Alumni Ventures Group is searching for an ambitious professional who will bring investing experience and strong connections within the startup and venture capital ecosystems to build the capabilities of Congress Avenue Ventures. Congress Avenue, a fund for University of Texas alumni, is one of AVG’s seventeen Core Funds and offers diverse, high-quality venture portfolios to alumni of the University of Texas.
ABOUT ALUMNI VENTURES GROUP
Alumni Ventures Group is a fast-growing company with over 100 employees across the country dedicated to growing and engaging with an inclusive community of teammates, investors, and entrepreneurs disrupting the status quo in order to build a better future. AVG provides accredited investors with the smartest, simplest way to own a high-quality, actively-indexed portfolio of venture investments. These portfolios are diverse across stage, sector and geography and are co-invested with top-quartile VC firms. Our Core Funds engage alumni of top colleges and universities to invest on an annual basis. Today, we serve roughly 4,000 investors, hundreds of startups, and a community of over 500,000 stakeholders across the country. Our corporate headquarters in Manchester, NH provides support and resources to our fund teams in Boston, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Menlo Park and Austin.
ABOUT THIS ROLE
The Principal role represents a critical position and exceptional opportunity to work hand in hand with AVG’s Founding Managing Partner for Congress Avenue. Success in the role will be achieved by leveraging AVG’s Investing Playbook and related processes to build Congress Avenue’s portfolios. Through the cultivation and management of strong relationships, both internally and externally, and under the leadership of the Managing Partner, the Principal will lead investment sourcing and evaluation initiatives for Congress Avenue Ventures. This position will be based in either AVG’s New York or Austin, TX office and requires about 10-20% travel as necessary to fulfill the expectations of the role.
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
In addition to salary:
Equity in AVG
Comprehensive Benefits and Wellness plan including Health, Dental, Vision
Paid parental leave
401K Retirement plan
Unlimited Time Off
Flexible Schedule
COMPETENCIES
- Independent decision making and evaluation capabilities, grounded in logic and executed with confidence
- Resourcefulness, as leveraged to reach outcomes and specifically in finding access points to interests through a variety of relationships
- Highly intuitive and insightful in interpersonal interactions, able to an audience and respond with appropriate presentation and communication skills
- Inclined to collaborate and share information, works readily and simultaneously toward big-picture and/or team goals as well as individual contributions
- Personal and/or professional interest in venture capital and other alternative investments, startups and entrepreneurship
- Orientation towards “roll-up-your-sleeves” execution and an inclination to advance processes rapidly via goal-orientation and problem-solving abilities
- Natural curiosity and process orientation
REQUIREMENTS
The ideal candidate will satisfy all of the requirements below, and serious applicants will satisfy most requirements and have demonstrated professional experience to support these requirements.
- Desire to further a career in venture investing, paired with empathy and respect for early stage start-up founders and experience researching and evaluating emerging companies
- Exceptional network and connections in the venture capital, startup and UTexas alumni communities
- 3-5 years of experience investing, ideally including a track record of investing in the venture capital or private equity space
- Substantial experience in a start-up and or build environment, in particular leveraging a given process or model to develop a new line of business
- Successful sales or business development track record, demonstrated relationship-based sales skills within the startup and/or venture ecosystem, including experience presenting to and/or communicating with executive level decision makers
- Solid approach to and history of successful, independent decision making and autonomous execution
- Highly effective communication skills, including a direct communication style to raise questions and name concerns early and professional written and verbal communication
- Strong analytical and financial analysis skills that can be leveraged to quickly comprehend, evaluate and critique a venture’s business model, market opportunity and team
- Curious and eager to learn, willing to take on new responsibilities at all levels with enthusiasm
- Experience successfully managing multiple, complex projects at the same time leveraging strong organizational skills and detail orientation to drive initiatives to reach goals and deadlines
OUTCOMES & RESPONSIBILITIES (First 12 Months)
Leverage a network of startup, venture and academic connections, among other relationships, to access quality investments for Congress Avenue Ventures. Results will be measured by the Principals’ achievements through the following, as determined with the CAV Managing Partner and AVG’s Office of Investment:
- The evaluation of a number of companies for potential investment each week, resulting in:
- Deep dives on approximately 3-5 per month
- Investment into several companies each year to create a balanced portfolio across industry/sector, stage and geography
- Strong co-investing performance with AVG sibling funds
- Appropriate quality and diversity of deals across the CAV portfolio
- Possibile syndication opportunities
Responsibilities in achieving the above outcomes include, but are not limited to:
- Network with University of Texas alumni in the venture industry and nurture relationships across the startup and venture ecosystem
- Identify and engage with deal sourcing targets (including pre-seed, seed, Series A, B or C stage)
- Support construction and evaluation of fund portfolio:
- Conduct outreach to VCs, entrepreneurs, incubators, and more to help fill our deal pipeline with prospects:
- Educate deal sources and companies/entrepreneurs about our process and effectively manage relationships in a professional, courteous manner
- Research and evaluate each company and industry as a potential investment, including interviewing company teams, competitors, and customers
- Work closely with sibling funds to identify mutual interesting investment opportunities
- Manage deal flow and related database inputs
- Develop and maintain proprietary deal and market intelligence
- Recruit, train, and manage interns and fellows, working in collaboration with AVG’s Fellowship Program and HR team to simultaneously provide professional development opportunities to those professionals and leverage their time and skills to support Congress Avenue
- Orchestrate and execute Investment Committee meetings, prep and distribute due diligence packages for the Investment Committee (IC) and Alumni Venture Group sibling funds to review
- Present companies, evaluations and recommendations for investment consideration and respond to Managing Partner and LP questions
- As requested, assist with investor relations, potential investor outreach and back-office functions
- Contribute positively to AVG’s culture and team, role modeling AVG values and working consistently toward North Stars
If interested, please apply here.
