Helpspring is recruiting at all levels, even founders.

Here’s who we are looking for

Helpspring needs experts in a lot of areas: 

• Software architecture and development
• Community organizing
• Local and regional public policy
• Human psychology and organizational behavior
• Entrepreneurship and investing
• Business strategy
• User Experience
• Crowd Fundraising

In addition, Helpspring needs folk who…

• can commit a few hours a month of their time
• are connected to investors
• are connected to nonprofit organizations

Finally, we’ll consider all candidates but are firm about needing strong representation from:

• Historically marginalized communities like BIPoC and LGBTQIA+ folx 
• Gen Y and Gen Z isolated individuals (low number of friends and few cohorts needed to build friendships and community).

Responsibilities

• Attending one meeting a month with optional weekly meetings. 
• Introducing us to contacts you feel comfortable connecting us with
• Being forthcoming and transparent about your ideas while keeping an open mind and contributing to mutual accountability for the group.

Compensation

As startups grow, advisor roles also grow. When the startup is new, advising is voluntary and informal, but no less important. As it grows, valuable advisors who are willing to take on more responsibility become senior advisors, compensated somewhere between 0-3% equity in the company. When the organization forms a board, we are at the point where advising can become a part-time job, compensated with a small salary, in addition to whatever equity you might have earned. Advisors also sometimes transition into being founding employees, which comes with its own suite of compensation.

I’m interested, let’s talk!

That’s awesome! Send a message to wil@aboundant.com with a bit about yourself, and how you think you can help. We’ll be sure to respond.

The Job

The Chief Technology Officer position at Helpspring can be a ¾ or full-time position with a flexible schedule and will be done remotely. This position will report directly to the founder(s). We are looking for someone who’s able to start in 6-9 months, shortly after we’ve completed a funding round, but we hope the person will commit before then in order to assure Investors. 

Responsibilities

• Oversee the architecture, development, and building of, a complex piece of cloud-based software resembling a social media network.
• Evaluate and secure technical services we may need such as hosting, or outside contracting. Be their primary contact and continually monitor their performance.  
• Set and enforce technical policy for the company from networks to security to software to hardware.
• Hire and onboard technical staff, mentoring them, and evaluating their performance using a fair system of your own devising.

Qualifications

• Successfully designed the architecture for, and worked on the implementation of, a complex piece of cloud-based software. We’re basically building a social media network, and you’ll be involved in everything that happens from the server to the user. With the sole exception of UI/UX design, where you’ll have a lot of help.
• Strong coding abilities, with familiarity in our stack, an adjacent stack, or a proven track record of picking up new stacks. The CTO will have a say in which stack we use, but we’d prefer not to scratch our current development plan and progress. Here’s the stack: react + css, WordPress, Laravel (PHP), MySQL, and postgreSQL. We’re building on top of WordPress for the MVP.
• Strong Interpersonal and Leadership Skills.
• Candidates should have a demonstrated interest in trying to make a difference in the world. 

Compensation

• The CTO will be paid a 50-70% market value salary and founding employee equity to start, with the cash percentage increasing with each fundraising round or milestone.
• If you haven’t previously served as a CTO (which is fine) then you’ll be valued at your level of experience, with a salary that accelerates with each milestone until you reach competitive CTO pay.
• Partial benefits will start about six months in and will increase as well with each milestone until they are competitive.
• Equity often gets a bad rep as compensation, but investors will want to see that we all have some skin in the game to start.  

I’m interested, let’s talk!

That’s awesome! Send a message to wil@aboundant.com with a bit about yourself, and how you think you can help. We’ll be sure to respond. 

Who we are looking for

• There are two types of co-founders we are seeking and may end up with one or both depending on the situation. The first type is a Technical Co-Founder. The Second Type is an Organizer co-founder.
• One or both co-founders needs to be BIPoC or Queer or otherwise come from a historically marginalized community. Without centering the voices of marginalized communities, Helpspring risks hurting the populations that would otherwise benefit the most from it. We already have some decent inclusion on our team, but not at the top. We aim to address that with the recruitment of a co-founder.

Technical Co-Founder

The technical co-founder would ideally serve as the CTO for the company and all that entails (see CTO job description above). In addition, you’ll be responsible for helping to raise funds, assess risk, build teams, develop the business, explore market opportunities, and provide overall leadership. 

Organizing Co-Founder

In business terms this would be the Chief Marketing Officer, but we aren’t just building a company, we’re building a system that will lead to the birth and empowerment of movements. So instead, we’re looking for a Chief Organizing Officer. We need someone who understands how to market to, and build-up communities, how to raise funds, and how to use digital tools to connect people to good works. A lot of the marketing is built into the fabric of Helpspring’s software, so you’ll have an important say in what we’re building. In addition, you’ll be responsible for helping to raise funds, assess risk, build teams, develop the business, explore market opportunities, and provide overall leadership. 

Compensation

• Co-Founders will be paid a mix of cash and equity, starting with a 50% market value salary that increases with each achieved fund-raising round and milestone.
• If you haven’t previously served in a C-Level position (which is fine) then you’ll be valued at your level of experience, with a salary that accelerates with each milestone until you reach competitive CTO pay.
• Partial benefits will start about six months in and will increase with each milestone until they are competitive.
• Equity often gets a bad rep as compensation, but investors will want to see that we all have some skin in the game to start.
• We know that different people will have different salary requirements in order to make ends meet and will take that into consideration. Every founder should be expressing sacrifice in the beginning, but not to the point where it’s a hardship. 
• BIPoC or Queer or an otherwise historically marginalized co-founder’s equity will match the highest equity ownership of any co-founder. We’re not looking for token representation, we’re looking for leadership.

I’m interested, let’s talk!

That’s awesome! Send a message to wil@aboundant.com with a bit about yourself, and how you think you can help. We’ll be sure to respond.