We take a focused, thesis-driven approach to investing. We dive deeply into market and technology trends ahead of our investments, backing relatively few companies per fund so we can meaningfully support those companies. We have a tight-knit, fun-loving, nerdy team of five Partners, one Principal, one Senior Associate and three Venture Partners.

We are looking to grow the Obvious Ventures family with a new team member who will work directly with the investment team based in San Francisco. We hope to find someone who shares our general curiosity for how the world works, and passion for exploring a wide range of topics — from quantum computing to U.S. healthcare reimbursement models. We hope that you will contribute to the general intellectual discourse while bringing a vibrant, entrepreneurial spirit to the office.

Your Responsibilities

Networking: To strategically strengthen relationships and networks for the firm — with co-investors, industry partners, services providers, and founders.
Sourcing: To effectively generate compelling deal flow and investment opportunities.
Thesis Development: To build out a researched point of view on how the world will change in an area of interest.
Public Presence: To contribute to the firm’s thought leadership and public perception with presence on social media, industry events, and firm publications.
Everything Else: To assist in all aspects of the investment process like reviewing business plans, taking first meetings, performing due diligence on prospective companies, and supporting portfolio companies.

Our Responsibilities

One Team: To give you exposure working alongside everyone at Obvious and integrate you into the broad investment team. You will receive carry to share in our upside.
Mentorship: To invest in your career and do our best to help mold you into a great investor. As we do not have a policy of hiring an army of junior investors and expecting churn, this is an important and rare addition to our team. We strive to promote from within, and there is no expected expiration date.
Open Door: To keep an open door policy across the entire firm and give you a real sense of the full venture capital job. You will have exposure to investment theses, portfolio support, fund management, firm operations, investment decisions, and fundraising conversations.

Who You Are

We are looking for someone that adds to our optimistic, forward-looking team culture — much more so than a specific skill set or background. Here’s an attempt to articulate that, but we are more than open to building on this list!

Connector & Catalyst. You are passionate, proactive, and eager to build meaningful connections within the venture/startup ecosystem, and beyond. A plus for already having a great network through your previous career.
Warm & Authentic. You are able to build meaningful relationships with people from all walks of life.
Curious About Everything. Emerging technologies, software, hardware, legacy industries — you name it. It doesn’t matter, you enjoy learning about it all.
Crystal Clear Thinker. From the wealth of information you’re able to collect about a particular topic, you are then capable of synthesizing it all into a simple narrative.
Self-Starter. You don’t need to be told exactly what to do, and are comfortable with working in unstructured environments.
(Just Enough) Experience. Ideally 2–5 years of work experience after undergrad, ideally in a related field (e.g. VC/PE, startup, product management, investment banking, corporate development, strategy consulting, etc.).
Table Stakes: You live and work by high ethical standards (here are a few of ours), have exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, and an ability to tolerate many, many puns.

A Note On Diverse Candidates

We know having varied backgrounds across the team makes us stronger at Obvious, and are actively working to diversify our ranks. No matter your gender, race, sexual orientation, or birthplace — please apply for this role! In the words of the team at Textio: “The more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.”

Application

Interested? Drop us a note here with a resume and a little bit more about you. If you’re curious and think you might not be a fit for the role, well — you might actually be perfect.

We’re here and excited to hear from you.