In-Depth Guide
Explore the head‑of‑platform position in venture capital, covering responsibilities, compensation and daily workflow inside a modern fund.
A head of platform is the venture firm executive responsible for turning post‑investment services into measurable portfolio outcomes. Legally employed by the management company, they are compensated in salary, bonus and carry, aligning their success with fund‑level returns rather than any single startup. Their remit covers strategy, people management and hands‑on execution across multiple functions.
They act as a bridge between founders’ day‑to‑day challenges and the fund’s long‑term performance goals. Unlike general partners who drive term‑sheet negotiations, heads of platform enter after the deal closes, focusing on scalable operating leverage that touches every company in the portfolio.
A head of platform (sometimes titled platform partner or VP platform) is the senior operator inside a venture fund who builds and manages the value‑add programs that help portfolio companies succeed after the check is written. While investment partners hunt deals, the platform leader designs services that founders can tap on demand: recruiting pipelines, customer‑intro databases, content marketing resources, community events and more.
The role emerged as venture capital became crowded with capital. Funds needed ways to differentiate beyond price and brand. Platform teams were the answer, and the head of platform is their architect and public face. They translate past operator experience into repeatable playbooks, hire specialists for talent, marketing or BD, and set success metrics that tie platform spend to fund‑level returns.
Founders interact with heads of platform soon after signing a term sheet. Whether it is sourcing a VP engineering, landing coverage in TechCrunch or benchmarking SaaS burn multiples, the platform leader orchestrates the right people and tools. For the fund, this person also becomes a key voice in LP pitches, showcasing tangible support that reduces portfolio risk and accelerates DPI.
Capital is now a commodity. Execution help is scarce. A strong head of platform lifts portfolio performance, improves founder satisfaction and becomes a differentiator that attracts both entrepreneurs and limited partners.
Before listing tasks, note that platform work spans both strategy and execution, requiring constant prioritisation across dozens of needs.
Similarities: both gather data and surface insights that inform fund action.
Differences: analysts feed the deal funnel while heads of platform drive post‑investment execution and manage service teams.
Similarities: each supports founders and tracks portfolio KPIs.
Differences: associates concentrate on diligence and market research; platform heads own scalable programs like recruiting and marketing.
Similarities: influence fund strategy and present in LP meetings.
Differences: principals lead deals and sit on boards; platform heads lead operational initiatives and rarely have voting rights on investments.
Similarities: both provide hands‑on help to startups.
Differences: operating partners dive deep into one function across a subset of companies; heads of platform orchestrate multiple functions and manage a team of specialists.
Similarities: both shape fund differentiation and engage LPs.
Differences: GPs raise capital and bear unlimited liability; heads of platform focus on execution programs and hold limited carry.
Similarities: interest in portfolio performance and risk management.
Differences: LPs allocate money to funds, whereas platform leaders allocate resources and knowledge to startups.
Early‑stage funds pay 150 000 – 220 000 USD in base salary. Growth and multi‑stage funds range 230 000 – 320 000 USD. Annual bonuses add 20 % to 50 %, tied to founder‑satisfaction surveys and portfolio‑wide KPI targets.
Carry allocations sit between 1 % and 3 % of the fund’s profit pool, vesting over the ten‑year fund life. Some funds layer deal‑by‑deal carry when the platform team drives a material value‑inflection event such as a key executive hire before a major follow‑on round.
Review Slack channels for urgent founder requests, scan portfolio dashboards for metric anomalies and attend a fifteen‑minute sync with investment partners to align on support priorities.
Host a talent office hour with two Series A CEOs, sharing compensation benchmarks and candidate intros. Over lunch, record a podcast episode featuring a portfolio CMO discussing early brand building.
Meet with a PR agency to plan a collective product‑launch push for three portfolio companies next quarter. Update the community calendar, adding an AMA with a senior engineering leader. Draft slides for the quarterly LP letter highlighting executive‑hire success rates.
Moderate an online roundtable where heads of sales compare funnel metrics and share playbooks. Collect feedback for new platform resources. Send follow‑up emails summarising next steps and linking to shared templates.
Update the platform OKR tracker, note progress against hiring and community engagement targets, and plan tomorrow’s session on international expansion for a hardware startup.
How does a head of platform measure success?
Key metrics include founder‑satisfaction scores, time to fill executive roles, engagement rates in community programs and improvements in aggregate portfolio KPIs such as revenue growth or churn reduction. Over time the ultimate proof is higher fund DPI relative to peer funds without platform support.
Does the head of platform sit on company boards?
Rarely. They might hold observer seats when their functional expertise is central to a company’s next stage, but voting board representation is generally reserved for investing partners to avoid governance overload.
What budget control does this role have?
Funds typically give a yearly platform budget covering salaries, software, events and outsourced services. The head of platform allocates these resources, adjusting spend based on founder feedback and ROI analysis approved by the partnership.
Can a head of platform transition into an investing role?
Yes. By working closely with founders and tracking performance data they develop pattern recognition. Some move into principal or partner seats after demonstrating strategic impact and building sourcing credibility.
What background is most appealing when hiring for this position?
Candidates who have scaled startups through multiple stages and led cross‑functional teams stand out. Specific functional depth in talent or growth plus demonstrated community‑building skills are highly valued.
How big is a typical platform team?
Seed funds may have just the platform head plus one coordinator. Multi‑stage firms often field five to fifteen specialists covering talent, marketing, BD, finance and events, all reporting to the platform leader.
Do platform heads share in carry equally with investing partners?
No. Their carry slice is smaller because they do not bear fiduciary liability for investment decisions. However, a two to three percent share across multiple funds can generate substantial upside over a career.
What tools streamline platform operations?
Common choices include Notion or Airtable for resource libraries, Greenhouse and Slack for recruiting pipelines, Salesforce for partner intros and Mosaic or Tableau dashboards for portfolio metrics tracking.
How does this role interact with limited partners?
Platform leaders present case studies at annual meetings, join due‑diligence calls with prospective LPs and supply quantitative evidence that services translate into better outcomes, reinforcing the firm’s differentiation narrative.
Is remote work feasible for heads of platform?
Hybrid models are common. Regular on‑site visits with founders and in‑person events remain important, but much program coordination and content creation can be done remotely, allowing flexibility for global portfolios.
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