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Launchpad is Salesforce's startups program — and this role is focused on the earliest-stage companies in the ecosystem: VC-backed startups typically under 50 employees who are building fast, hiring fast, and making GTM infrastructure decisions with very little time and very few resources. They don't have a Salesforce admin. They don't have an IT team. And they won't wait six weeks for a solution.
As an Associate GTM Manager, you will be Launchpad's primary presence in the Bay Area's most active early-stage communities — including top-tier startup accelerators and founder programs (e.g. YC, Speedrun), founder networks, and the VC firms backing the next generation of breakout companies. But unlike a traditional relationship manager, your value to these companies is as much technical as it is relational. You'll help founders actually implement and get value from Salesforce — not just sign up for it.

This is a high-volume, high-build role. You'll own scalable programs, create repeatable on-ramps for accelerator cohorts, and help define how you can build with Salesforce from day 1.

You will work directly with the Head of Startups and the broader Launchpad team to build the tooling, programs, and playbooks that help Salesforce show up authentically for the companies that will define the next decade.

Building & Scaling Programs

• Design and build scalable technical on-ramps for early-stage startups — including onboarding workflows, accelerator programming, and lightweight implementation guides that founders can actually use

• Own a high-volume territory of VC-backed startups under 50 employees — the coverage model here requires programs and tooling, not just conversations

• Build and maintain relationships with top-tier accelerator programs and founder communities to create consistent, repeatable cohort-level engagement

• Work closely with Salesforce SMB sales leadership to align on startup accounts and ensure the right companies get the right level of support

• Track and manage territory performance, contributing to regular portfolio reviews with Launchpad leadership

Technical Engagement & Value Creation

• Help early-stage founders actually implement and derive value from Salesforce — not just evangelize it. That means getting your hands dirty: configuring use cases, connecting integrations, demonstrating Agentforce capabilities, and making the platform feel real for a 10-person team

• Bring a genuine, technical point of view on the AI-powered GTM stack — you understand how the best early-stage companies are using AI agents, automation, and developer tooling to scale lean

• Help founders understand how Headless 360 lets them build on the Salesforce platform without being locked into any single surface, and how AgentExchange extends their stack with trusted agents and integrations

• Be comfortable with vibe coding and AI-assisted configuration — you don't need to be an engineer, but you need to be able to build quickly and show founders what's possible

• Serve as the bridge between a founder's technical questions and the Salesforce ecosystem — knowing when to go deep yourself and when to bring in the right resource

Sales Enablement

• Serve as the Launchpad expert for Salesforce SMB sales teams — helping AEs and sales leaders understand how to engage early-stage, VC-backed companies and what technical support these companies actually need

• Run enablement sessions that go beyond the value prop — equipping the sales org with the technical context to have credible conversations with founder-led companies

• Collaborate with Launchpad leadership to bring learnings from the SB segment back to the broader team

Community, Events & Ecosystem

• Host and facilitate curated founder events, accelerator programming, and ecosystem activations that build Launchpad's presence in the early-stage community

• Build relationships within founder communities, accelerator networks, and early-stage VC firms that extend beyond individual companies — creating durable touchpoints with the ecosystem at large

• Help founders discover the full Salesforce ecosystem: from Agentforce and AI-powered automation to the agents and integrations available on AgentExchange

• Gather and synthesize founder feedback to continuously improve Launchpad and Salesforce's approach to the earliest-stage companies

• Contribute to broader Launchpad community initiatives and campaigns in collaboration with the central team

Strategic Contribution

• Contribute to internal portfolio performance reviews and provide data-driven insights on the SB startup landscape

• Bring a point of view on how the early-stage ecosystem is evolving and what it means for Launchpad's strategy

• Own ad hoc strategic projects that contribute to the growth and success of the broader Launchpad program

• A builder's mentality — you're someone who creates things, solves problems with whatever tools are available, and doesn't wait to be handed a solution. This could show up as having built a company, owned a sales function end-to-end at an early-stage startup, run a technical program, or developed tooling and processes from scratch

• Technical fluency — you're comfortable with AI-powered tools, platform configuration, and API-level conversations. You don't need to be an engineer, but you need to be able to sit with a technical founder and be taken seriously

• Hands-on experience with or genuine enthusiasm for vibe coding, AI agents, or building with AI-powered development tools — you see these as practical instruments, not buzzwords

• Strong familiarity with the startup ecosystem — you understand how early-stage companies are built, what founders care about, and how they make decisions with limited resources and zero tolerance for friction

• Exceptional communication skills — you can earn a technical founder's trust quickly and translate complexity into clarity

• A scrappy, high-volume approach to relationship building — you get more done with less, and you're energized by it

• Self-starter mentality with strong work ethic, personal drive, and character qualities aligned with Salesforce's core values

• Willingness to travel as needed (~15%)

• 4–6 years of relevant experience — this could be in venture capital, enterprise software, startup ecosystem roles, sales, or business development, but what matters most is that you've built something, owned something, or operated close to the technical and commercial intersection of an early-stage company

• Direct experience working with or inside accelerator programs, founder communities, or early-stage VC networks

• Familiarity with the Salesforce platform and/or the GTM tech stack for startups — ideally with a point of view on where AI-powered tooling, CRM, and developer platforms fit in a founder's journey

• Experience in a Solutions Engineer, technical sales, or builder-adjacent role is a strong plus

• Experience hosting or managing ecosystem events, founder programs, or partner activations

• Degree in Economics, Finance, Business, Computer Science, or a related field