--- title: 'Founding Growth Lead at Unusual Ventures' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/founding-growth-lead-unusual-ventures-new-york-kmsxm8vt2jf2' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-09' --- # Founding Growth Lead at Unusual Ventures - **Company:** Unusual Ventures - **Location:** New York, NY - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-08-24 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09 - **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/unusual/33a052ad-40a7-47b7-9a3c-cd409404367e ## Job description ## FOUNDING GTM LEAD Washington, DC or New York, NY • Full-time • Hybrid (3+ days/week in office) ## ABOUT GOVSIGNALS GovSignals is the AI system of work for government contracting. It can take the government longer to buy a capability than an adversary takes to field one, and we exist to close that gap. We're the only startup managing government contract data with AI in both FedRAMP High and DoW Impact Level 5 environments. Our platform monitors 5,000+ live government data sources, 100,000+ federal and state agencies, and 2,000,000+ government contracts in real time. Our customers range from small contractors to Fortune 500 primes with billions in annual awards, and our government work reaches mission critical contract management. In the past 18 months, we've earned FedRAMP High and IL5 authorizations, joined GSA MAS and the MDA SHIELD IDIQ, and signed some of the biggest names in government contracting. ## ABOUT THE ROLE We're hiring our Founding GTM Lead to build our growth function. You'll work directly with the founding team across product, sales, deployment, and platform, and own the AI-native GTM engine that scales GovSignals' reach — from messaging and campaigns to the operational backbone underneath them. This is a role for an AI-native marketer who builds the systems, not just runs them. You'll do the work of a five-person marketing team by wiring LLM-driven workflows and modern automation tools into a GTM engine that compounds. For the past three years, GovSignals' growth has come almost entirely from word-of-mouth and in-person engagements. Now it's time to build the next evolution of our GTM motion — and we want it built by someone who treats AI tooling as their daily workbench, not a buzzword. If your instinct when you see a marketing problem is "I can wire that up myself this weekend" rather than "let me hire an agency," this role is for you. ## WHAT YOU'LL DO - Build the AI-powered GTM engine. Stand up enrichment pipelines, LLM-driven personalization, and agentic outbound using tools like Clay, n8n, Zapier, Make, Apollo, Instantly/Smartlead, Lindy, Gumloop, and custom GPTs / LLM APIs — doing the work a much larger team would do manually. - Run growth experiments. Scrappy, high-velocity tests on messaging, channels, and ICPs. Ship daily, measure weekly, kill what doesn't work. - Translate technical AI into compelling narratives. Decks, demos, one-pagers, case studies, and landing pages — written in plain English about hard problems. - Design and execute campaigns end-to-end. Email sequences, paid/social, webinars, conference activations, and ABM plays focused on federal primes, Fortune 500 contractors, and government agencies. - Own the numbers. Define CAC, LTV, and funnel conversion. Build dashboards. Refine strategy based on data, not vibes. - Partner across the company. Work with product, sales, and deployment so GTM programs align with our ICPs, sales workflows, and what we're actually shipping. To apply, show us a workflow, automation, or system you've built — an enrichment pipeline, an n8n flow, an agent, a dashboard, anything — that replaced work a marketing team would traditionally have done manually. A Loom plus a link beats a resume. ## WHAT YOU BRING - 3+ years in marketing, growth, or GTM — ideally at early-stage or high-growth startups where you wore many hats. - Must have experience working directly with federal agencies, government contractors, or organizations supporting the federal government. - AI-native workflow builder. AI tooling is your daily workbench. You've shipped real automations across multiple platforms and use LLMs constantly to enrich, personalize, classify, and write. You know your way around an API even if you don't write production code. - System builder. You've designed and scaled a marketing system from scratch — automation, attribution, integrations, the whole stack — not just managed one someone else built. - Sharp translator. You've turned technical product details into customer-facing narratives that converted. - Range. You're equally comfortable in an automation builder, a CRM, a Notion doc, and a sales pitch. Nice to have: you've built agentic outbound or AI-driven content ops in a previous role; a background in growth marketing, product marketing, or demand generation; experience marketing AI/ML, developer tools, or SaaS products; familiarity with GovTech, compliance, or federal contracting ecosystems; a background in government contracting, the military, or the intelligence community. ## THE TEAM GovSignals was founded by four cofounders who lived with this problem from both sides — selling to the government and serving inside it — with backgrounds across the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Department of Energy, Palantir, Amazon, federal contractors building for missiles, and state contractors building for prisons. You'll work directly with all four. The team at GovSignals has shipped to defense companies, scaled venture-backed startups, and founded companies of their own. ## HOW WE HIRE - Intro conversation (30 min) — your background and how you use AI tools to build GTM and marketing systems. - Build walkthrough (60 min) — walk us through a workflow, automation, or system you've built that replaced work a marketing team would traditionally have done manually. - Co-founder conversations (15 min) — meet the cofounders. - Meet the Team in Person ## COMPENSATION & BENEFITS - Base Salary: $120,000 – $180,000 - Equity: Meaningful stake in a well-funded, fast-growing startup - Benefits: medical, vision, and dental, unlimited PTO - Hybrid in our D.C or Brooklyn Navy Yard offices, 3+ days a week in person. The Yard built ships for the Navy from 1801 to 1966, now we build systems for Navy program offices. Due to the nature of our government work, this role is open only to U.S. citizens and other U.S. Persons. GovSignals is an equal opportunity employer. ## About Unusual Ventures ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: A venture capital firm that provides hands-on operational support and a dedicated engagement model to help technical founders of enterprise AI software startups achieve product-market fit. - **Entity Type**: Private (venture capital fund) - **Headquarters**: Menlo Park, California, United States - **Founded**: 2018 - **Founders**: Jyoti Bansal and John Vrionis ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Venture Capital / Financial Services, with a focus on seed-stage enterprise AI software startups. - **Target customers**: Technical founders of early-stage startups (B2B through founders). - **Mission or purpose statement**: “Raise the bar for what founders should expect from their venture investors” and give technical founders the best odds of finding product-market fit. ## Products & Services - **Unusual Venture Capital**: Seed-stage investment in enterprise AI software startups. - **Unusual Founder Services**: A team of full-time operators embedded with portfolio companies to execute customer discovery, go-to-market strategy, and product-market fit work. - **Unusual Academy**: An immersive program where founders work side by side with Unusual’s founders and expert operators. - **Community & Events**: Quarterly founders events, founder academy, monthly intimate dinners with customer prospects, and go-to-market tools. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not applicable (private fund; not publicly disclosed). - **Key Metric**: 20 employees (as of latest data); 51,647 LinkedIn followers (+16.5% yearly); 10 active job postings (+100% yearly). - **Notable Investors/Partners**: LPs are primarily non-profits (hospitals, foundations, HBCUs). Portfolio companies include Rime (powers nearly 100 million phone calls/month for clients like Mayo Clinic, Dialpad, Upstart, and Asurion). Co-founder Jyoti Bansal is one of only 16 people to build two companies surpassing $100M in revenue (AppDynamics and Harness). - **Growth Signals**: Portfolio companies raise follow-on rounds at valuations “significantly above industry averages.” The firm has seen a 100% increase in job postings year-over-year. ## Competitive Advantages - **Full-time operator model**: Unlike traditional VCs, Unusual embeds dedicated operators who do the work alongside founders, not just advise. - **Concentrated portfolio**: Makes a small number of investments each year, giving each founder full attention. - **Proven founders**: Jyoti Bansal (AppDynamics, Harness) and John Vrionis (30+ billion-dollar outcomes) bring deep first-hand experience. - **The Unusual Method**: A purpose-built framework for product-market fit, refined through thousands of customer conversations. - **LP alignment**: LPs are primarily non-profits, creating a “forces for good” ethos. ## Strategic Focus - Continue investing in seed-stage enterprise AI software startups. - Expand the Unusual Method and Founder Services to increase portfolio success rates. - Build a close-knit, supportive founder community to drive repeatable PMF. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: “Forces for good” – employees work with a mission-driven team committed to founders through the hard phases. 5.0/5.0 employer rating (1 review) with high marks for work-life balance, compensation, and career growth. - **Work environment**: Small team (20 people) with high impact. Offices in Menlo Park (HQ) and San Francisco; team also distributed across the US and Australia. Remote/hybrid policy not explicitly stated, but the presence of multiple offices suggests flexibility. - **Notable perks**: Opportunity to work alongside top technical founders and industry veterans; direct involvement in the product-market fit process; exposure to a concentrated portfolio of cutting-edge AI startups. - **Career path**: Roles across venture operations, sales, finance, and programs. The firm actively hires for roles that support portfolio companies (e.g., Founding Account Executive, VP of Engineering, Software Engineer) as well as internal functions (e.g., Director of Programs, VP of Sales). ## Sources 1. [unusual.vc](https://www.unusual.vc/our-story/) 2. [unusual.vc](https://www.unusual.vc/team/) 3. [unusual.vc](https://www.unusual.vc/founder-services/) 4. [jobs.lever.co/unusual](https://jobs.lever.co/unusual) 5. [linkedin.com/company/unusualventures](https://linkedin.com/company/unusualventures) ## Other roles at Unusual Ventures - [Account Executive - GovSignals](https://feeny.ai/job/account-executive-govsignals-unusual-ventures-washington-v5qmvvh121zc) — Washington, DC - [Operating Partner - Founder Services & Platform](https://feeny.ai/job/operating-partner-founder-services-platform-unusual-ventures-san-francisco-b7ffknpmaxhw) — San Francisco, CA - [Software Engineer, Growth - Rime Ai](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-growth-rime-ai-unusual-ventures-san-francisco-s5p7jbey688a) — San Francisco, CA - [Software Engineer, ML Serving - Rime Ai](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-ml-serving-rime-ai-unusual-ventures-san-francisco-ffg0j75y8aq4) — San Francisco, CA - [Software Engineer - Rime Ai](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-rime-ai-unusual-ventures-san-francisco-ckey6rat0q69) — San Francisco, CA - [Founding Account Executive - Roboto AI](https://feeny.ai/job/founding-account-executive-roboto-ai-unusual-ventures-seattle-1z2tsdepcdgx) — Seattle, WA - [VP of Engineering - Rime.AI](https://feeny.ai/job/vp-of-engineering-rime-ai-unusual-ventures-san-francisco-8k6p2m5f0qrg) — San Francisco, CA - [Chief Executive Officer - Stealth Startup](https://feeny.ai/job/chief-executive-officer-stealth-startup-unusual-ventures-san-francisco-qcbz6pgkm8jx) — San Francisco, CA - [Founding Engineer - Miravoice](https://feeny.ai/job/founding-engineer-miravoice-unusual-ventures-san-francisco-y6b563tm643v) — San Francisco, CA - [Founding Growth Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/founding-growth-lead-pallet-san-francisco-gwjwch2feeej) — San Francisco, CA / New York, NY