Employer branding · Startups
Programme manager sounds like event coordination until somebody explains it.
An incubator or accelerator hires a handful of people a year into roles nobody outside understands, from programme management to an entrepreneur in residence.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
An incubator or accelerator hires a handful of people a year into roles nobody outside understands, from programme management to an entrepreneur in residence. Employer branding makes those jobs legible and says how the place is funded, and GullySales writes it with the team running your cohorts.
Also written for
Startup incubators, Accelerators, Venture studios.
What we do not do
We do not recruit, supply candidates or run payroll. We help candidates see the employer you already are.
For incubators and accelerators
Where it usually goes wrong, and what we would do.
“Programme manager reads as running events”
The candidate you want is asking whether they sit with founders on their numbers or book the venue for demo day. Both jobs exist, both are real, and both are advertised with the same title.
“How you are funded changes the job entirely”
A university cell, a state-backed programme, a corporate innovation arm and a fund with a carry pool pay differently, last differently and answer to different people. Nobody can tell which you are from your site.
“Your team is small enough that each hire changes the place”
With four or five people, a bad fit is not absorbed, it is felt in every cohort. An honest job description is worth more here than in a company of two hundred.
“A residency ends and nobody says what happens next”
Whether it leads to a company, a partner track or an exit at eighteen months is the first thing a serious candidate asks. Left vague, the role attracts people shopping for a title.
What we do
What we deliver for incubators and accelerators.
Every deliverable, what it covers for you, and the result it is there to produce. Nothing here is an extra.
Careers page that states how you are funded
Where the money comes from, what the programme is measured on, and what that means for pay and tenure in the roles you are opening.
Result: Candidates rule themselves in or out before you spend a week on them.
Role posts that separate programme work from investment work
Sourcing, diligence and portfolio support written apart from cohort operations, events and community, with the decisions each role actually gets to make.
Result: Applications from people who want the job you are offering.
Team profiles with what each person runs
Four or five short profiles covering the cohorts, the investments and the operations. Written from conversations and approved by each of them.
Result: A candidate sees who they would sit beside every day.
The terms of a residency, written down
Length, the support that comes with it and what happens at the end, drafted with whoever handles your agreements. The legal position is theirs to confirm, never ours.
Result: Serious founders apply and the title-hunters do not.
A shared post format for your portfolio
One template the companies in your programme use for their own hiring, so a cohort founder is not writing their first job advertisement alone at midnight.
Result: Something practical to hand a portfolio company that costs you nothing to repeat.
How the result is measured
- Applications received per open role
- Careers page engagement and time on page
- Candidate drop-off during the interview process
- Referral hires as a share of total hires
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
How it works
How the work runs for incubators and accelerators
The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.
- 1
Talk to current employees
We interview a cross-section of staff honestly, including some who might raise uncomfortable points.
- 2
Find the genuine reasons to join
We identify what is actually true and attractive about working there, rather than generic claims that could apply anywhere.
- 3
Build the careers content
The careers page, job post templates and employee stories are written from what staff actually said.
- 4
Review the candidate experience
We check what happens between application and offer, since branding cannot fix a process that loses candidates through delay.
- 5
Hand over and refresh periodically
Content is handed over for ongoing use and revisited periodically as the team and roles change.
Before you hire anyone
The first thing to do yourself.
Read your company the way a good candidate would, before you change anything.
- Search for your company name with the word jobs, and read the first page of results as a candidate would.
- Read your last ten reviews and list the points that appear more than once.
- Ask your three newest joiners why they said yes, and what almost stopped them.
Judge any provider
What to ask any agency or ghost-writer.
Useful whoever you choose, including us.
- Will you work from what our people actually say, or from a template?
- Do you do recruiting or supply candidates, or only the employer-brand work?
- Who approves anything that speaks for our staff?
- Which of our existing job pages and profiles will you change, and which will you leave alone?
- What do you count as a result, and what will you not promise?
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
GullySales builds every engagement from three pieces of sales work. This page is not one of them, but the same three steps apply to the business behind it.
Step 1
Sales audit
Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.
Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.
Step 2
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
Step 3
Sales management
A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Start here if the team has targets and no routine.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Do you help our portfolio companies hire?
We already market to founders. Is this the same work?
We hire one person a year. Should we bother?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
Startups
Employer branding for the rest of the startups.
Or start from employer branding.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.