Business growth & Partnership (INTERNSHIP)

About the Role

This is a 6-month, in-office internship at Hightable's Founder's Office in BTM Layout, Bengaluru. The role focuses on business growth and partnerships, reporting directly to the VP. It requires a self-starter comfortable with sales-driven targets and learning by doing.

Key Responsibilities

• Growth:
• Drive top-of-funnel growth through outreach on LinkedIn, email, WhatsApp communities, referrals, and events to attract founders, investors, and mentors.
• Run and iterate on growth experiments, tracking conversions and optimizing efforts.
• Build and maintain a growth funnel dashboard covering applications, conversions, activations, and churn.
• Engage with founder communities, college E-cells, and startup events to expand reach.
• Support end-to-end event execution, including outreach, on-ground coordination, and post-event follow-up.
• Client Meetings & Membership Closures:
• Schedule and drive client/prospect meetings for Hightable’s membership, GTM, and Talent offerings.
• Support pricing pitches, proposals, and sales collateral.
• Track and follow up on the sales pipeline: leads, meetings held, conversions, renewals.
• Identify upsell/cross-sell opportunities within the existing member base.
• Support sponsorship outreach and meetings for Hightable events and conferences.
• Partnerships:
• Build and maintain a partnership pipeline by mapping, prioritizing, and reaching out to VCs, accelerators, corporates, and service providers.
• Draft outreach messages, partnership decks, and collaboration proposals.
• Coordinate meetings between the VP and prospective partners, driving follow-ups to closure.
• Manage existing partner relationships and ensure timely delivery of co-hosted events, referrals, and content collaborations.
• Represent Hightable at external events and conferences.
• Maintain a CRM/tracker of all partner conversations, status, and next steps.
• Founder’s Office / Strategic Support:
• Work directly with the VP on market research, competitive analysis, and GTM strategy for member startups.
• Prepare weekly/monthly decks, MIS reports, and dashboards across growth, client, and partnership pipelines.
• Take on ad hoc tasks as the business requires.

Targets

• Months 1-2 (Ramp-up):
• Generate 50+ qualified leads/month for community membership.
• Assist in 2+ events.
• Schedule and support 15+ client meetings/month.
• Build a live pipeline tracker of 20+ prospective members/sponsors.
• Map and contact 30+ potential partners.
• Schedule 5+ partnership meetings/month.
• Months 3-4:
• Own outreach for 100+ leads/month with 15-20% conversion to applications.
• Independently coordinate 1 event.
• Drive 20+ client meetings/month.
• Close or assist in closing 5+ new memberships.
• Coordinate 8+ partnership meetings/month.
• Convert 5+ prospects into active conversations/MOUs.
• Months 5-6:
• Drive 150+ leads/month.
• Improve conversion rate by 10% over baseline.
• Own end-to-end execution of 1 flagship event/mixer.
• Own 25+ client meetings/month.
• Close or assist in closing 8-10 memberships cumulatively.
• Maintain <10% pipeline drop-off through consistent follow-up.
• Close or finalize 2-3 active partnerships (co-hosted events, referral agreements, or sponsorships).

Reviews

• Month 3: Mid-term review deck (targets vs. achievements).
• Month 6: End-of-term review deck and PPO evaluation.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Skills & Strengths:
• Confident communicator on calls, email, LinkedIn, and in person.
• Comfortable talking to founders, investors, and senior leaders.
• Target-driven, organised, and disciplined with follow-ups and trackers.
• Resourceful and analytical, able to read a simple funnel and adjust.
• Basic proficiency with Excel/Sheets and PowerPoint/Slides.
• CRM familiarity is a plus.
• Mindset:
• High ownership and resilience in the face of rejection.
• Hungry for feedback and comfortable with ambiguity.
• Professional and polished when representing Hightable.

Qualifications

• Final-year student or recent graduate (any stream).
• Based in Bengaluru or able to relocate before joining.
• Available for the full 6 months, in-office at BTM Layout.
• Able to start immediately or within 2-3 weeks.
• Experience in sales, BD, partnerships, E-cells, college fests, startup internships, or event management is a plus, but not required.

What You’ll Gain

• Direct, daily mentorship from the VP and founding team.
• Real ownership of growth, client meeting, membership, and partnership targets.
• Front-row exposure to deal-making, fundraising, and GTM strategy across dozens of startups.
• Certificate of internship and potential pre-placement offer (PPO) based on measurable performance.
• Access to Hightable’s network of founders, investors, and industry experts.