How to Succeed as a Founder’s Associate

Back in 2021, I began my Founder’s Associate adventure in Berlin. The role was in its infancy, and no one had a clue what the role was about (phew, including myself). Since then, the FA has gained significant momentum and is now one of the first key hires for many founders serious about scaling their companies. Due to the versatile nature of the role, it attracts many of the most driven individuals who want to experience the thrill of the start-up world. For context, a recent FA position based in London for a venture-backed early-stage start-up received more than 800 applications (mind-boggling).

With a strong desire to learn more about the nuances of the role, I interviewed and published the first in-depth article on the topic, titled “The Emergence of the Founder Associate”. Since then, I have received tons of follow-up questions about what it takes to excel. To help us unpack the role that sometimes feels like a black box, I’ve interviewed four of the best FAs in Europe. All working at some of the most ambitious, venture-backed start-ups across different stages.

• David Ola, Nostos Genomics (Raised €5m from 42Cap, Frontline Ventures and Faber).
• Stephanie Leung, Stackfix (Raised an undisclosed pre-seed round)
• Felix Fernandez, Otto (Raised a pre-seed round from Sequoia Capital)
• Ines de Lestapis, Fertifa (Raised £6m from Passion Capital, Notion Capital, and Speedinvest)

Some keys takeaways:

1. Success in the role often derives from aligning personal goals with the company’s goals, while simultaneously delivering on key tasks in a timely manner.
2. Building trust with the founder can be achieved by minimising information asymmetries and demonstrating that you can effectively getting sh*t done across the organisation.
3. Specialising as a FA is often challenging and requires that you work in a company that allows you to experiment and find your “zone of genius”.

What is your definition of success in your role?

I look at it from two perspectives. The first is tied to helping the company achieve and deliver on their North Star metrics, which can range from bringing in new customers to making a new feature go live. The second is more about myself and what I would like to learn and get out of the role. A successful day for me is about achieving a balance between these two perspectives.

What are some of your personal KPIs?

When I first joined Nostos, understanding how to build trust with my team was my main KPI. I viewed the initial few months as an opportunity to establish deep trust with as many team members as possible. This is particularly important for the role, as it often involves working across numerous departments and stakeholders where trust is indispensable for getting things done.

How do you go about building trust?

In my opinion, the most important thing to do, which might be cliché, is to listen a lot, especially during your first few months. It’s crucial to ensure that you truly understand the context in which the department operates and their main challenges.

My approach was to have as many 1:1s as possible with all the team members with the goal of helping them solve their daily challenges. By bringing a different perspective and prioritising their problem-sets, I solidified trust. In short, I understood people’s perspectives on a deep individual level before jumping in with strategic level suggestions.

How do you stay relevant as the company grows?

That’s a really good question. If you don’t have context across the organisation, it can be hard to add value, as you are usually in no man’s land. On the other hand, if you understand the company’s goals and have inter-departmental context, you can easily find the key points of friction and make yourself indispensable.

In my situation, that meant working more on revenue operations. Sometimes it might not be the most glamorous tasks, but those are more often than not, the most crucial. In short, constantly evaluating if your tasks align with the company’s goals will set you on the right trajectory.

When is the right time to specialise?

This is indeed a challenge that isn’t always present in the role. Sometimes, the push to specialise comes directly from the company — that would be the ideal situation. If that isn’t the case in your role, I would suggest optimising for your “zone of genius”. It’s about what you enjoy the most, what you’re good at, and what’s important for the company. Overall, this is a challenge every FA faces, and you shouldn’t worry if you also feel this way. In short, balancing your goals with the company’s goals is the way to go.

How do you ensure alignment with the founder(s) you work with?

Alignment is achieved by minimising information asymmetry between you and the founder. I accomplish this by identifying problems in the company before the founder does. Then, I try to think about what the founder would do in that situation, and why they would make that decision. Overall, operating as an extension of them, both in terms of actions and thought processes, helps to reduce asymmetries.

What is your definition of success in your role?

Since I am the first and only employee at Stackfix, I naturally don’t have a fixed job description. What success looks like for me this week might be very different next week. I believe doing well in this role is related to the speed at which I can improve my skill sets to carry out a diverse set of functions, such as design, marketing, and at times, even coding (laughs).

If you knew then what you know now, how would you have prepared for your first 90 days in the role?

If I could go back in time, I would double down on understanding the context of the business, such as the industry and competitive landscape. Since the job description is not set in stone, the context is usually one of the few things that remain constant. Getting a clear view of the big picture helped me a lot during my first 90 days.

Also, since early-stage companies may not have people in specialised functions, founders are keen on any expertise you can bring from the get-go. The more skills you have in your arsenal, the more you can contribute during the earliest stages. Therefore, building your unique toolkit is crucial both prior to and during your stint as an FA. That being said, your willingness to roll up your sleeves and learn new skills as you progress in the role is just as important.

What are some of the biggest challenges to overcome in the role?

Managing the balance between operating independently and knowing when to ask for help is crucial. A guiding principle I often return to is whether the action I’m about to take will save or consume the founders’ time in the long term. For instance, if a 10-minute call can help to unblock a challenge, it’s probably worth asking the founder for help instead of spending multiple hours trying to figure it out myself.

How do you ensure alignment with the founder(s) you work with?

Being the only employee means that I have fewer worries about visibility and alignment. However, the founders have a lot on their plate, and it’s important to showcase how my work connects to the larger company goals. A useful thing that I do periodically is to remind the founders of how my tasks impact the larger vision.

Any advice that can help FAs to accelerate their rate of learning?

I believe it’s incredibly important to seek out mentors and peers who can guide you on how to improve as a young professional. For me, most of the time, the founders are too busy to take on this role, so it’s entirely up to you to figure out how to develop yourself professionally and personally.

What are the hard skills that can really set you apart in the role?

Learn as much as you can about no-code automation tools, such as Zapier. Finding ways to streamline processes and make things more efficient is a key area for an FA — having this skill never hurts.

How do you define success in your role?

For me, it all comes down to time management. At the end of the day, my sense of satisfaction from the role is drawn heavily from what I was able to deliver within a certain timeframe. As an FA, your task list is ever-growing, so having a few non-negotiables for the day will help you focus on what really matters and make you feel accomplished.

What would you have liked to know when you started the role that you know now?

The role can be quite overwhelming when you’re entering for the first time, as you’re often asked to do things you’ve never done before, which can shake your confidence. In my experience, it’s important to remember and trust that you were hired because the founder(s) have a degree of faith in you from the outset. It’s crucial to trust that you were chosen for the job because you have the right experience and attitude. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter if you feel unqualified, what matters is that you are able to get things done.

How do you know when you should double down on something?

It helps to minimise the expectations of what you are supposed to do. For example, when I first started, I thought I would excel at sales, but I did not enjoy it as much as I anticipated, resulting in lower quality output. Instead, I realised that areas I thought I would be average in, actually turned into areas where I excel, such as product and strategy. Also, if you work in an environment of high trust and with quick feedback loops, it should be apparent within the first six months where you should focus your time and energy.

How do you ensure alignment with your founder(s)?

In my case, I work with two founders who are like yin and yang. Their backgrounds are also highly strategic and methodical, which reflects my “ideal” way of working. For me, alignment is achieved because we think quite similarly, we have high enthusiasm, and we operate in a low-ego environment where everyone openly admits when they are wrong and lets go of preconceived ideas. This all creates a point of intellectual integrity, which is critical to achieving alignment.

What are your main reflections after one year in the role?

The main thing for me was accepting and appreciating the fact that no one has the answer to everything. It doesn’t matter how accomplished the founders are; there will always be problems where you just need to dive deep into the matter without any hand holding. Keeping an open mind when there isn’t an immediate answer is crucial.

How do you define success in your role?

It’s a tough one. However, if we take a step back, the core of the role is to be useful to the founder(s) and add value to multiple teams all at once. More concretely, for each quarter, I carve out what I want to achieve and the strategic projects I want to pursue. Success for me is to look back at the end of the quarter and see these projects packaged and completed.

How do you align your role with the most important prioritises?

When you first join the company, you have the advantage of bringing a fresh perspective. With this perspective, you are in the perfect position to challenge the status quo and ensure that things are done differently. During the first few chats with the founders, it’s crucial to share your observations on which areas of the business require improvement. More often than not, this will lead to the creation of your first projects, which align with the company’s key priorities. In short, observing areas that aren’t working and knowing how to fix them will position you as an important asset for the company.

How do you build trust with the founder(s)?

This can often be one of the trickiest parts, as you might not have a long-standing relationship with them from before. For me, there are two ways to go about this. The first is to make yourself useful to the wider team by showing how your results trickle down into the organisation. The second is to keep communication very open by having recurring meetings and quick feedback loops, showcasing that you are progressing in the role.

What is your take on going from a generalist to a specialist?

I view the FA role as a project management position where your value is derived from the number of initiatives that you consistently deliver. These projects vary widely in scope at the start, but as you progress, it’s crucial to maintain open communication with the founders about the things that deeply interest you. In terms of timeline, I believe it takes at least one year of exploration to figure out where to add the most value. Overall, it’s very important to allow yourself time to sample different areas and find a company that permits exploration.

Thank you all for the great insights, and best of luck moving forward.

Last words

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About the author

This piece is written by Michelangelo Pagliara, co-founder of Operators & Friends, ex-FA at Strise, and ex-VC Analyst at Antler, Samsung NEXT and KPN Ventures.