Emergence is a pre-eminent enterprise cloud investor with a 20-year track record of success partnering with people who change the way the world works.
Our founders started the firm in 2003 with the philosophy that the best culture and best performance would be achieved by grooming people from within. Over the past two decades, we have maintained an intentional career development process at the firm with this as our North Star goal. In the same way Emergence approaches how we invest in companies, we are purposeful in how we build our team and develop our people. From the first non-founding investor that joined Emergence in 2006 through the present, the firm has maintained a true apprenticeship model. Of the five General Partners leading Emergence today, four started their Emergence careers in the role we are hiring for (and the other is the co-founder!).
Recently, we’ve been fortunate to work closely with the extraordinary entrepreneurs building Zoom, Bill.com, Blend, Chorus, Clearco, Doximity, G2, Gusto, Ironclad, project44, Salesloft, and others. We want to find the next generation of great entrepreneurs building enterprise companies that change the way the world works.
We’re looking to bring a Principal on to the Emergence team!
This is a rare opportunity to build a career in venture capital. We are very intentional about growing the Emergence team (historically, partner-track positions have come available only once every two to three years) and believe in an apprenticeship model.
In this partner-track position, you will play a critical role in the core investment work of the fund. You will support our due diligence efforts, monitor and assist portfolio companies, research and develop investment themes to refine our firm’s expertise in these areas, and help source new investments (which you will eventually co-sponsor). You will also be responsible for publishing original thought leadership and concurrently building your brand in tandem with the Emergence brand.
This is a full-time role that will be based in the Bay Area (San Mateo & San Francisco) once we can safely return to office. Apply here.
Responsibilities include:
- Increasing the firm’s competitive advantage through differentiated, focused approaches to sourcing and diligencing compelling investments in the enterprise software space. Building trust within the firm through teamwork and a one firm spirit is essential. We consider investing a team sport!
- Driving deal evaluation, including detailed customer and management references, market sizing and mapping, financial modeling, and industry research.
- Sourcing new early-stage investments by nurturing deep relationships with founders, investors, and the broader VC community.
- Developing expertise in key enterprise technology sub-sectors, while also building a depth of knowledge across a wider range of business models.
- Collaborating with teammates to push our thinking in key thesis areas and developing your own unique perspectives.
- Contributing to building the Emergence brand (alongside your own), as well as improving our internal processes. Despite our storied legacy, we think of ourselves as a startup, and as such we are continuously seeking to iterate on how to operate at our best.
This position is NOT:
- A “partner” role. At least not immediately. We believe in maintaining transparency and that includes how we represent ourselves externally. While this role is a partner-track position, it is not guaranteed (though we have a VERY good hit rate!); a Partner title at Emergence is earned by those that meet/exceed performance expectations.
- All about building your network. Outside of speaking on panels, putting out thought leadership and bringing in potential investment opportunities, we believe there is a lot of foundational work that is important to being a good investor. There will be a significant amount of behind-the-scenes work to drive the firm’s internal investment processes (QB diligence, digging into financial and operating models, setting up reference/customer calls, research, building decks, etc.).
What you’ll get out of this position:
- An opportunity to become an experienced and respected investor in enterprise tech VC by partnering with experienced GPs in building the firm and your own sourcing and diligence motions.
- Key insights into how early-stage investing in b2b/enterprise companies at a top-tier venture fund works
- Hands-on experience developing, improving and driving all parts of the investment process and improving internal processes.
- Continue to build expertise in early-stage growth companies and how to best support them. You’ll collaborate with the operating partners on the Platform team as they help support our companies.
- Learnings from portfolio companies as they operate, fundraise, and scale from the earliest-stages through post-IPO.
- Build on your intellectual and networking assets in a team environment.
- Access to a premier network of entrepreneurs, executives, and investors.
- A highly-coveted career opportunity to potentially become a partner at a top-tier VC fund.
Who we’re looking for:
We’ve seen well-rounded backgrounds perform best in this role (and have showcased some below). Some examples of profiles we think could be great:
- 6-10 years of experience in some combination of PE/VC (investing), structured training (consulting/banking), large-scale & big company (big tech), and product/operations experience (startups).
- Bonus points if you are focused on b2b/enterprise and early-stage.
- Banking, PE, VC and operating experience at a startup
- Carlotta (Lotti) Siniscalco, Principal, started in banking (Morgan Stanley, TT Venture, Goldman), moved into PE at Advent, BizOps at NerdWallet, and worked as a Principal at Ribbit Capital. MBA from Stanford GSB.
- Consulting, VC and operating experience at a startup
- Jake Saper, General Partner, started in management consulting, then helped launch a solar company focused on emerging markets, later working at Kleiner Perkins’ Green Growth Fund. MBA and MS from Stanford.
- PE and Consulting experience
- Joe Floyd, General Partner, came from several stints in PE and Consulting at American Capital, SmithStreetSolutions and McKinsey. Wharton MBA.
- Startup founder/entrepreneurial experience, with exposure to VC
- Santi Subotovsky, General Partner, was Founder & CEO of a LatAm-based e-learning startup, Storm Ventures. MBA from HBS.
You might be a good fit if:
- You are highly analytical. You have a keen eye and are genuinely passionate about analyzing quantitative and qualitative data, and have a strong ability to synthesize key findings. Candidates may have consulting, banking, or technical backgrounds, and must be comfortable working in Excel.
- Have an entrepreneurial bent. Empathy is essential to what we do. You’ll likely have started a business yourself or worked at an early stage startup. Regardless, you will have an outstanding network in the entrepreneurial community.
- Have a default preference for collaboration. Every venture firm is unique in how they operate, and Emergence is on the collaborative end of the spectrum; for example, we require unanimous enthusiasm of our group before we invest in any company. A track record as a low-ego, collaborative team member is essential for success here.
- Are an outstanding communicator. You regularly build deep relationships with entrepreneurs of all backgrounds, and you communicate equally well internally. Strong synthesis skills come into play here as well. What’s the “so what?” You know the right questions to ask, as well as when to listen and learn. You have the polish and presence to regularly interact with top-tier CEOs, founders, and entrepreneurs.
- Build non-consensus perspectives. We’re helping to build the next generation of iconic enterprise cloud companies. And, in so doing, building the next generation of Emergence. We need innovative ideas from all of our team members to help shape our theses and investments. The right team member will have a differentiated, well-reasoned perspective on where enterprise cloud is headed and be able to identify these opportunities early, with a demonstrated record of communicating that perspective in our community. We place a premium on diversity of ideas and backgrounds and are excited to add new perspectives to our team. We encourage everyone to have a voice.
- Demonstrated track record of success. Top undergraduate and/or graduate programs, strong career trajectory in operating roles. We welcome newly minted MBAs (plus but not required) with relevant pre-MBA work experience, ideally operating at a tech company.
If this sounds like you, and you have at least 6+ years of relevant experience, we’d love to hear from you.
At Emergence, we value resourcefulness, diversity, team play, excellence, and hustle. We believe in the importance of an inclusive and diverse team. We welcome people of all ages, genders, ethnicities, orientations and backgrounds to apply. Someone will follow up if your background is a fit for us and we want to dig in more.
Interested? Apply here!
