VC Associate @ SmartHR in San Mateo, CA

We are looking for an Investment Associate to join an early-stage venture fund and incubator, located in San Mateo. As a member of the core team, the Investment Associate will assist in sourcing and modeling of potential opportunities, conducting industry research, due diligence, and overall portfolio management. 

Reporting directly to the Managing Partners, the Investment Associate will develop an independent perspective on many investment discussions. We are looking for someone who has a true passion for “hard-tech” and IoT and is looking to play an integral part in the development of the venture fund, its portfolio of early-stage companies and ecosystem. 

Responsibilities: 

  • Collaborate with key stakeholders across the organization to formulate investment thesis and define key focus areas.
  • Build and maintain strong relationships and partnerships among the HardTech community to evaluate opportunities.
  • Manage end to end full venture investment life cycle including deal sourcing, initial screening, evaluation, due diligence, negotiation, and execution. 
  • Track and manage the reporting of existing portfolio investments in our proprietary database.
  • Understand and stay current with the innovation ecosystem, including the competitive landscape, industry news, trends, and investment/acquisition activity.
  • Manage external advisor and vendor relationships for deal execution and associated research support.
  • Create and prepare materials for Investment and Advisory Committee meetings.
  • Direct both quantitative and qualitative investment case analyses, including valuation (e.g. comparables, discounted cash flow, internal rate of return), and strategic rationale.
  • Guide and support business units in preparing and presenting investment opportunities.
  • Build and maintain relationships to ensure proper collaboration with internal organizations for execution.

Required Technical and Professional Experience:

  • 5 years of relevant work experience, ideally in venture capital, investment banking, PE, VC, management consulting, or corporate environment with meaningful acquisition and/or investment activity.
  • Experience would specifically include analyzing new business opportunities and participating in acquisition, strategic investment, partnership, alliance or other related types of transactions.
  • Understanding of venture terms and related investment documents, capitalization tables, disclosure schedules, etc.
  • Executive presence and maturity to challenge thinking and present ideas at a senior level.
  • Strong ability to navigate and lead cross-functionally; solid and broad business knowledge with the ability to understand business requirements and objectives.
  • Bachelor’s degree, ideally in a Finance, Engineering, or Strategy related discipline; MBA or advanced degree is a plus. 

Who you are: 

  • Confident in interacting with and influencing senior leaders; ability to analyze data, synthesize and present results to senior executives
  • Comfortable building and evolving productive relationships with stakeholders at key partner companies
  • Smart and innovative; ability to think outside the box
  • Strong strategic, analytical and critical thinking skills
  • Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities demanding both rigorous attention to detail and high-level comprehensive solutions
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills
  • Ability to navigate through ambiguity and thrive in a fast-paced, ever-evolving environment
  • Ability to gather and drive requirements, and conceptually transfer requirements into solutions that drive revenue growth
  • Strong decision-making skills, utilizing data to inform decisions and identify financial impact
  • An appreciation for the early-stage startup culture

 

If interested, please apply here.

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