A Letter to Founder Collective’s Future Senior Associate in NYC

Even though this looks like another “open letter,” we’re writing to a specific person that wants to be a part of our fund for years to come. We may not know you yet, but we can’t wait to meet you.

Can You Help Us find the next Uber? PillPack? Cruise?

We’re a seed stage VC firm with $200M under management and over the last decade we’ve been fortunate to invest in the seed stage in extraordinary entrepreneurs who birthed and built industry-leading companies including Uber, The Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD), PillPack, Buzzfeed, Cruise, Periscope, Hotel Tonight, and many more. We’re equally excited about some of our newer investments in companies like Embark (DNA testing for dogs), Trusted Health (marketplace for nurses) and Dia&Co (leading subscription commerce for plus-size fashion), to name just a few.

We’re contrarians. We believe VC is a hell of a drug and startups are generally more successful when they raise less money, that entrepreneurs should obsess over use cases instead of themes, and that big businesses grow in weird spaces and unusual places.

We’re looking for someone to push our thinking and help find the next wave of great companies by acting as a new set of eyes, and ears, and a voice for our team. Is that you?

Here’s the type of person we’re looking for:

You are innately curious about the world and thrive when you’re surrounded by other smart, determined people. You’ve founded a company in the past and have the scars to show for it. You find yourself walking into any business — from an artisanal coffee shop to a doctor’s office, and wonder how to make their customer experience better. You’re constantly trying new software tools to optimize your personal workflow and trying new DNVBs you see on Instagram.

• Your founding experience helps inform your empathy for founders.
• You HAVE and LOVE taking points of view on tech and start-ups and sharing them with your colleagues and the world. You breathe conviction.
• You’re capable of defending your POV but you’re open to debating and changing your viewpoint.
• Ideally, you have an NYC network in the tech ecosystem or other relationships that can help the fund.
• You recognize the value of helping start-ups by both engaging in the tech community online and offline.
• You are substantive and sociable.
• You have a very high emotional IQ and love to engage in the collaborative search for the truth of any situation.
• You are a self-starter and can work without too much direction.
• Most of all, you want to work on helping the next generation of great companies learn from each other so that they can ultimately make a dent in the universe.

ABOUT US

We’re the first institutional money in nearly all the companies in which we invest. Despite the breadth of the portfolio, we maintain a small, close knit team. FC has made over 275 investments throughout the world, but the majority of them are in NYC, Boston, and the Bay Area.

Our mission is to be the most aligned venture capital fund for founders at the seed stage. The Founder Collective team is a group of experienced start-up founders, not career investors. In addition, all of our founder partners are busy operating startups — James Tamplin (Firebase/Google), Zach Klein (DIY/Vimeo), Jack Groetzinger (SeatGeek) and Raj de Datta (BloomReach), Andy Palmer (Tamr) and Nadia Boujarwah (Dia & Co).

The FC vibe can be described as a handful of empathy for what it takes to start a venture from scratch, a fist of strong-willed conviction, many doses of humility, and a pinch of chutzpah, determination, and humor. Like a startup, we’re constantly evolving and learning as we go.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Senior Associate role means being a full-fledged member of the investment team, attending weekly meetings with the ability to debate potential investments (without being afraid to disagree and an eagerness to learn from others), discuss strategy topics, and conduct diligence. Your conviction (or lack thereof) of companies you are evaluating will serve as a crucial input in FC’s decision to invest or not.

You will be based in the NYC office and primarily charged with pursuing and analyzing investment opportunities, building community and helping the portfolio. Nonetheless, you’ll serve as a co-pilot on deals with all three partners, across the geographies we cover.

Most importantly, you are a set of eyes, ears and a voice for the fund.

Compensation includes competitive compensation and fully-paid health insurance.

Interested? Send us a message at nycassociate@foundercollective.com.

Founder Collective is an equal opportunity employer.