Compound, a thesis-driven, research-centric investing firm, is hiring an investor with at least 2 years of professional experience
As we think about the future of building a firm, we believe our team must be comprised of investors that form a myriad of investable views in categories we care about (most often AI/ML, Robotics, Crypto, Healthcare, and Bio). These views are at times highly prescriptive, and at other times are higher level across a given category. Sometimes these are ahead of the market correctly, and sometimes we are way too early for our own good.
These views, or theses as we call them, are the result of internal debate, hard work, an obsession with the craft of investing, and endless passion and curiosity for our core areas.
Over the past two years we’ve begun to scale up our team and we are doing so again in 2023 as we look to bring on another Investor in either New York or San Francisco with at least two years of professional experience. This role could be thought of as senior as a Junior Partner and as “junior” as an Associate.
This person will be expected to do the end-to-end job of an investor at Compound. Duties include but aren’t limited to:
Research and thesis development
We spend an immense amount of time building out theses that allow us to form decade-long views on where we think the world could go. This allows us to have high context with founders and help navigate nascent areas with less tried and true paths for scaling and commercialization.
With this process often comes a large amount of reading of both academic papers and other source material, internal debate, external conversations, and public writing. Intellectual honesty and a passion for this style of investing is necessary.
Sourcing, diligencing, and co-leading investments
Our investing cadence at Compound is a bit different than other firms. We aim to lead or co-lead seed rounds in 6–10 companies per year over 3.5 years each fund. This means that unlike other firms, you will run up against a potentially higher bar for co-leading a deal with a Partner. If this slower and deeper style of investing excites you, there is no better seed fund in the world to work at and we are confident that the learning curve will be steep and rewarding.
As mentioned, our aperture is somewhat narrow relative to other firms. We do not invest in most traditional fintech, marketplaces, consumer social, DTC, and more. Because of this we are looking for someone with a strong passion, knowledge base, and curiosity within our core areas and other adjacencies.
Working with our Founders & Community
We try our best to actively support our founders from Seed to Series B, often playing a smaller part in the company after that timeframe. This role will be tasked with everything from helping recruit candidates to thinking through company strategy to eventually participating on the board as a formal board member or observer.
In addition, we deeply care about the communities of operators, researchers, and investors within our focus areas. An investor at Compound is expected to host events, connect talent, help community members navigate their proverbial career idea mazes, and more.
Internal Projects
No job is too small or beneath any member of the Compound team. We pride ourselves on having low egos and high EQ across every function of our jobs. We are a small group and you may be called upon to help during fundraising, annual meetings, reporting, and more.
Application
If you are interested in applying for the role please email mike (at) Compound (dot) VC with the subject line 2022 Investor Hire. If you’d like to refer/vouch for someone, feel free to send their name to us, but also have them apply directly. Applications will be read on a rolling basis however we will accept submissions until December 1st, 2022.
In the email please include:
- Why you want to join Compound specifically
- How you would pitch yourself to a founder
- 1–2 investment theses in an area within or adjacent to AI/ML, Robotics, Healthcare, or Crypto
- An example of a pre-Series B company you would invest in and why
- Any other writing/links that help us get to know you better
For more information or context on us as a firm, check out our website, our twitter, as well as our prior job posting.
For context on our other team members see Michael, David, Nicole, and Shelby’s twitter profiles.
