Accelerator Program Manager

NEAR exists to power the community of developers and entrepreneurs who build sustainable businesses serving real users.  This only works if developers in the ecosystem are not dependent on grants or hackathon prizes but can actually generate income from services they build.  Not every developer starts with the skills to be an entrepreneur and not every entrepreneur has the technical resources they need to develop their product.

We work hard to support early stage entrepreneurs who are building on NEAR so they can level themselves up and turn a good idea into a great business.  To do this, we help them achieve their early milestones, debug technical issues and have helped a number of them to secure their first lead investors among top blockchain venture capitalists (including several who raised over $1m each).  To double down on these early successes, we’re building an accelerator program designed to identify the highest potential early stage businesses and give them what they need to get to market, raise funds and grow. Think of it as “Y-Combinator for blockchain projects”. 

In your role as the Program Manager, you will have a substantial impact on how effectively this program -- and related efforts -- succeed and, ultimately, drive ecosystem development.  You’ll own the full lifecycle of the program, starting with growing the top of funnel and managing the interviewing of prospective projects and ending when they have completed the program and received initial funding for their idea from external VCs.  Along the way, you’ll need to hack growth, hustle hard to support (and advise) the GTM strategies of participants, and ultimately do whatever it takes to make them successful.

Along the way, you will work closely with the head of BD, our marketing team and a variety of external stakeholders including developers, entrepreneurs, investors, mentors, validators, ambassadors and other participants of the ecosystem.  To be successful, you will need to combine great business acumen with tight operational thinking and ultimately the “do whatever it takes” attitude to hustle things together. The best applicants will have experience building similar programs and starting businesses of their own.

Because blockchain is a nascent space, you will have a front-row seat for understanding the kinds of businesses which will be most successful utilizing it while you build a wide range of interesting and valuable relationships across both founders and funders in the space.  You will actively participate in defining initial markets, dominant distribution channels, and business models for businesses that are being formed as we speak -- and can help shape those which aren’t yet even ideas. 

 

Key Outcomes

1. The best projects in the world choose to build on NEAR as part of this program.
2. Participants receive continuous strategic, tactical and operational support to get to market and, ultimately, receive funding from top blockchain investors
3. Top projects building on NEAR refer the best teams from within their network to build on NEAR

 

Key Responsibilities

1. You own the full scope of the operation of the Accelerator Program (and related future efforts), including top of funnel strategy, selection criteria, in-program logistics, demo day, and beyond.
2. Ensure that cross-functional teams (particularly BD, marketing, ops and dev) work like a smoothly conducted orchestra to achieve your goals for both filling up the funnel and running the program offering.
3. Facilitate the growth and evolution of the accelerator as we iterate the program throughout 2020

 

Key Experience

1. Significant experience in either project management or program management functions or as a founder or funder of startups.
2. Familiarity with blockchain and its ecosystem
3. Well versed in technical topics

 

Get to Know NEAR

NEAR is a scalable blockchain and smart contract platform designed to provide the performance and user experience necessary to bridge the gap to mainstream adoption and the scale sufficient to meet that adoption well beyond a billion users.  Unlike other next generation blockchains, NEAR provides app builders with a seamless development experience and new ways of monetizing their applications.

 

Working at NEAR

At NEAR, you have the chance to become an early member of a world-class team with significant upside. The opportunity we are tackling will completely reshape the landscape of the web for decades to come and potentially affect billions of people.  We are funded by the top names in the industry and have attracted the best technical minds in the world.

This is a performance culture where you’ll be working alongside -- and learning from -- other top quality teammates executing at their best.  We value boldness, ownership, transparency, curiosity and experimentation. We offer all employees competitive salary and benefits plus a fully stocked office within walking distance of BART in SOMA.  

If you’re excited by the challenge of winning in the fastest moving ecosystem as a member of its best team, this might be a good fit.

 

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