Startup Ecosystem Associate

About Backblaze

Backblaze is the object storage leader in the open cloud movement, fueling customer success with cloud storage built purposefully to unlock budgets, unburden administrators, and unleash innovators. Together with our partners, we’re helping customers break free from the restrictive, overpriced legacy solutions that hold them back, and blaze forward with the full power of the open cloud in their hands.

Founded in 2007, we scaled the business with less than $3 million in outside funding until 2021, when we did a traditional IPO on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Today, Backblaze generates over $100m in revenue and is the leading specialized storage cloud - managing over three billion gigabytes of data storage for 500K+ customers in 175+ countries, including businesses, developers, IT professionals, and individuals.

But while there is a lot to celebrate in our past, there is almost as much opportunity ahead of us. We’re seeking a Startup Ecosystem Associate to join our team!

About The Role

The Startup Ecosystem Associate is the operational engine behind the Backblaze Flamethrower Startup Program. This is a high-ownership role for someone early in their career who wants to learn the full arc of ecosystem building — from running the day-to-day mechanics of a startup program to eventually sitting across the table from a Series A founder or a VC partner. You will work closely with and directly support the Director of Startup & Developer Relations, who is the external face of the program. That means a lot of your early work happens behind the scenes: keeping the program running cleanly, processing applications thoughtfully, managing credit workflows, and making sure every founder who comes through has a good experience.

This is not a role for someone looking to attend conferences and collect business cards. It’s a role for someone who is comfortable getting into the trenches, takes pride in operational excellence, and understands that the credibility to work with VCs and founders gets earned through execution — not assumed. If you’re the kind of person who wants to be running a program like this yourself in a few years, this is a strong path to get there.

What You’ll Do

Program Operations (Day-to-Day Core)

• Own the Flamethrower application pipeline: review, triage, and process inbound applications against ICP and eligibility criteria
• Manage credit allocation, track usage, and maintain accurate program records in HubSpot, SalesForce and supporting tools
• Coordinate founder onboarding — ensuring accepted startups get oriented, activated, and connected to the right resources quickly
• Handle program correspondence and serve as a responsive point of contact for founders navigating the application and onboarding process
• Maintain the health of program data: conversion tracking, activation rates, usage signals, and cohort reporting
• Build and refine the operational playbooks that will scale this program as volume grows

Ecosystem & Founder Engagement

• Support the Director in managing and expanding relationships with VCs, accelerators, and startup community organizations
• Represent Backblaze and the Flamethrower program at select events, meetups, and ecosystem touchpoints when the Director needs coverage or a second presence
• Identify high-quality applicant sources and help develop referral relationships with seed funds, accelerators, and community programs
• Collect structured feedback from founders — on the program, the product, and the experience — and synthesize it into actionable input for the team
• Help spot breakout startups in the cohort early: usage signals, growth traction, referral potential

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Coordinate handoffs with Sales for high-potential startups approaching graduation from the credits tier
• Work with Marketing on ecosystem-facing content, founder spotlights, and program announcements
• Surface product friction and developer experience gaps to DevRel and Product through founder feedback loops

The Right Fit:

• 2–4 years of experience in startup ecosystems, accelerator operations, VC-adjacent roles, community management, or startup program management
• Demonstrated comfort with operational and administrative work — you don’t see “getting into the details” as beneath you; you see it as how you earn the right to operate at higher levels
• Strong written communication skills: you can write a clear, warm founder email and a tight internal summary with equal ease
• Organized and self-directed — you manage your own workload, don’t need to be chased, and proactively flag issues before they become problems
• Genuine curiosity about startups, infrastructure, and the developer ecosystem

Bonus Points For:

• Prior experience at an accelerator, VC firm, startup studio, or developer-focused platform company
• Existing familiarity with cloud infrastructure, data platforms, or developer tooling (you don’t need to be an engineer, but you should be able to have a real conversation with one)
• Experience using HubSpot or a comparable CRM for pipeline tracking and lifecycle management
• Comfort with travel and non-standard hours for events and ecosystem activities