you have someone who can support me?'”

“The founder associate is a founder’s right-hand person,” she added.

VCs help startups find founder associates

Sandow said Atlantic Labs felt that, given the demand of founders, the fund should create a “structured work experience” for founder associates.

The VC firm helps place career starters and young professionals in founder-associate positions, working with startups whose founders need support. The program lasts at least six months and as long as a year, Sandow said.

Sandow added that it’s a great opportunity for young talent looking to work in a startup.

“You get a mentor, learning sessions, access to events where you meet founders, and the chance to build a network,” she said.

“The goal is that you’re ready to be an entrepreneur yourself at the end of the program,” Sandow went on.

The responsibilities of a founder associate

Pauline Paeschke, who’s been part of the Atlantic program for eight months, said she’d been in three very different startups so far. She started at the delivery service Alpakas, then moved to Levy, a femtech startup. Now she works at The Healthy Pet Co., a pet-care products startup founded this year.

“It’s great to be able to work closely with founders and startups at different stages,” Paeschke said. “You can learn a huge amount.”

Paeschke said she’s responsible for defining the startup’s target groups. She also works on the pitch deck and handles some of the communication with producers, packaging service providers, and fulfillment partners. She said she’d created project plans and carried out research assignments.

Founder associates take on a wide range of tasks, but some of the most common ones are:

• Writing reports, including weekly updates for investors and preparation materials for meetings.
• Organizing and coordinating meetings, presentations, and events.
• Liaising with internal departments, investors, and customers when founders don’t have time.
• Working on special projects — anything that saves management time and can be delegated.

Founder associates are increasingly in demand

Christian Graser and Sebastian Wesserle, who run Angeheuert, a recruiting agency in Austria, said the role of a founder associate can differ from startup to startup.

“In growing, early-stage startups, the founder needs help with administrative and organizational activities of the day-to-day business,” Wesserle said.

“Even the CEO gets involved, and certain everyday tasks have to be done. That’s why we often tell candidates that we know you bring a lot to the table, but you won’t just be involved in the company’s strategy planning,” Wesserle continued.

Wesserle added that “it gets interesting with fast-growing startups in the later stages, from Series A on.” That’s when people in the role can have greater responsibility and get more involved in the company’s development.

“You can be a sparring partner for the founders and participate in strategic corporate planning,” Wesserle said.

Niklahs added that “most founders understand that a founder associate is not an executive assistant — they’re far too expensive.”

Key skills for the role

Lukas Bischof, a founder associate at HeyData, a data-protection software startup in Berlin, told Insider: “The role allows you to be one of the people who knows the company best. And that gives you the opportunity to look at the company critically and make suggestions for improvement.”

Bischof added that a founder associate needs “a lot of initiative and a willingness to take the issues into your own hands.”

“You have to be able to prioritize well, get to grips with tasks quickly, and be able to block things out and concentrate,” he said.

Paeschke added that founder associates need to be proactive and have the courage to articulate themselves to a management team.

“You can discuss with the founders what you want to get out of the experience, what you want to learn, and where you want to go afterwards,” Paeschke added.

Sandow said that “the most important thing is the right mindset.”

She added that experience in business administration and project management helps, as does a good working knowledge of Excel and PowerPoint — but none of that is crucial.

“Candidates have to be hungry and have the drive to learn and go through everything with the founders,” Sandow said.

She added: “It’s not about having a specific university degree — it’s about whether someone has the desire to lend a hand.”

Salaries and exit opportunities

At VC firms, a founder associate is a full-time entry-level job.

Graser and Wesserle said pay was usually 40,000 to 50,000 euros per year, or about $39,000 to $49,000, but they added that they’d seen positions with salaries as low as 30,000 euros and as high as 60,000 euros.

Sandow said the role’s prospects are good. “Very close relationships often develop,” Sandow said. “The conversion rate is very high; founders often want associates to stay on.”

Sandow added that for those who do stay on in the role, the next step is chief of staff, which would have more input on strategic issues.