Startup Partnerships - Y Combinator

Stripe; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 187,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

401(k) plan

Medical, dental, and vision benefits

Wellness stipends

Job summary

Stripe is seeking a strategic partnerships lead to oversee a portfolio of early‑stage accelerator partnerships, including Y Combinator, to educate, attract and retain startups. You’ll articulate Stripe’s mission to investors and founders and drive evangelism of our product across the ecosystem.

Office‑based roles expect about 50% time in the local office; some teams have higher in‑office attendance. You’ll build programs, nurture trusted partners, and synthesize market insights to inform product

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in the startup ecosystem with startup or investing experience.
• Experience building and managing partnerships within accelerator programs like Y Combinator.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration and communication skills.
• Ability to translate complex product concepts for founders and investors.

Responsibilities

• Oversee YC Combinator and other accelerator partnerships.
• Build and oversee key programs that support startups and Stripe's ecosystem.
• Communicate Stripe’s mission to investors and founders.
• Capture market insights to inform product and GTM strategy.
• Represent Stripe at startup events and cultivate VC partnerships.

Skills

Startup ecosystem expertise

Partnerships

Cross-functional collaboration

Investor relations

Public speaking

Tools

SQL

Python

Job description

About Stripe

Stripe is a financial infrastructure platform for businesses. Millions of companies - from the world’s largest enterprises to the most ambitious startups - use Stripe to accept payments, grow their revenue, and accelerate new business opportunities. Our mission is to increase the GDP of the internet, and we have a staggering amount of work ahead. That means you have an unprecedented opportunity to put the global economy within everyone's reach while doing the most important work of your career.

Who we are

About Stripe Stripe is a financial infrastructure platform for businesses. Millions of companies - from the world’s largest enterprises to the most ambitious startups - use Stripe to accept payments, grow their revenue, and accelerate new business opportunities. Our mission is to increase the GDP of the internet, and we have a staggering amount of work ahead. That means you have an unprecedented opportunity to put the global economy within everyone's reach while doing the most important work of your career.

About The Team

We believe startups are the future. We work with many of the newest and most innovative companies to help them grow, and we need your help. We're looking for someone who knows their way around the early-stage startup ecosystem to represent Stripe and share what we're working on with a broad base of startups and accelerator partners. Our primary goal is to help early-stage founders succeed, and that comes in a variety of forms - mentorship, helping them set up their financial stack, connecting them with investors and mentors, being their internal advocate, and much more.

What you’ll do

In this role you will oversee a portfolio of strategic early-stage accelerator partnerships, including Y Combinator, as we work to educate, attract and retain the most promising startups. You’re an energetic and organized self-starter; you understand the product well and can cultivate trusted partnerships with the right players in the ecosystem. You’re also able to succinctly communicate Stripe's mission and benefits to investors and startups. You will be on the front lines for evangelizing our product to prospective users and a key driver of our success with startups. You connect dots, constantly soliciting input from users and using that to improve product and GTM strategy. If you’re excited to spend your days interfacing with startup founders and early-stage investors, and find energy in tirelessly helping early-stage founders as they look to start and scale, then we’d love to talk.

Responsibilities

• Oversee our YC Combinator and other accelerator partnerships
• Work across the business to ensure that every founder's experience of Stripe is surprisingly delightful
• Build out and oversee the execution of key programs
• Spin up new initiatives that add continuous value to the Y Combinator ecosystem
• Serve as a point of escalation for partners and top startups to grow Stripe’s brand within the Y Combinator ecosystem
• Maintain a product feedback loop to internal teams to ensure that we continue to build for the highest potential businesses
• Work cross functionally with key internal stakeholders to advance strategic Stripe initiatives for startup founders
• Collate startup ecosystem insights and prepare weekly / quarterly updates detailing business progress, market trends, and product feedback gathered from startup engagement
• Represent Stripe in the startup ecosystem and take up speaking opportunities at key startup events that bolster Stripe as the best platform for founders to start and scale
• Leverage your data prowess (SQL, etc) to build out tools that enable us to better serve founders and demonstrate impact
• Interest and demonstrated ability to cultivate deep, trust-based partnerships with some of the most consequential venture capitalists

Who you are

We're looking for someone who meets the minimum requirements to be considered for the role. The preferred qualifications are a bonus, not a requirement.

Minimum Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in the startup ecosystem with startup or investing experience.
• Experienced business or technical founder with a passion for helping other founders.
• Strong understanding of the startup ecosystem, founder empathy, and ability to build strong partnerships, particularly within the Y Combinator community
• A user-first mindset, anything less than perfect is unacceptable to you.
• Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally with internal and external stakeholders to get new programming off the ground.
• You’re a builder by nature and are excited to launch new initiatives within Stripe that extend surprisingly delightful experiences to best in class founders.
• Strong verbal and written communications skills.
• Hunger and motivation to operate (and thrive) in a highly ambiguous and fast-paced environment.
• Humility, and who takes initiative with a “no task is too small” and “I’ll get it done” attitude.

Preferred Qualifications

• Well-networked individual who is active in the early stage venture capital and startup ecosystem
• Alumni of Y Combinator
• Ability to understand a technical buyer and key moments in their life-cycle where financial infrastructure decisions are made.
• Adept public speaker, presenter and moderator.
• Sales experience, understands channel partnerships and the value this channel brings to a GTM org.
• Strong Data skills - conversant in SQL or Python - and willingness to build tools serve our users and measure business impact.

In-office expectations

Office-assigned Stripes in most of our locations are currently expected to spend at least 50% of the time in a given month in their local office or with users. This expectation may vary depending on role, team and location. For example, Stripes in Stripe Delivery Center roles in Mexico City, Mexico, Bengaluru, India, and Dublin, Ireland work 100% from the office. Also, some teams have greater in-office attendance requirements, to appropriately support our users and workflows, which the hiring manager will discuss. This approach helps strike a balance between bringing people together for in-person collaboration and learning from each other, while supporting flexibility when possible.

Pay and benefits

The annual US base salary range for this role is $186,900 - $280,300. For sales roles, the range provided is the role’s On Target Earnings ("OTE") range, meaning that the range includes both the sales commissions/sales bonuses target and annual base salary for the role. This salary range may be inclusive of several career levels at Stripe and will be narrowed during the interview process based on a number of factors, including the candidate’s experience, qualifications, and location. Applicants interested in this role and who are not located in the US may request the annual salary range for their location during the interview process.

Additional benefits for this role may include: equity, company bonus or sales commissions/bonuses; 401(k) plan; medical, dental, and vision benefits; and wellness stipends.

We look forward to hearing from you.

At Stripe, we're looking for people with passion, grit, and integrity. Your skills and passion will stand out—and set you apart—especially if your career has taken some extraordinary twists and turns. At Stripe, we welcome diverse perspectives and people who think rigorously and aren't afraid to challenge assumptions. Join us.