Founder Labs
Hands-on build nights. Prototypes, not slideware.
Careers · Palo Alto & Milpitas
Venture Dock is a founder community in the heart of Silicon Valley. We're hiring the people who make it run — the ones who know every member by name, ship the programs, and keep the doors open.
What you'd be joining
Venture Dock is built for ambitious early-stage entrepreneurs who want more than a place to work — they want the right people around them. We bring together experienced operators, investors and builders to help founders navigate the hard parts of starting and scaling a company.
Members get expert office hours, practical workshops, curated events, strategic introductions and a trusted network of peers building alongside them. Someone has to make all of that actually happen, week after week. That's the job.
Venture Dock is where founders find the guidance, infrastructure and relationships they need to build with confidence.
What we run
Hands-on build nights. Prototypes, not slideware.
The core program — idea to raise, with mentors alongside.
Investors in the room, answering the awkward questions.
First-Friday mixers and the unstructured hours that matter.
Working here
That's the whole pitch, and it's a real one. Not a Slack window onto other people's work — the actual room, in Palo Alto and Milpitas, where twenty-odd companies are being built at once. You'll know what they're stuck on before they post about it.
The honest version: this is on-site work. Some evenings run late because that's when events happen. You'll reset chairs, fix the coffee machine and chase a mentor for a reschedule in the same afternoon you introduce a founder to their next investor. If that trade sounds good, you'll like it here.
How we work
Every decision starts with what helps a founder ship, connect or grow. If a process serves us and not them, we change the process.
Confidence without hype. We'd rather share a number or a name than reach for a superlative — internally as much as externally.
Durable over trendy — in the companies we back, the community we run, and the systems we leave behind for whoever holds the job next.
Open roles
Small team, wide scope. Every role here owns something visible to members from week one.
Other ways in
Most people who end up working here started in one of these.
Mentors & experts-in-residence
Operators and investors who run office hours on what they actually know — pricing, hiring, go-to-market, term sheets. You pick the cadence.
Join the mentor network →Program facilitators
Run a workshop for Founder Labs or a week of Build from the Dock. Paid per session, scoped around your day job.
Propose a session →Interns & fellows
Community, events, research and product placements each term. Paid, structured, and you leave with a network rather than a certificate.
Apply for a placement →Community ambassadors
Host a table, run a first-Friday, welcome the new cohort. Comes with membership credit and the shortest path to a full-time seat.
Become an ambassador →How hiring works
A short form and whatever shows your work — CV, portfolio, a link, a paragraph. No cover letter required, and we read every one.
Thirty minutes with the person you'd report to. What you've built, what you want next, and an honest picture of the role's messy parts.
Come to the campus. Meet the team, sit in on an event or an office hour, talk to actual members. You're assessing us too — use it.
One real, small piece of the job — a plan, a session outline, a pull request. Scoped to a few hours and paid at market rate. Then an offer or a clear no.
Coming soon
Open roles across member and alumni companies — dozens of startups hiring within a few miles of each other, in one place. Opening shortly.
If Venture Dock isn't the right seat, one of the companies here almost certainly is. Member and alumni founders post their own openings; we review each one before it goes live.
Questions people actually ask
Not currently. We work with international founders every day, so we understand the stakes and we won't waste your time — you'll need existing US work authorization for the roles listed here. If your status changes, tell us and we'll keep your application live.
Engineering is hybrid and can be mostly remote within the Bay Area. Everything else is on-site by design — the community roles exist because someone is physically in the room. If you're not within commuting distance of Palo Alto or Milpitas, these aren't the right fit.
Full-time roles include equity, sized by role and stage. We'll show you the numbers, the strike price and the full picture before you have to decide anything — no "we'll discuss it at offer stage."
Yes, and several of the team came in that way. Tell your community manager first so it isn't awkward, then apply normally. Your membership stands regardless of the outcome.
Send us a short note about what you'd own and why it should exist. We've created roles off the back of a good email more than once. Worst case, it sits in the talent pool and we come back to you when the seat opens.
Send a paragraph on what you'd build here. We keep every open application and revisit them first when a seat opens.