Community and Partnerships Manager

Location: Greenville, SC

Experience: 3+ years

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It kick-starts your metabolism, replenishes blood sugar lost during sleep and boosts your energy levels so you can get through the day on a full tank of gas – or at least until your second cup of coffee.

The Startup Engagement Manager role might be the most important role at NEXT. 

Just like breakfast sets the tone for the day, this is the person who sets the tone for every startup founder and team member across StartupGVL. That first interaction, that first handshake that first smile that says, “How awesome is this?!? So glad you’re here! Let’s figure out where you should go next and who you should meet with.” It’s like a big bowl of oatmeal loaded with berries and nuts and packed with nutrition. 

We’re looking for someone who can cook up the best breakfast the Greenville startup community has ever seen. (No offense to Cinnamon Toast Crunch)

This highly visible role mashes up marketing, social media, event planning and execution with email outreach, 1:many meetings with founders and a highly-connected relationship with fellow entrepreneur support organizations (ESO) across the Upstate of South Carolina. This is NOT the right role for an introvert. You’ve got to be charged up by entrepreneurs and the perpetual motion machines that all founders resemble. 

We’re building a community, but we’re also building pipelines. NEXT sits in a unique role in that we tie the ecosystem together – kind of like a Fitbit that allows everyone to see what’s working and what’s not. Where to people get lost in the ecosystem and where do they typically enter? 

Founders (and their teams) are our main customers and at the center of everything we do. For some, the journey is just starting while for others the end is in sight – it’s a cycle. At the top of the funnel are those just beginning their journey, while at the narrow end you’ve got

Key Responsibilities:

• Pipeline development: build actionable profiles/personas for common NEXT audiences (founders, their teams, mentors, SME, service providers) stakeholders (our funders, partners and those that benefit from whom we serve) and strategies for reaching them with the goal of growing each in substantial ways.
• Foster great relationships: identify and recruit new founders to join our community as well as manage existing relationships with current startups and their teams. 
• Oversee Top-of-Funnel Marketing strategy: establish, document and deploy a marketing strategy that closely aligns with and supports our purpose, mission, vision and values. The marketing strategy should enhance and accelerate the organization’s ability to deliver on its operating and financial goals and commitments.
• Ecosystem leadership: Collaborate with our regional partners throughout the startup funnel (top/middle/bottom) and include economic development leaders to establish a narrative with a solid throughline calling out high-growth success stories. 
• Strategic communication and messaging: establish identity, standards and general voice for the brand. Newsletters, presentations and all forms of branded communications flow from your fingers and are under your careful watch.
• Events: the Startup Engagement Manager will have ultimate responsibility for all social events - Startup Drinks (SUDs) Greenville and our three signature Events – Launchpad Venture Summit and the StartupGVL Annual Awards – which exist as manifestations of our brand. These are typically ‘all hands on deck’ initiatives, so you’ll have a ton of support from the broad team, but they’ll be a success because of your unique approach and human touch. 
• Other duties as assigned

How Will We Know It's Working?

• Tripling of demand generation – more ‘lines out our door’
• New faces and new voices at our regular events
• Growth in social media following + engagement
• Clearer picture and pipeline of the entire StartupGVL ecosystem – this includes NEXT’s role, but also that of Furman, Clemson, Platform at Greer, SBDC, etc.
  

Knowledge and Skills Requirements:

• MarCom Expertise: executional and functional knowledge regarding marketing schedules, tools, CRM, and pipelines as well as agency management experience
• Familiarity with and a genuine passion for the early-stage, venture backable startup ecosystem is a must along with a strong desire to always be learning
• Ability to communicate and work effectively across a scrappy, hands-on org
• Expertise in CRM platforms – preferably HubSpot or Salesforce
• Proven attention to detail through prior work or life experience
• Comfortable working in ambiguity
• Strong emotional intelligence, active listening skills and high level of empathy
• Expertise in making relationships and maintaining strong bonds with those you work with
• Importance placed on diversity, inclusion and equity
• Outstanding communication skills and adept at leveraging modern storytelling tools – social media, video, in-person presentations, et al
• Strong servant-leadership mentality and desire to help founders thrive and grow their business
• Advanced skills with Excel or Google Sheets, Docs, and Slides is a plus
• Experience working with "No Code" and automation tools like Airtable, Zapier, etc. is a plus

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in a related discipline preferred 
• Or equivalent work experience

What is NEXT?

We get this question a lot. Over the years we’ve grown and continue to evolve, but at our core these are the driving forces:

• Mission: To identify, engage and provide support for high-growth entrepreneurs and their teams as they build scaling, investor-ready companies through programming, connections and support whether just starting out or well on their way.

• Vision: For Greenville to be the leading voice and shining example as the top choice among founders, mentors, investors and the talent required to launch and scale a business in a place you love to live.

• Core Values: We are servant-leaders | We are curious | We display initiative | We act with integrity | We are expert storytellers | We fuel impact | We embrace risk | We are resourceful 
  

Apply Now