BD/Sales Rep - VC & Startup Ecosystem (Brex x Next Wave NYC)

Overview

You're embedded with Next Wave NYC (a pre-seed VC fund) to get Brex's corporate card and spend management platform in front of NYC founders and investors. You spend your time at startup events, founder dinners, and demo days - meeting founders at the earliest stages and converting them to Brex customers. This is half-networking, half-sales, with a lot of relationship building in the NYC tech scene.

Role Snapshot

Company Context

Stage: Brex is Series D+ ($12.3B valuation as of 2022), Next Wave NYC is an established pre-seed fund

Size: Brex has 1000+ employees, Next Wave is 19 people

Growth: Brex has pulled back from SMB market to focus on startups and enterprise; this role is part of their startup ecosystem strategy

Market Position: Brex competes directly with Ramp, Mercury, and traditional corporate cards (Amex, Chase). They were early in the startup card space but now it's crowded.

GTM Reality

Pipeline Sources:

• 60% Event networking - Demo days, founder meetups, VC office hours, Next Wave portfolio events
• 30% Warm intros - Leveraging Next Wave's network and your existing founder connections
• 10% Cold outbound - LinkedIn messages to founders who just announced funding

SDR/AE Structure: You are the full motion for early-stage deals. Larger accounts (Series A+) get handed to AEs. Most of your deals close without AE involvement.

SE Support: None needed - Brex is mostly self-serve for startups. You do product demos but it's lightweight.

Competitive Landscape

Main Competitors: Ramp (biggest threat - better rewards, aggressive pricing), Mercury (popular with earliest stage), Amex/Chase (incumbents)

How They Differentiate: Brex built for startups first, integrates with accounting software, offers venture debt access, has better rewards than traditional cards. But Ramp has caught up on most of this.

Common Objections:

• "Ramp gives better cashback" (true in many cases)
• "We already have Mercury and it's working fine"
• "We're too early, just using founder's personal card"
• "What if we can't get approved?" (credit limits are algorithmically determined)

Win Themes: Speed to setup, VC relationships (many VCs recommend Brex to portfolio), bill pay features, accounting integrations

What You'll Actually Do

Time Breakdown

Events/IRL (40%) | Outreach/Follow-ups (30%) | Demos/Onboarding (20%) | Internal (10%)

Key Activities

• Attend 3-5 startup events per week: Demo days, founder happy hours, VC portfolio gatherings. You introduce yourself as "working with Next Wave and Brex" and collect contact info from founders. A lot of small talk about what stage they're at, when they last raised, what they're using for spend management.

• Follow up with founders you met: LinkedIn messages, email intros, coffee chats. Most founders are polite but not ready to switch cards immediately. You're playing a long game - staying top of mind for when they raise their next round or get fed up with their current provider.

• Run product demos: 15-20 minute Zoom calls walking through Brex's dashboard. Show bill pay, reimbursements, receipt matching, accounting sync. Most demos are with founders or finance leads at sub-20 person companies. About 30-40% of demos convert to trials.

• Help with onboarding: Once someone signs up, you help them get their team onto the platform, connect accounting software (QuickBooks/Xero), and set up their first virtual cards. This is important because Brex measures activation, not just signups.

The Honest Reality

What's Hard

• You're always "on" at events: Networking 4-5 nights a week gets exhausting. You can't just show up - you need to work the room, remember names, make genuine connections. If you're an introvert, this will drain you.

• Competitive market with aggressive players: Ramp is undercutting on pricing and rewards. Mercury bundles banking + cards. Every founder gets pitched by 3+ card companies. You're often in a bake-off and price matters.

• Low ACV means you need high volume: You're not making $50K deals. Each signup might generate a few hundred in interchange revenue per month for Brex. Your success depends on getting dozens of companies signed up, and many will be tiny startups that don't spend much.

• Unclear reporting structure: You're technically Brex but embedded with Next Wave. Who manages you day-to-day? Who sets your quota? How do success metrics work across two organizations? This could get messy.

What Success Looks Like

• You sign up 25-35 new startups per month to Brex, mostly pre-seed and seed stage
• 60%+ of signups are actively using the product after 30 days (loaded money, issued cards)
• You're recognized in the NYC startup scene - founders know you, VCs make intros to you
• You build a pipeline of companies that aren't ready now but will be in 3-6 months when they raise

Who You're Selling To

Primary Buyers:

• Founders (CEO/CTO) at pre-seed to Series A startups
• Finance/Ops leads at slightly larger startups (10-30 people)

What They Care About:

• Speed and ease: Can they get set up in 10 minutes without a ton of paperwork?
• Rewards/cashback: Ramp often wins here with 1.5% vs Brex's 1%
• Credit limits: Will they get approved for enough to cover their burn?
• Integrations: Does it sync with QuickBooks/Xero/NetSuite cleanly?
• Bill pay: Do they have to keep multiple tools or can Brex handle vendor payments too?

Requirements

• You already know the NYC startup ecosystem - you go to events, you know founders and VCs, you can name-drop portfolio companies and recent funding rounds
• You're comfortable networking constantly - dinners, happy hours, demo days, office hours. This is an IRL-heavy role, not a behind-the-screen job
• You can do basic sales - run demos, handle objections, close simple deals. This isn't enterprise sales but you need to convert conversations to signups
• You genuinely like Brex's product and can represent it authentically (the post says "be a big fan of Brex")
• You live in NYC and are in-office/in-market 5 days a week - this is explicitly required, no remote flexibility