Founders are often said to be obsessed with their vision and mission. It’s what drives them to continuously learn, hustle, and ultimately succeed. In our search for a Senior Associate, our #1 priority is to find someone as obsessed with enterprise software as we are.
We can teach VC fundamentals, but it’s near impossible to teach real passion. We believe this is key to someone who will riff on ideas, think big, always be brainstorming how to scale enterprise startups, and better support our founders as they build transformational companies.
Editor’s Note: We originally posted this job description in Fall of 2021 and met some great candidates. We’ve refined the role to better articulate how we think this teammate can best succeed at Work-Bench – see below!
About Work-Bench
Work-Bench is an early-stage enterprise tech focused VC fund based in NYC. We lead Seed investments in startups throughout the country, tackling some of the greatest challenges for enterprises across AI and Machine Learning, Cybersecurity, Cloud Native Infrastructure, Future of Jobs, and more.
You can read more about our $100M Fund 3 on our blog and in Forbes.
What makes this job awesome?
We’re looking to hire a full-time Senior Associate as we continue to scale!
As a lean team, we support and thrive off of each other. We contribute to each others’ investment activities and lend helpful perspectives, whether that’s through investment diligence or portfolio support.
At the same time, you’ll have the opportunity to own an enterprise tech sector you’re passionate about. This includes sourcing, market research, customer diligence, working directly with founders, and so much more. For example, our Associate Priyanka has built an incredible name for herself in the data infrastructure world, writing numerous blog posts, research reports, and her own monthly newsletter. Expect your voice to be heard and our team to help amplify your output!
At our core, we’re enterprise tech nerds who have spent the last 9+ years building a vibrant NYC enterprise community. Most of us have spent time on the IT side coming from Morgan Stanley, Cisco, and Forrester and we use that experience to help our portfolio companies close enterprise deals and scale go-to-market efforts. We are looking for someone who has their own unique edge in their enterprise perspective.
While we may be a VC, we operate at the fast and furious speed of a startup (in fact, we often get asked if our team is 2-3x larger than it actually is). We’re constantly looking to revitalize and reinvent our processes, and we hope you can bring a new level of enthusiasm, passion, and hustle to help us build the best early-stage enterprise NYC firm.
Does this sound like something you’d like to be a part of? Meet your future team here.
Responsibilities will include:
- Sourcing and evaluating potential investment opportunities
- Researching sector and industry trends to identify potential areas of investment focus
- Performing due diligence through in-depth analysis of areas such as sector trends, market dynamics, end user feedback, and company financials
- Supporting portfolio companies, which includes identifying key hires, providing business development support, and helping with fundraising
- Building and maintaining our internal tools that support investment and operational processes
- Growing your network with subject matter experts and practitioners
- Representing Work-Bench at industry events
What makes you a great fit?
- Ideal candidates should have 2-5 years of professional experience in the domain, preferably within enterprise software and with a technical background.
- We are a thesis-driven firm. Ideal candidates should excel at building new ideas from qualitative and quantitative research and distill them into investment memos.
- We talk to a range of audiences, from entrepreneurs and corporate practitioners to industry SMEs and investors. You should be great at communicating complex and technical ideas in executive conversations, written content, and presentations.
- We’re a lean team and we wear many hats. As a teammate, we’d expect you to bring a similar hustle, drive, and adaptability, as well as support your fellow team members.
- It’s a plus if you are familiar with financial statements and venture capital terminology (valuations, term sheets, cap tables).
- You should be proficient with tech platforms (Pitchbook, Crunchbase, Notion, etc.) for deal sourcing, organization, CRM, workflows, and internal documentation.
The role is based in NYC, with a flexible schedule working out of our office in Flatiron.
Work-Bench believes in the power of diversity. We are committed to building a team that reflects a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills.
To apply:
For any questions or if you’re interested, please send an email to careers@work-bench.com with the following:
- Your resume, LinkedIn and Twitter profiles, and personal website (if applicable)
- 1-2 paragraphs on why you’re interested in the role and Work-Bench specifically
- 2-3 paragraphs on an enterprise trend that you’re interested in
