We’ve recently re-opened our NYC office and are looking to build out the investment team. To give you a sense of what a day in the life is like at Founder Collective, we’ve assembled an example of a daily agenda for our future Principal:
9:00 AM — In-person pitch with an entrepreneur: It’s hard to say what kind of company will start your day. It could be anything from Ad tech to Zoological DNA testing. You’re going to hear pitches for things like robotic pharmacies, plus-size fashion, Korean ecommerce, self-driving cars (and on-demand black car services), many shades of SaaS, dozens of dev tools, and so on. So you boot up the Nespresso for you and the founders, and you sit around discussing the potential Go-to-market strategies for the presenting company.
10:00 AM — Lead a company pipeline review with the investment team: A vital part of the Principal role is screening the thousands of qualified leads we get each year and triaging those that need the most attention from the full investment team. This important function requires the principal to help educate the student and senior associates on what kinds of deals are likely to get across the line, to compare notes on companies we’re meeting with, and assigning the next steps. [Slack Chime] You get a message from a founder — she needs to run something by you. You quickly step out to answer a question and direct the founder to a trusted source for b2b marketing.
11:00 AM — Help a portfolio company with Series A fundraising: We’re not a life-cycle firm, and as such, we don’t invest in our portfolio company’s future rounds beyond being supportive in the Series A. This structure makes us uniquely aligned with our founders and gives us the ability to offer the unconflicted advice. You’ll help our founders figure out who they should pitch, get their deck into shape, and otherwise navigate the choppy seas of Series A, and beyond. You help the founder build a list of Series A targets and then think through how much the ask should be.
12:00 PM — Lunch with your counterpart at a peer fund: We expect Principals to network widely in the industry. It helps us with deal flow, to find syndication partners, and to refresh our understanding of the market. In addition to learning the arcana of equity investing, this job will equip you with an encyclopedic knowledge of the city’s coffee shops and lunch spots. This time you choose Ground Support Cafe on West Broadway because of their top-notch Matcha! (it can be a tough job but someone has to…)
1:00 PM — Build your brand with thought leadership: A Principal at Founder Collective isn’t a behind the scenes position. You are one of the faces of the fund. We expect the Principal to have ideas about the industry and a desire to share them. This aspect of the job might mean engaging on Twitter, blogging about the dynamics of a good deal, or perhaps you’re more community focus and want to host a series of events on a specific topic. Perhaps you’ll start to write about the consumerization of enterprise in the insurance space. You can’t remember why you got excited about insurance, but you’ve learned a ton over the previous few months…
2:00 PM — Due diligence: You’re excited about one of the companies you met. The entrepreneurs seem bright, and their business plan sounds plausible, but before we make an investment, we do our homework. A big part of this role is figuring out who we should talk to about a given investment and which data would help test our key concerns about the startup. You draft up a deal document and identify three key areas to probe. The partners offer people to call to validate or invalidate your hypotheses.
3:00 PM — Meet with a partner to catch up on deals: Every deal is led by a partner, but many would not happen without the advocacy of our principals. It’s not enough to identify the next great company, you’ll need to advocate for them as well. You’ll also get mentorship from the full partnership on a regular basis.
4:00 PM — Answering the ~87 emails you got today: This role has its energizing moments, but it also involves a lot of email. Seriously, we pay for Superhuman, but it only takes the edge off what is a formidable list of correspondence. The person who fills this role needs to be proficient in parsimonious business prose and possess an iron focus.
This is a special role. If you are aiming towards a career in venture capital, think of it as an apprenticeship that will give you a bird’s eye view into one of the strongest portfolios at our stage. Should you decide to re-enter the entrepreneurial arena, you’ll do so with a better understanding of how the industry works and how it can be leveraged more effectively to your ends. And if a high-stakes executive role is your next desired career move, few roles will do more to build your network in ways that will benefit you for decades to come.
Requirements: We’re looking for someone with deep startup expertise — ideally you’ve founded a company (everyone on our investment team has) — but if you were an early employee at a rocketship, let’s talk. Other than that, we’re open to candidates of all stripes.
Interested? Email us: NYCteam@FounderCollective.com
If interested, please apply here.
