Director, Venture Studio

Position Summary:

The New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII) is seeking a Director to lead the day-to-day operations of the NJII Venture Studio (the Studio). A venture studio creates its own companies and investment opportunities, unlike a venture fund – which invests in other people’s companies. As such, the Director will lead a team that is simultaneously building and qualifying investment deals while overseeing the operations of the Studio entity itself. The primary operational support or the Studio will be provided by the NJII VP of Entrepreneurship. Studio companies will be close to revenue, if not already generating revenue. As such, post-investment support will be creating the connections to enable new customers, investments, and/or acquisition targets. The Director will have the direct support of an Investment Analyst and will work closely with the Vice President of Entrepreneurship as well as the President of NJII. The NJII Venture Studio plans to launch 1-3 companies per year over 4 years.

Person Reports To:

VP of Entrepreneurship

Supervises:

Venture Studio, Investment Analyst

Essential Functions:

These are action items – tasks to be performed at least 15% of the day, every day.

Venture Studio Deal Flow & Due Diligence

· Identify/source new ideas (and performing initial screening with basic criteria) to feed into the top of the funnel (i.e. invest analyst)

· Pre-investment Strategic Partnering, primarily with corporate stakeholders. Securing a corporate partner as a co-investor, customer, or potential acquiring entity.

· Team building – identify and secure individuals to be the Founder/CEO of studio companies and additional staffing (likely consultants) as needed.

· Lead the creation of the business plan/sprint plan and financials.

· Provide input into Phase 1 and 2 screening process (leveraging the due diligence packages provided by the Investment Analyst).

· Pitching/presenting qualified investments to the NJII Fund Board of Directors, NJII A&F Committee and NJII Board of Directors.

Venture Studio Operations (Essential)

· Management of the Studio Investment Analyst

Additional Functions:

These are action items – functions that are performed less frequently than 15% of the day every day; sometimes only performed periodically.

Venture Studio Operations (Additional)

· Administer the support contract with NJII (which will provide back office support for the Studio).

· Quarterly NJII BOD reporting.

· Working with NJII to establish NewCo support contracts.

Post-Investment Support

· Acting as a liaison, on behalf of the Studio companies, to NJII as needed.

· Support Studio Companies by fully leveraging the strategic partnering capability of NJII and NJIT. This includes laying the groundwork for future investment or acquisition.

· Actively monitoring NewCo performance and adherence to business plan and terminating companies early when required.

External Relations

· Represent the Studio in public facing events.

· Partner with NJII marketing team to promote the studio.

Qualifications:

Education/Degree Requirement

Bachelor’s Degree Preferred

Knowledge/Skills Required

· Experience in early-stage company formation with early-stage operational experience a plus.

· Demonstrable ability to quantify the potential of early stage, technology-centric new ventures.

· Ability to assess the potential of startup founders, co-founders, and teams.

· Capable of developing business model canvases, sprints, and plans rooted in strong business fundamentals.

· Exceptional communication skills and comfort with public speaking and appearances.

· Comfort in the deeply technical domains commonly found in university research environments.

· Familiarity with research university technology transfer platforms and common university intellectual property licensing terms, conditions, and practices.

· Ability to proactively partner with industry and governmental organizations.

Location

This position is hybrid, allowing for both on-site and remote work but we expect the individual to be onsite at one of our facilities at least twice per week. Thriving in this role will require considerable in-person engagement at NJII, NJIT and stakeholder locations.

Final candidates will be subject to a background screening. Employment or continued employment is contingent upon NJII's acceptance of the results of the background screening.