C

Founding Growth

Cartesia
Full-time
On-site
San Francisco, California, United States
๐Ÿš€ Growth Marketing

๐Ÿ“Œ Core Information

๐Ÿ”น Job Title: Founding Growth Marketer

๐Ÿ”น Company: Cartesia

๐Ÿ”น Location: San Francisco, California, United States

๐Ÿ”น Job Type: Full-time

๐Ÿ”น Category: ๐Ÿš€ Growth Marketing


๐Ÿ“Œ Essential Job Details

๐Ÿš€ Job Overview

Cartesia is seeking a Founding Growth Marketer to build and execute the company's growth strategy from the ground up. This pivotal role will drive user acquisition across both self-serve and enterprise segments for Cartesia's AI API products. As an early team member, you'll have significant autonomy to shape the growth function and directly impact how the company scales its product offerings in the emerging generative AI space.

ASSUMPTION: The job title in the listing was "Founding Growth" which appears incomplete. Based on the detailed responsibilities and the "Growth Marketer" references throughout the description, I've expanded this to "Founding Growth Marketer" which better reflects the nature of the position.


๐Ÿ“‹ Key Responsibilities

  • โœ… Design and execute a comprehensive, data-driven demand generation strategy focused on increasing top-of-funnel growth and user acquisition
  • โœ… Build and optimize scalable growth processes and playbooks across digital marketing, content creation, SEO, and inbound marketing initiatives
  • โœ… Lead cross-functional collaboration with product, engineering, and sales teams to identify and implement growth opportunities
  • โœ… Develop and oversee a robust content strategy for both technical and non-technical customers
  • โœ… Plan and execute product launches, feature releases, and other go-to-market initiatives
  • โœ… Implement and manage analytics tools to track key acquisition metrics and inform growth strategies
  • โœ… Manage and optimize marketing spend across various channels to maximize ROI

๐ŸŽฏ Required Qualifications

Education: Not specified

Experience: 3+ years in growth marketing, demand generation, or related roles, ideally at an API/developer tool company

Skills:

  • Strong analytical and technical skills
  • Ability to rapidly prototype, test, and iterate on growth initiatives
  • Deep understanding of product-led growth strategies
  • Experience with marketing automation and analytics tools
  • Entrepreneurial mindset
  • Blend of technical expertise with clear communication skills
  • Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment

ASSUMPTION: While specific education requirements aren't mentioned, the emphasis on technical expertise and the mention of PhDs on the founding team suggests that a bachelor's degree might be expected, though possibly not required if the candidate has equivalent experience.


๐Ÿ’ฐ Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Not specified

Benefits:

  • Lunch, dinner, and snacks at the office
  • Fully covered medical, dental, and vision insurance
  • 401(k) plan
  • Relocation and immigration support
  • "Your own personal Yoshi" (likely a humorous reference to office perks or company culture)

Industry Comparison: Not specified

ASSUMPTION: Based on San Francisco location and similar growth marketing roles at VC-backed AI startups, compensation is likely competitive for the tech industry. Growth marketing roles at venture-backed startups in San Francisco typically range from $120K-$180K base salary plus equity, though this is an estimate not stated in the listing.


๐Ÿ“Œ Applicant Insights

๐Ÿ” Company Context

Industry Position: Cartesia is developing next-generation AI technology focused on continuous processing and reasoning over long streams of multimodal data (audio, video, text). The company pioneered State Space Models (SSMs) for training large-scale foundation models.

Company Size: Early-stage startup

Company Stage: Venture-backed startup (Seed or Series A) funded by Index Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Factory, Conviction, A Star, General Catalyst, SV Angel, Databricks, and 90+ angels.

ASSUMPTION: Based on the mention of "founding team" and VC funding, Cartesia appears to be in its early stages, likely pre-Series B. The exact headcount isn't specified, but the in-person work culture suggests they have established office space in San Francisco.


๐Ÿ“Š Role Analysis

Career Level: Mid to Senior level (based on 3+ years experience requirement and "founding" designation)

Reporting Structure: Not specified, but likely reports to a leadership team member given the strategic nature of the role

Team Size/Composition: Not specified, but language suggests this person will be building the growth function, potentially as a team of one initially

Growth Opportunities: Significant opportunity to shape a critical function at an early-stage AI company, with potential to build and lead a team as the company scales

ASSUMPTION: The "founding" designation in the title suggests this is the first dedicated growth hire, indicating an opportunity to establish processes and potentially build a team in the future. The lack of mention of direct reports suggests initially working solo or with a small team.


๐ŸŒ Location & Work Environment

Office Type: In-person/on-site in San Francisco

Geographic Context: San Francisco is a major tech hub with a high concentration of AI and technology companies, venture capital firms, and tech talent. It also has one of the highest costs of living in the US.

Work Schedule: Not explicitly specified, though the provision of both lunch and dinner suggests potentially long or flexible workdays

Regional Considerations: San Francisco's tech ecosystem provides networking opportunities and access to industry events, but comes with high housing costs and urban challenges

ASSUMPTION: The job listing explicitly states they are "an in-person team based out of San Francisco" who "love being in the office," strongly indicating this is not a remote position. The office culture appears to emphasize collaboration and relationship-building.


๐Ÿ’ผ Interview & Application Insights

Typical Process: For growth marketing roles at tech startups, expect initial screening, conversations with hiring managers, possibly a growth strategy presentation or case study, and meetings with cross-functional stakeholders

Key Assessment Areas: Analytical skills, growth metrics knowledge, technical marketing aptitude, experience with developer marketing, creativity in customer acquisition, and cultural fit in a fast-paced startup

Application Tips: Highlight quantifiable growth results from previous roles, demonstrate understanding of developer marketing, and showcase experience with both self-serve and enterprise sales motions

ATS Keywords: growth marketing, demand generation, user acquisition, API marketing, developer tools, product-led growth, self-serve, digital marketing, content strategy, analytics, SEO, inbound marketing, growth metrics, ROI optimization

ASSUMPTION: These insights are based on standard interview processes for growth marketing roles at technology startups. The actual process at Cartesia may vary.


๐Ÿ› ๏ธ Tools & Technologies

The listing doesn't specifically mention tools, but relevant technologies for this role typically include:

  • Marketing automation platforms (HubSpot, Marketo, etc.)
  • Analytics tools (Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude)
  • CRM systems (Salesforce, HubSpot CRM)
  • SEO tools (Ahrefs, SEMrush, Moz)
  • Content management systems
  • Ad platforms (Google Ads, LinkedIn, etc.)
  • Email marketing tools
  • A/B testing platforms

ASSUMPTION: These tools represent industry-standard marketing technology for growth roles and are not explicitly mentioned in the job listing. Familiarity with developer-focused platforms and communities would also likely be valuable.


๐Ÿ‘” Cultural Fit Considerations

Company Values: The listing emphasizes execution speed, high quality/design standards, innovation, learning, and team support

Work Style: Fast-paced, collaborative, autonomous, focused on cutting-edge technology, and with high standards for execution

Self-Assessment Questions:

  • Are you comfortable working in an early-stage environment with significant ambiguity?
  • Do you thrive in fast-paced settings where shipping quickly is valued?
  • Are you excited about cutting-edge AI technology and marketing to technical audiences?
  • Do you enjoy collaborative, in-person work environments?
  • Can you balance autonomy with cross-functional collaboration?

ASSUMPTION: The cultural values are inferred from explicit statements in the "Our culture" section, which mentions shipping fast, high standards, and team support. The work style assessment is based on explicit mentions of "in-person team," "execution speed is paramount," and needing to function in an "ambiguous environment."


โš ๏ธ Potential Challenges

Based on the job description, potential challenges in this role may include:

  • Building growth strategies for highly technical AI products that may be complex to explain to different audiences
  • Balancing self-serve and enterprise go-to-market approaches simultaneously
  • Operating in an early-stage environment with rapid change and evolving priorities
  • Requirement for in-person work in San Francisco (relocation if not local)
  • The need to drive results quickly in a competitive AI landscape
  • Potentially long work hours (suggested by office meals)

ASSUMPTION: These challenges are inferred from the nature of the role, company stage, and technology focus, not explicit statements about difficulties. The actual challenges may vary.


๐Ÿ“ˆ Similar Roles Comparison

This Founding Growth Marketer role differs from standard Growth Marketing positions in several ways:

  • More Strategic Autonomy: As a "founding" role, there's greater opportunity to define processes and strategies
  • Technical Focus: Marketing AI/API products to developers requires more technical understanding than many marketing roles
  • Dual GTM Responsibility: Balancing both self-serve and enterprise models is more complex than roles focused solely on one approach
  • Earlier Stage: Unlike growth roles at established companies, this position involves building from the ground up rather than optimizing existing channels

ASSUMPTION: This comparison is based on standard patterns in the growth marketing field and the specific details provided in the job description.


๐Ÿ“ Sample Projects

Based on the listed responsibilities, someone in this role might work on projects such as:

  • Designing and launching a developer-focused content marketing program to drive API signups
  • Building an instrumentation and analytics framework to track user acquisition funnel metrics
  • Creating and optimizing a self-serve user onboarding experience to improve conversion rates
  • Developing SEO strategy targeting developers searching for AI model solutions
  • Planning and executing the launch campaign for a new API feature
  • Establishing channel experiments across developer communities to identify optimal acquisition channels

ASSUMPTION: These projects are illustrative examples based on the listed responsibilities and the nature of API/developer product marketing, not specific projects mentioned in the job listing.


โ“ Key Questions to Ask During Interview

  • How do you currently measure success for your growth initiatives, and what metrics will be most important in my first 6-12 months?
  • Can you share more about your current user acquisition channels and which have shown the most promise?
  • What's the current balance between self-serve and enterprise customers, and how do you see that evolving?
  • How does the growth function collaborate with product and engineering teams to implement in-product growth initiatives?
  • What are the biggest challenges you've faced in explaining and marketing your AI technology to different audiences?
  • What resources (team, budget, tools) will be available to support growth initiatives in the near term?

ASSUMPTION: These questions are suggested based on the role type and company stage, and would need to be adapted based on specific interview context and prior conversations.


๐Ÿ“Œ Disclaimer

โš ๏ธ This enhanced job description was AI-generated based on the original job listing. Information has been organized and supplemented with industry-standard insights where details were not provided. All assumptions are explicitly labeled. Applicants should verify all details directly with the employer before making decisions based on this content.


๐Ÿ“Œ Next Steps for Applicants

If you're interested in pursuing this opportunity:

  1. Update your resume: Highlight growth marketing experience, particularly with developer/API products. Include specific metrics and results from past campaigns.
  2. Prepare your application: Incorporate relevant keywords identified above to pass ATS screening.
  3. Research the company: Explore Cartesia's technology (State Space Models), founders' background at Stanford AI Lab, and recent developments in the AI field.
  4. Consider your fit: Evaluate your alignment with the in-person work requirement in San Francisco and the startup culture described.
  5. Portfolio preparation: Be ready to discuss specific growth campaigns you've led, preferably with technical products.
  6. Network: Consider connections to the mentioned investors (Index Ventures, Lightspeed, etc.) who might provide additional insights about the company.