New Media Ventures is hiring a Head of Investments! This is a great fit for someone with experience in for-profit investing and strong insight into dynamics around oppression, identity, power, and privilege. You’ll lead our grant-making and investment work and join the leadership team of a uniquely impactful organization at a critical time for our democracy.
One of NMV’s goals is to democratize access to capital in the progressive movement, and we strongly encourage people from communities under-represented in the investment, startup, and philanthropic communities to apply. Further details below, and please apply by end of day on Monday, June 29th.
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New Media Ventures (NMV) is a mission-driven venture fund and investor network focused on innovation to support our democracy and advance progressive change. Our mission is to find, support, and finance companies and organizations that are telling new stories, building advocacy movements, and catalyzing civic engagement. Over the past 10 years, we have supported nearly 90 promising startups, many of which are now widely-recognized pillars of the social change community, from Hearken and Blavity to Swing Left, Mijente, and PushBlack.
We are looking to hire a Head of Investments to lead our grant-making and investment work. This is an opportunity to join the leadership team of a uniquely impactful organization at a critical time for our democracy.
We believe that innovation comes in many different fiscal forms, which is why NMV has built an unusual and effective fund structure that allows us to both make investments in for-profit companies and grants to nonprofit organizations to maximize our impact. We invest at the seed and pre-seed stage in a company’s lifecycle, and occasionally make follow-on investments in series A. We make most of our investments via our annual Open Call, a process we have developed to source promising entrepreneurs, including those with less access to traditional funding networks. Over the past five years, our deal-flow from the Open Call has grown 10x. We also consider additional investments and grants throughout the year as opportunities arise.
One of NMV’s goals is to democratize access to capital in the progressive movement. Our work is guided by a commitment to collective liberation and undoing centuries of oppression and marginalization of people of color, women, First Nations, disabled people, LGTBQ+ communities, and more. We believe that social change is best led by people who have significant personal experience of the problems that need to be solved. We strongly encourage people from communities under-represented in the investment, startup, and philanthropic communities to apply.
Your responsibilities:
- Investments:
- Craft a portfolio of 10-15 companies and organizations each year that can catalyze the power of the progressive movement.
- Oversee and continuously improve NMV’s investment process ensuring that it’s efficient, fair, and surfaces the most impactful investment opportunities (via both our Open Call and our “off-cycle” investments).
- Lead due diligence into potential investments and guide diligence of others on the investment team.
- Develop investment recommendations to share with our network of aligned investors.
- Make investment decisions in partnership with the investment team and NMV’s President.
- Execute deals: review and negotiate terms, manage deal execution.
- Build trusted relationships with founders, and ensure that NMV provides them with strong support.
- Leadership:
- Help set organization-wide priorities; serve on the leadership team.
- Stay abreast of trends in our space and contribute to NMV’s thought leadership (writing, speaking, social media presence).
- Proactively identify opportunities to further incorporate diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-oppression into all aspects of our own work and the field.
- Recognize opportunities for growth, including by seeking feedback to identify personal blindspots. Show up as an ally for diverse partners in our work.
- Management:
- Recruit, manage, retain, and cultivate the investment team, starting with supervising the work of the Investment Manager.
- Serve as a role model for the organization; foster a culture of inclusion.
- Networking:
- Partner with a wide network of investors, accelerators, experts, and thought leaders to inform due diligence.
- Cultivate our deal flow.
- Grow our angel investor network and NMV’s brand.
- Fundraising:
- Contribute significantly to raising philanthropic funds, with the support of the full team.
- Cultivate a list of 30+ prospects and donors; close gifts regularly and support the rest of the fundraising team as needed.
Candidate requirements:
- 10+ years of professional experience in a relevant field. (More preferred.)
- Minimum 3 of those years in for-profit investing (venture capital, private equity, fund management, corporate development, or investment banking) or equivalent experience. (More preferred.)
- Track record of identifying opportunities and taking action to build inclusion and equity into organizational strategy and/or culture. Strong insight into dynamics around oppression and identity, power, and privilege in professional settings.
- Highly organized and detail oriented, capable of balancing and prioritizing concurrent projects and deadlines.
- Strong communication skills, written and verbal.
- Deep mission alignment with NMV.
- Able to travel as needed (about 20% of the time, once it’s safe again).
Candidate pluses (note: we expect the successful candidate to match at least a handful of the list below):
- Experience in venture capital.
- Experience with deal execution, including reviewing early-stage term sheets, determining valuation, and negotiating investment terms.
- Impact investing expertise (e.g. structured exits and other mission-aligned alternative investment structures, impact investing metrics, etc.).
- Experience in NMV’s investment areas: media, political and advocacy technology, progressive politics, and/or social justice movements.
- Experience with diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-oppression work (e.g. leading programs that advance anti-oppression).
- Experience working with and/or deep relationships in one or more marginalized communities in the U.S. such as communities of color, undocumented communities, low-wage workers, LGBTQ communities, disabled communities, Muslim communities, etc.
- Experience working with startups, either in a leadership role, as an advisor, or as a board member.
- Experience working with nonprofits as a funder, a board member, on staff, or as a long-term volunteer.
- Experience working, or volunteering in a substantial capacity, on political campaigns.
- Experience recruiting, managing, retaining, and cultivating a diverse team.
- Experience leading a remote team.
- Experience with fundraising (either philanthropic or investment funds).
- Lives in or near the San Francisco Bay Area or New York City Metro Area.
Other details:
- Location flexible. Most of the NMV team is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, currently working remotely. Candidate should be available to work during 9–5pm PT at least 3 days per week. We can provide additional flexibility for parents who are currently also doubling as teachers during the workday, and make accommodations for people with disabilities.
- This position reports to the President.
- This is an exempt, full-time, salaried position.
What to expect from us:
- Salary range: $160k-$220k for a candidate based in the San Francisco Bay Area or New York City Metro Area. The higher end of this range assumes additional experience and more alignment with candidate pluses above. For candidates living elsewhere, salary will be adjusted based on cost of living.
- Full benefits, including employer-covered health/vision/dental, life, and disability insurance, 401k match up to 5%, and more than 25 days of paid time off (10 days of vacation, 12 holidays, and the week between Christmas and New Years).
- A team with a sense of justice and a sense of humor.
- A low-ego, high-performance culture and flexible work environment.
Ready to apply? There are 2 simple steps to fill out through this form:
- In lieu of a cover letter, answer the following questions (150 words max per question):
- Why are you interested in and qualified for this position?
- Recommend a company (for-profit) that you think NMV should consider investing in and tell us why. Please do not recommend a company that is already in NMV’s portfolio.
- List each of the candidate pluses that you have, and describe in 1-2 sentences how you meet that criterion. If there are any of the required qualifications that you do not meet, also list that and explain why we should consider you anyway.
- Upload your resume. Please do NOT include a photo of yourself on your resume.
We will be reviewing applications on a rolling basis. The deadline for applying is the end of day on Monday, June 29th.
