VC Principal @ Acumen in San Francisco, CA

Acumen America is seeking to add leadership to its health team and is open to candidates at a range of different levels of experience, from VP up to Partner.

The Partner/VP/Principal, Health will be joining a team catalyzing the power of entrepreneurs to drive meaningful change on problems of poverty in America. In particular, they will focus on building a portfolio of game-changing health companies.

Acumen is seeking leaders with significant experience in investing in, and a commitment to, both tackling poverty and building a diverse portfolio of health organizations whose leadership team better-represent the communities and populations they serve (56% of Acumen America’s companies have a founder of color and 44% have a female founder.)

The right candidate is a leader – entrepreneurial, bold, creative, and can excel in a fast-paced, startup environment.

Key Responsibilities:

Specific responsibilities will vary by level but below is an overview.

• Play a leadership role on the investing team at Acumen America and focus specifically on Acumen America’s health portfolio. This will involve setting goals, honing process, refining strategy, and assessing portfolio performance.
• With a focus on health, they will:
• Source new Pre-Seed and Seed stage investments, lead due diligence processes, structure deal terms, and drive new investments to closing.
• Manage certain relationships post-closing, including sitting on a small number of Boards, both as an Observer and a Director over time.
• Manage certain other Acumen America team members.
• Play a leading role in setting sector strategy, support fundraising, and advance strategic partnership initiatives.
• Contribute to actively building and cultivating Acumen America’s networks in the venture and impact investing communities, as well as the healthcare payer, provider and policy communities
• Develop insight and communications pieces for external audiences.
• Engage in the Medicaid Innovation Collaborative program operated by Acumen America. In this program, state Medicaid agencies and managed care organizations come together to advance the adoption of tech-enabled health equity innovations.
• Work with Acumen America Partners, in the design, execution, and scale of this high-impact program as it advances change across the Medicaid ecosystem and supports the success of companies in the health portfolio.
• Be comfortable working in a fast-paced, changing environment, executing quickly on a range of transactional responsibilities, as well as thinking critically to add value and solve problems.

More specifically, they will be responsible for:

Early-Stage Venture Investing:

• Identify, cultivate, and review a pipeline of early-stage investment opportunities providing critical services to low-income Americans
• Conduct thorough due diligence and investment analysis, including financial modeling, valuation review and structuring
• Prepare and present detailed and compelling investment documentation for Acumen America’s Investment Committee

Portfolio Management

• Own relationships with certain portfolio companies, tracking performance and providing active support
• Assess portfolio company needs related to post investment support; design and implement post-investment management interventions
• Design and evaluate key metrics to measure the social and financial returns on investments
• Develop long-term relationships with external stakeholders including funders, advisors, thought leaders, sector and functional experts to provide support across the portfolio
• Play a key role in portfolio company governance, including serving as a Board Observer and Board Director for select investees

Portfolio Operations

• Manage select portfolio team members as direct reports
• Lead strategic initiatives to improve health sector investment thesis and strategy
• Work with the Acumen America team to analyze and document data-driven rationales for portfolio decisions; to extract and document investment-specific and general insights; to analyze metrics data to identify patterns; and to channel that data to outputs for marketing and fundraising efforts
• Produce discrete knowledge and research materials based on lessons from Acumen’s portfolio

Program Management

• Develop and implement strategic plans to advance the mission and goals of the Medicaid Innovation Collaborative
• Oversee the execution of key programmatic milestones including working with State Medicaid departments, managed care organizations and health tech companies to advance health equity goals
• Manage relationships with key partners including states, managed care organizations and vendors
• Develop and implement strategic approaches to support portfolio company needs.

The Person:

• A deep commitment to mission, impact and the power of building a diverse portfolio by investing in underestimated founders
• Significant experience in venture capital, private equity, investment banking, investment management, or relevant non-finance fields, including experience with financial and operational due diligence of early-stage businesses
• Deep sector experience in health tech and/or Medicaid, as an investor or investor/operator
• Superior financial and business analysis skills, as demonstrated by prior experience
• Excellent written and oral communication skills; ability to present arguments and analysis in a clear and succinct manner to Acumen management, partners and investees
• Strong ability to take initiative with research and analysis and produce valuable results in conditions of uncertainty
• Solid operational skills including problem solving and project management skills, including ability to work and deliver projects independently, proactively and under pressure
• Familiarity with the social enterprise and impact investing sectors
• An ability to establish relationships with CEO and add value to their endeavor
• Self-reflective and aligned with Acumen values
• Must be permanently authorized to work in the U.S.

Education:

• Bachelor’s Degree is required

Location:

• San Francisco, CA
• Candidates based in other CA locations, Raleigh/Durham NC or in New York City will also be considered