Founding Sales — Brand Partnerships (US)

What is Trendex?

Trendex is the leader in fan experiences with the biggest stars in football (soccer) and the NBA. We give fans direct access to their favorite athletes through official Fan Passes --- exclusive content, VIP events, meet & greets, signed items, and real moments with the players they love.

Over 200 elite athletes have signed directly with Trendex, including names like Luis Suárez. Every Fan Pass is officially backed by the athlete. We've built the bridge between the most iconic sports talent in the world and a paying, engaged fan community.

Now we're opening the next chapter: bringing brands into that bridge.

The Opportunity

When a brand partners with Trendex, they get instant access to a roster of 200+ global football and NBA stars, plus a paying fan audience that already pays to be close to them. We sell activations, drops, co-branded experiences, and culture-shaping campaigns alongside the world's biggest athletes.

The athletes are signed. The audience is real. Inbound from brands is already starting.

What we need is one person to take that and turn it into a repeatable, high-velocity U.S. brand partnerships engine.

What You'll Own

• Run full-cycle B2B deals end-to-end: source, qualify, pitch, negotiate, and close brand partnership deals.
• Build the U.S. target list of consumer brands: apparel, beverages, sportswear, automotive, lifestyle, finance, consumer tech, gaming, web3, betting, telco, QSR --- any category that wants to activate alongside top global athletes.
• Open doors and close deals with CMOs, VPs of Marketing, Heads of Brand, and brand-partnership leads at Fortune 1000 and challenger consumer brands.
• Sell into brand-side agencies and media buyers (the people who hold consumer-brand budget).
• Design the partnership playbook: pricing tiers, deal structures, co-marketing terms, integration packages. You write the book Trendex scales on.
• Own the U.S. brand pipeline end to end --- CRM, forecasting, weekly metrics, monthly closed-won.
• Represent Trendex at industry events, brand summits, Cannes Lions, ANA, Advertising Week.
• Partner directly with the CEO on deal strategy, pricing, and high-stakes negotiations.

Who You Are

• 5--10+ years selling into U.S. consumer brands. Digital media ad sales, sports media partnerships, sponsorship sales, creator/influencer platform sales (brand-side), experiential, podcast, broadcast, OOH.
• Personally closed six- and seven-figure deals with CMOs, VPs of Marketing, and Heads of Brand at U.S. consumer brands.
• Real, active rolodex on the brand side and brand-agency side. You can pick up the phone and have meetings booked by Friday.
• Hunter. You generate your own pipeline: cold outreach, warm intros, conferences, LinkedIn.
• You close. You build urgency, navigate procurement and legal, and get pen to paper.
• Founder mentality. You want ownership, equity upside, and to build a function from scratch.

Where We Love Your Background to Come From

• Sports/digital media ad sales: ESPN, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, DAZN, Barstool Sports, Front Office Sports, Overtime (ad sales side), Whistle, Players' Tribune.
• Broadcast/streaming brand partnerships: NBC Sports, Fox Sports, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube TV, Netflix Sports, Spotify Brand Studio.
• Digital publisher ad sales: NYT Advertising, Vox Creative, Hearst, Condé Nast, BDG, Complex, Group Nine, BuzzFeed brand partnerships.
• Creator/influencer platforms (brand-side sales only): Whalar brand-side, Captiv8, Influential, CreatorIQ, GRIN, #paid.
• Brand activation / sports sponsorship platforms selling into CMOs (OpenSponsorship, Hashtag Sports, etc.).
• Pure brand-side experience: in-house at a major consumer brand running partnerships or sponsorship strategy.

Bonus Points

• You've sold across categories: CPG, apparel, beverage, automotive, finance, consumer tech, gaming, crypto/web3.
• Comfort closing deals from cold lead to signed IO/contract in under 60 days.
• Existing book of business with mid-market and enterprise consumer brands.
• Based in NYC, LA, or Miami. Open elsewhere in the U.S. for a strong brand rolodex.

Compensation Philosophy

This role is built for a closer. The structure:

• Base retainer: modest, capped at $7K/month ($84K/year). This is your floor while you ramp; it does not move with negotiation.
• Commission: uncapped, paid on revenue you personally close. The salary range shown on this listing ($60K--$400K) is on-target earnings --- base plus expected commission for a strong year. Top performers will exceed $400K.
• Equity: 0.50%--1.50%, founding-team level.

You eat what you kill, you own a real slice of the company, and the ceiling is your appetite.

Why Trendex

• Real product, real traction. 200+ signed elite athletes. Officially backed Fan Passes. Engaged fan communities already paying.
• Iconic talent roster already locked. You walk in with Suárez, top NBA stars, and the next wave of icons. The athletes are already signed.
• Founding role. You build the U.S. brand partnerships function. As we scale, you scale into leadership.
• Direct line to the CEO. Daily collaboration on strategy, pricing, and deal calls.
• Equity that matters. This is a founding hire, and it's structured like one.

How to Apply

Apply through YC. In your application, tell us about the single biggest brand partnership deal you've personally closed --- how you sourced it, how you closed it, and what it was worth. We read everything.