Events Coordinator at First Round Capital

About First Round

First Round is a venture capital firm that works with founders exclusively at the earliest stages of company building, often when all they have is an “imagine if.” We fill in where we can until the team is filled out, tackling crucial early hiring and equipping those who are great at building product with the skills to sell it, too. By getting the foundational firsts right, we increase the odds of finding extreme product-market fit. Our founders’ “imagine ifs” have turned into companies like Notion, Roblox, Uber, and Square.

About Program Operations at First Round

The First Round Program Operations team is responsible for executing seamless, thoughtful and memorable experiences, programs, and events that continue to build and strengthen our vibrant and dynamic startup community.

First Round has, and will continue to create, a diverse range of programs and events that support that community of founders, operators, and investors. Programs like Angel Track and Product Market Fit Method provide essential resources and networking opportunities for investors and nascent founders. And events like our CEO Dinners, Founder Retreats and Lead-Sharing Parties help First Round founders strengthen their networks, learn from each other and reach their goals. In return, our communities drive massive value for First Round and for one another in countless ways, including supporting our founders, helping our companies scale, and learning more about specific industries from experts in our network.

The Program Operations team provides event design, planning and coordination services across all of these different types of programs and events that service our diverse community.

To help further this impact, we’re on the lookout for an extremely detail-oriented self-starter to join us as Events Coordinator to deliver excellent experiences to our community.

About the Events Coordinator Role

Your core role as Events Coordinator will include:

• Driving cross functional event teams (event sponsor, event hosts, etc) to ensure all tasks are on track and events are setup for success.

• Managing the end to end event design, planning, budgeting, logistics and on-site coordination of experiences at our SF office and occasional offsite events.

• Attending on average 2-3 First Round events and dinners weekly, and guaranteeing each event is executed to our standards.

• Communicating seamlessly with external event attendees and external vendors to ensure that events run smoothly.

Experience Requirements:

• 1-3 years of progressive event coordination experience.

• Experience successfully managing at least 4-5 events (or the equivalent) at any given time.

Nice to Haves:

• A short-list of vendors of all kinds in the Bay area.

• Experience doing events and programs in the startup ecosystem.

This role is based in San Francisco with a minimum of Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday required in office.

You could be a great Events Coordinator at First Round if:

• You’re obsessed with the little things. We’re looking for someone who would immediately notice if a tablecloth is uneven or the fonts on a menu printout don’t match. You care about getting the little things right and believe it’s the small details that make or break an event. You’re someone who leaves no stone unturned and is constantly thinking one step ahead of any event planning or execution moment.

• You have extreme ownership and work with an unusual sense of urgency and autonomy. People have told you that you’re amazing at getting sh*t done, and you work with a ton of urgency. You don’t have to be told what to do, you always just figure it out.

• You are the most organized person you know. Sometimes, we have five events going on in one week. We’re looking for someone who is able to understand the needs of each stakeholder and attendee, as well as project manage what needs to be done for each event – from booking venues and chefs, to collecting the dietary restrictions of each guest, to managing event invites and follow-up reminders. You are great at context switching between different types of events or modes of work (planning vs execution). This doesn’t drain you, but rather you find it motivating and exciting.

• You’re great at cross-functional leadership and can work across a spectrum of stakeholders. You won’t manage anyone in this role, but you will be bringing together multiple stakeholders to ensure event tasks are on track. You know how to adapt your style depending on the audience, and have a presence and the ability to earn respect from each of your collaborators. When tasks are overdue or decisions haven’t been made, you’re proactive and are comfortable pushing where you need to push and holding people accountable who don’t report to you.

• You’re service-oriented and flexible. You’re the right fit for this role if you are service-oriented and are motivated to jump in and help, even in moments when you aren’t asked to. That could be filling up waters, helping servers bring food to guests, or re-printing a nametag for a guest who forgot to RSVP.

• You’re incredibly creative and not afraid to push the boundaries. Part of this role is to help bring new ideas and energy to the events that we host! We want you to be creative and think outside the box to help us innovate and execute on our strategy.

• You’re a people person and love bringing communities together. Planning events and getting people together is a passion of yours. In your free time, you might be the person who’s pulling friends together for a party or intimate gathering, or the one folks consult about their weddings or birthday parties. You may even be a Partiful super user! We would love if you brought the same energy to our team.

Our Values

At First Round, we value resourcefulness, team-play, excellence and hustle. To give you a sense of what our team is all about, check out our values that guide our work:

• Try harder for founders. They’re our customers — LPs are our shareholders. Going above and beyond for our founders is what we do. We strive to be a founder's most valuable investor. We respond to their emails in hours, not days. We build candidate pipelines, unprompted. We arrange meal deliveries when they become a new parent. Simply put, we go above and beyond to earn that right to be their first call every time there’s a bump in the road.

• Give your unvarnished opinions and unwavering support. We strive to be kind, not nice. One of the most (counterintuitively) compassionate things you can do is to offer your unvarnished opinion — along with your unwavering support. That willingness to risk a fleeting moment of discomfort in exchange for someone else’s growth is long-term kindness.

• Treat the little things like big things. Everything can always be made better. We’re all about the carefully crafted, the nitty-gritty, and the bespoke. Whether it’s hand cutting each nameplate, or debating the optimal shape of the dinner table, no detail is too small to sweat.

• Make speed a habit. Whatever you’re building, remember that now is better than two weeks from now. We’re fans of starting small and iterating quickly. No matter what we’re launching, you’ll likely hear this question in a meeting: “How soon can we get something out there?”

• Invent and wander. Never stop experimenting. The best ideas are born out of experimentation. Our flagship programs have always come from our penchant for going out on a limb and approaching problems with a different perspective.

• Build wider doorways and longer tables. We're in the business of backing people and betting on their ideas — no matter where they come from. While talent is evenly distributed, opportunity is not. First Round is dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workspace and we encourage people from underrepresented groups to apply!