by Page no: G115
Sessions
Roles and Job Descriptions
2018-09-25: by Dorian Vought
The first part of developing a Role is to understand the Core Activities of the business (http://FI.co/guides/core) where you need help. This can be challenging, since the Core Activities themselves may not be obvious and since it can sometimes be difficult to identify what you need help with. For example, even though you may be very good at customer acquisition, this may be such an important Core Activity that you want more help, so you want customer acquisition to be your first Role. A lot of first-time Founders look for the first Roles related to activities where they are weak, but it often makes sense to focus on your strengths.
Once you have identified the Core Activities that you need help with, then you will need to develop a Role, which may be a co-founder, an employee, a consultant or an intern. The outline of each Role type is below:
- Cofounder: A cofounder sets the vision and direction of the business, sharing between 30% and 49% of the total equity. Generally, cofounders will have known each other for some time, possibly years, and they have generally done a series of Test Projects together over a few months before deciding to be a co-founder.
- Employee: An employee is a specialist compensated to perform a function, normally receiving a nominal stipend and up to 5% equity at the genesis of a company. Early employees are usually recruited from personal networks, and they can be recruited over a series of weeks with one or two Test Projects.
- Consultant: A consultant is a specialist compensated to complete a discreet project, normally receiving either a fixed rate per project or a regular retainer, paid weekly or monthly. Consultants are often identified by networking platforms, such as Upwork, and are normally given one small paid project to evaluate their competency before trusting them with more extensive work.
- Intern: An intern is a generalist, usually a college student or recent graduate, that works for a defined period of time, such as three months, compensated with a nominal weekly stipend to help as needed. Interns are normally identified by posting to local universities or local job boards, and they are onboarded in the same way as employees.
Once you have the first two Roles that you are looking for, then you need to develop a Job Description. There are
- Opening: A sentence or two that sells a potential candidate on the Role and the business.
- Description: A paragraph that describes the vision and mission of the business that highlights the impact of the Role.
- Qualifications: A paragraph or a list of bullet points that describe the skills that the candidate needs to have to be eligible for the Role.
- Responsibilities: A paragraph or a list of bullet points that describe the activities that the candidate will be expected to perform in the Role.
- Application: A paragraph or list of bullet points that describe what the applicants need to do to properly submit an applicant, and it might include a description of the offered compensation, normally describes as a range or “commiserate with experience.”
A sample Job Description is below for reference.
Sample Job Description
[Subject] Intern
Are you interested in startups and entrepreneurship? The Founder Institute is offering a unique internship opportunity that offers unparalleled access and opportunity.
The Founder Institute (http://fi.co) is the world’s largest early-stage startup accelerator, having launched over 1500 companies in over 100 cities throughout the world. The selected intern will assist the Founder Institute’s local Silicon Valley semester launch and operation, having the opportunity to attend the program’s entrepreneurial training sessions, learn from top startup CEOs, meet interesting new companies, and interact with various participants in the startup ecosystem.
The ideal candidate is an organized, very well-written and spoken individual, who speaks English, and is passionate about technology, and entrepreneurship in and around Silicon Valley. You should be a go-getter that is comfortable both on the phone and in social situations, with a passion to one day build a company of your own.
The required responsibilities include:
- Assist in the marketing of the Founder Institute semester and events, including performing market research, listing events on various websites, reaching out to local groups and media, and more.
- Assist in the operation of the Founder Institute’s recruitment events and training courses, including venue setup, general event administration, and recording video of each event and uploading to our online tools. You can see the schedule at http://fi.co/curriculum/Silicon Valley.
To apply:
- Send us an email entitled “Founder Institute Internship Application – [Your Name]”
- Include your resume and one paragraph on why you are perfect for this position.
- Confirm that you are able to be present for the events on the schedule at http://fi.co/curriculum/Silicon Valley
Good luck!
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