Chief of Staff

About Palmstreet

Palmstreet is the #1 live shopping platform for rare plants, handmade crafts, & unique goods. Founded in 2020 by Instagram and Apple veterans, Palmstreet began as a plant identification app and quickly evolved into a trailblazer in live shopping, beginning with plant sellers. Fueled by a passionate, plant-loving community, we rapidly expanded into new categories to better serve our fast-growing audience.

Our vision is to become the “World’s Online Main Street,” bringing the charm of in-person shopping to engaging, social online experiences. Backed by top Silicon Valley VCs and powered by a nimble, empathetic team, we’ve grown our GMV by 500x in the last 18 months.

As we continue shaping the future of social commerce, we’re looking for talented individuals who are excited to grow with us and join our mission.

The Opportunity:

Palmstreet is looking to hire a Chief of Staff, who is driven and ambitious, to amplify the CEO through internal & external communications, and strategic project management. If you desire to become a CEO or business leader yourself one day, are great at strategic thinking and communications, and are willing to work in a fast-paced and high-impact environment alongside our CEO, this role is for you.

Responsibilities:

• CEO extension/executor - shadow the CEO in brainstorming, planning and execution on new and existing initiatives. Need to be highly intelligent, a clear communicator, and be able to wear many hats.

  • Join the CEO in all his meetings (except for 1-1’s and board meetings)

  • Turn brief instructions into full and executable communications, and ensure its execution

  • Draft email replies, investor updates, and presentation decks

• Gap-filling for Operations - Responsible for maintaining a few key cross-functional operational projects, that don’t have a clear owner yet, and work with functional leaders to align the day-to-day operations of the company. Both on a high level and execution of one-offs (procurement, compliance, taxes, etc)

  • Project manage cross-functional initiatives and collaborate with other leaders & teams across the organization

  • Target areas include GTM, onboarding, seller success, partnerships, marketing, PR

  • Target areas don’t include product & engineering

• External partners - Manage external partners, and ensure projects are done on a timely basis

  • Hold legal counsel and marketing agencies accountable

  • Help manage community relationships, including speaking with sellers

• Organization and People - Collaborate with People Ops, help the CEO hire and manage the organization and its people

  • Facilitate hiring key and senior roles

  • Help the CEO amplify and repeat its culture statements in new employee onboarding and all hands meetings

  • Be a sounding board to the CEO on org design

• Office Admin and Assistance

  • Before we have dedicated an Executive Assistance, expect to dedicate 20% of their time on admin and assistance work to the CEO

  • Hire and train an Executive Assistant, when we’re close to raising the next round

Qualifications:

• A strong communicator (written and spoken), can act as spokesperson for the CEO and the company as needed, and can gain the trust of leadership, with the ability to be in the room with anyone

• 5 - 7 years of work experience, either in strategy or ops roles in early stage consumer tech startups, or in consulting firms

• Smart and curious; able to wear many hats and be able to gain expertise across a variety of topics quickly.

• An innate hunger to achieve goals in a startup environment. Can work long hours with high energy, and get a lot of things done efficiently.

• Critical Thinking: Expertise in data-driven analysis of the market and the business. Identifies key business indicators, tests pilots/theories, and identifies hidden opportunities through data.

• Organized and good at project management: this role will need to help keep the team organized and accountable

• Mandarin speaking is a huge bonus point

Clarifications:

• This role doesn’t manage the other leaders; but they make sure the other leaders are aligned on key cross-functional initiatives

• This role is constantly taking on initiatives, align projects, and hand over to someone else to continuing the operations in the long-term

• This role does not speak on behalf of the CEO; instead, it prepares the CEO’s speeches and emails, and follow up and ensure whatever the CEO wanted is finished

• Some external partners are already effectively managed by other functional leaders, then the Chief of Staff doesn’t need to be involved

• This person will serve the role for 12 - 18 months, learn a lot and execute a lot, then hire and train the next Chief of Staff; themselves will then transition into a leadership role within the company, taking ownership of a key function

Your Location:

• 4 days / week on-site in Menlo Park, CA; remote 1 day / week; subsidize 80% of rentals, if move to within 5 miles of Menlo Park

• Working Hours: 10 hours / day on week days, and 2 hours / day on weekends (startup life, please make sure you understand what you're signing up for)

Compensation:

Pay Range: $170,000 - $200,000

In addition to base salary, the compensation for this role includes:

• Equity Incentive Plan

• Generous health insurance contribution (for you & dependents)

• Dental & vision insurance

• Life insurance

• 12 paid holidays + Paid Time Off (PTO) + Paid Sick Days

• 401(k) plan with company matching

• Remote Work Expense reimbursement

• Work From Home Setup and Learning & Development stipend

• Palmstreet credit
  

Why Join Us?

• Shape the future of live shopping: Be part of a dynamic team revolutionizing the online shopping experience, combining creativity and technology to create immersive, interactive platforms for sellers and buyers alike.

• Collaborate with industry pioneers: Work alongside a nimble, innovative team, backed by some of the most prestigious VCs in Silicon Valley, with opportunities to influence the product direction.

• Solving complex challenges: You'll take on complex problems that others haven't yet been able to solve, driving innovation and pushing boundaries in your work.

• Thrive in a flat, startup environment: Take full ownership of your projects while working alongside a supportive team that values collaboration and mutual respect.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Palmstreet is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and encourage applications from everyone—especially those whose identities are traditionally underrepresented in tech. We do not discriminate on race, religion, color, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, political belief, or any other characteristic protected by law.

For roles in Canada, we also comply with the Employment Equity Act.

Application Process

We’re excited to review your application! If your experience aligns with what we’re looking for, our hiring team will reach out to schedule an initial screening call and walk you through the next steps of our interview process.

While we try our best to respond to everyone, the high volume of applications may mean we’re unable to provide individual updates if we decide not to move forward.

To stay connected and explore future opportunities, follow us on LinkedIn or visit us at https://palmstreet.app/careers.