---
title: 'Founding GTM Lead at Emergence Capital Partners'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/founding-gtm-lead-emergence-capital-partners-san-francisco-81dnjeb3n441'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-11'
---

# Founding GTM Lead at Emergence Capital Partners

- **Company:** Emergence Capital Partners
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2025-12-22
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/emergence-capital-partners/7070c353-78d3-4095-83cd-4837c7f6bfff

## Job description

Founding GTM Lead

## About the Role

You'll build the go-to-market engine from scratch. You'll close deals yourself while building the playbook, processes, and team that scale revenue from early traction to repeatable growth. As the founding GTM hire, you'll own the entire sales motion – from identifying target customers and crafting messaging to running demos, negotiating contracts, and closing deals. You'll develop deep expertise in the customer problem and become the voice of the market inside the company. The playbook you create will become the foundation for how the company sells. This role requires someone who can sell, not just manage. You should be comfortable carrying a quota and closing deals while simultaneously building the infrastructure for scale. The best candidates combine hustle with strategic thinking – they can grind through outbound prospecting and also step back to analyze what's working and systematize it.

## What You'll Do

- Own the full sales cycle from prospecting through negotiation to close for enterprise customers
- Develop ideal customer profile, value proposition, and sales messaging through direct selling experience
- Build pipeline through multiple channels: outbound prospecting, inbound qualification, partnerships, and network
- Run product demos and technical presentations tailored to customer needs and stakeholders
- Negotiate contracts and pricing, working with leadership on deal structure and approval
- Create and document sales playbook: qualification criteria, objection handling, competitive positioning
- Implement sales tools and CRM processes that enable tracking and forecasting
- Partner with product and engineering to translate market feedback into roadmap priorities
- Hire and develop the first sales team members as volume and complexity increase

## Qualifications

- 5+ years of B2B sales experience, with at least 2 years selling into enterprise accounts
- Track record of quota attainment and closing complex deals ($50K+ ACV)
- Experience as an early sales hire at a startup or selling a new product into an established market
- Ability to sell consultatively, understanding customer problems and mapping solutions to value
- Strong prospecting skills with experience building pipeline through outbound and network
- Excellent presentation and communication skills for executive-level conversations
- Experience with technical or complex sales cycles requiring multi-stakeholder alignment
- Comfort with ambiguity and ability to iterate on approach based on market feedback

## Nice to Have

- Experience selling AI, data, or technical products to enterprise buyers
- Background selling into the company's target vertical (financial services, healthcare, legal, etc.)
- Previous experience building and managing a sales team
- Technical background that enables deeper product and customer conversations
- Network of relationships with potential customers in target markets
- Experience with PLG motions, partnerships, or channel sales in addition to direct enterprise sales

## About Emergence Capital Partners

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Emergence Capital is a venture capital firm that partners with early-stage enterprise SaaS founders to build iconic cloud companies.
- **Entity Type**: Private (venture capital firm)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA
- **Founded**: 2003
- **Founders**: Jason Green, Brian Jacobs, Gordon Ritter

## Core Business
- Primary industry: Venture Capital (early-stage enterprise SaaS investment)
- Target customers: B2B enterprise technology startups (founders and management teams)
- Mission or purpose statement: “To help build the next generation of enterprise cloud companies that change the way the world works.” [emcap.com](https://www.emcap.com/thoughts/hiring-for-our-values)

## Products & Services
- **Venture Capital Funding**: Provides early-stage (Series A/B) capital to enterprise SaaS companies; typically invests in 5–7 new companies per year with a high-touch, low-volume approach. [emcap.com](https://www.emcap.com/)
- **Portfolio Support Services**: Offers go-to-market expertise, talent sourcing (via a dedicated job board), and strategic advice through the full company lifecycle. [emcap.com/about](https://www.emcap.com/about)
- **AI-Native Services (AINS) Playbook**: A framework and expertise for investing in “companies that sell outcomes rather than software” – a focus area as AI unlocks new business models. [emcap.com](https://www.emcap.com/)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available (VC firm valuation is not disclosed).
- **Key Metrics**: Over $9B in realized returns on less than $2.5B invested. Over 90% of early-stage investments successfully raised follow-on rounds and over 20% later surpassed $1B in valuation. [emcap.com](https://www.emcap.com/)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Founders/Partners include Gordon Ritter, Santi Subotovsky, Jake Saper, Kevin Spain, Yaz El-Baba, and others; the firm has zero partner turnover since founding. [emcap.com/team](https://www.emcap.com/team)
- **Growth Signals**: Raised sixth core fund (ECP VI) and Opportunity Fund I; crossed 100th investment; portfolio includes public companies like Zoom, Doximity, Blend, and notable acquisitions like Chorus and Openpath. [emcap.com](https://www.emcap.com/thoughts/hiring-for-our-values)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Hyper-focused thesis**: Concentrates exclusively on early-stage enterprise SaaS, allowing deep domain expertise and conviction.
- **Long-term, low-turnover partnership**: No partner has ever left the firm, providing consistent mentorship and support across company lifecycles.
- **Exceptional track record**: 1 in 10 early-stage investments have gone public, and 1 in 5 have reached unicorn status.
- **High-touch approach**: Partners make only one investment per year each, enabling deep diligence and hands-on founder support.

## Strategic Focus
- **Leading the AI transformation**: Actively investing in AI infrastructure, physical world AI, and AI-Native Services (AINS) as the next wave of enterprise business models.
- **Staying early and focused**: Maintaining a disciplined, thesis-driven investment strategy while scaling support for portfolio companies.
- **Expanding talent and resources**: Growing the internal team to sustain high-touch partnership and adding new capabilities (e.g., dedicated operating partners).

## Why Work Here
- **Culture of collaboration and long-term thinking**: The firm values “unanimous enthusiasm” on investments and emphasizes integrity, humility, and fairness.
- **Low turnover & internal growth**: Team members are developed into partner roles from within; no GP ever departs.
- **Impact on iconic companies**: Employees contribute to shaping the future of enterprise cloud alongside firms like Zoom, Salesforce, Veeva, and Gusto.
- **Work location**: Likely hybrid/office in San Francisco (not explicitly confirmed). [emcap.com/careers](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/emergence-capital-partners)

## Sources
1. [Emergence Capital Website](https://www.emcap.com/)
2. [About Emergence Capital](https://www.emcap.com/about)
3. [Team Page](https://www.emcap.com/team)
4. [Hiring For Our Values Blog Post](https://www.emcap.com/thoughts/hiring-for-our-values)
5. [Emergence Capital Job Board](https://talent.emcap.com/jobs)

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