Accelerator Partnerships Lead, Rho
$145-184k
OTE
+ Equity
Business banking platform
Be an early applicant
Business banking platform
201-500 employees
Be an early applicant
$145-184k
OTE
+ Equity
201-500 employees
Company mission
To take the friction out of finances, and to prime their customers for success.
Role
Who you are
- You are embedded in the startup ecosystem in your target market—you know the accelerators, the programs, the operators, and the MDs, and they know you. You have direct, existing relationships inside the top programs in your geo; not peripheral familiarity, but real credibility with the people who run them
- You have 2–4 years of experience in VC partnerships, channel partnerships, or founder-facing GTM roles at a high-growth startup or venture-backed company—or you are a founder yourself
- Founders trust you. You add value before asking for anything, and you know the difference between being a vendor and being a resource
- You have built or operated programs, events, workshops, or office hours that founders actually wanted to attend
- You balance long-term relationship depth with short-term pipeline accountability. You can manage a 12-month partner relationship arc and a quarterly acquisition target simultaneously
- You are fluent in early-stage startup finance, fundraising dynamics, and the operational realities of early-stage companies—founders don't have to explain their world to you
- You are hungry to own a market category, not manage a program, and you are motivated by outsized, compounding impact
What the job involves
- This is not a general accelerator partnerships role. You will own Rho's relationships with the programs that define startup culture in your market—whether that's the most selective, high-signal programs in the world or the community-driven ecosystem that produces the next generation of high-growth founders. Your job is to make Rho the default financial platform they adopt from day one
- These markets are relationship-dense. You will succeed not by running a standard partnerships playbook, but by becoming a trusted operator in your ecosystem—someone who shows up before there is an ask. Success is not measured by activity. It is measured by whether founders in these programs choose Rho before Demo Day
- We are hiring one person for this role in New York City and one in San Francisco
- Own the primary relationship with Managing Directors, Group Partners, and program leads at the highest-signal accelerators in your market—you are the first call they make when thinking about a financial platform for their founders
- Build trusted relationships at the staff level (partners, associates, community teams) so Rho has visibility into cohort dynamics and emerging needs
- Develop deep relationships across the broader VC community in your geography—including family offices, sector-specific funds, and university programs that feed the accelerator pipeline
- Represent Rho at the events, demo days, partner dinners, and community gatherings that define startup culture in your market. You will be a known, credible presence in these rooms
- Drive Rho adoption within each cohort from first conversation through activation, with clear conversion targets and a structured follow-up cadence
- Build and run founder-facing programming—office hours, workshops, fireside chats, roundtables—that delivers genuine value, not marketing disguised as content
- Partner with Sales on warm handoffs for high-ACV opportunities that emerge from the accelerator ecosystem
- Collaborate with Marketing to create scalable pipelines that move founders from a first impression to a fully activated client and referral partner
- Build and own the accelerator partnerships playbook for your market—from first contact through multi-cohort expansion and renewal—with clear KPIs: cohort penetration rate, activation velocity, and GP/ACV influenced
- Map and prioritize the accelerator landscape in your market; quality of cohort and alignment with Rho's ICP matter more than volume
- Evaluate new programs for inclusion and manage the portfolio with intentionality, not opportunism
- Feed founder insights from your cohorts back to Product and Marketing to inform roadmap decisions and targeted campaigns
- Partner with the VC Partnerships team to align accelerator strategy with LP and GP relationship development across your market
- Collaborate with Marketing on co-branded activations, founder panels, field events, and founder-facing content tied to program timelines
- Contribute to CRM hygiene and pipeline tracking so accelerator-sourced deals are visible, attributable, and reported with precision
Our take
Rho was founded to address the growing need among small and medium-sized businesses for a unified solution to manage corporate spending and cash flow. Aiming to serve companies with 30 to 500 employees, Rho designed its platform to create seamless workflows across banking, corporate cards, and accounts payable.
The company introduced Rho AP, an accounts payable product, followed by a corporate card in partnership with Sterling Bank, enhancing its offering for businesses looking for efficiency in managing financial operations. With a clear focus on product strategy and growth, Rho has been expanding its team and integrating AI capabilities into its platform to stay ahead of the evolving fintech landscape.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
34% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 4 rounds)
Dec 2021
$75m
SERIES B
Jan 2021
$15m
SERIES A
Total funding: $97.2m
Company benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision
- Commuter benefits
- Flexible work policy
- Wellness perks
Company HQ
SoHo, New York, NY
Leadership
Everett Cook
(Co-Founder & CEO)Studied International Economics at Vanderbilt, before working in Investment Banking at Deutsche Bank. They were a Senior Analyst at Taylor Woods and Atreaus Capital.
Alex Wheldon
(Co-Founder)Founded Trebax Innovations and Kanary Limited. Served as CMO of Smarkets and CPO of Lyst.
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