We're Hiring! Apply to be our new Entrepreneur-in-Residence

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By Wes Panek

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Calling all serial entrepreneurs and seasoned advisors! If you’re excited to pass on your wisdom and coach the next generation of progressive changemakers, we’ve got an opportunity for you. New Media Ventures is hiring an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) to serve as the main point of contact for our founders. We’re looking for an attentive coach and brilliant tactician to support our newest cohort. This is an opportunity to help our startups navigate the tricky parts of scaling their work, from fundraising and hiring to staying on top of the latest industry trends and best practices. This is a part-time role (8-10 hours/week) that can be done remotely, a perfect fit for someone between big projects or with a flexible schedule and extra time to share their knowledge. Further details below, and please apply by the deadline on September 20 11:59pm PT!

In case you missed it: We recently hosted a webinar to answer questions about NMV and the EIR role. Check out the audio recording here and the Q&A notes here.

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New Media Ventures (NMV) is a mission-driven venture fund and investor network that invests in entrepreneurs and activists wrestling with the biggest challenges facing our democracy. We work to shift power to benefit more people, and look to find, finance, and support companies and organizations that are telling new stories, building advocacy movements, and driving civic engagement. In the past 9 years, we have supported over 85 startups, from Upworthy and Blavity to Indivisible, Coworker and Vote.org. We recently invested in 17 startups as part of our latest Open Call and we’re looking to deepen our support of this new portfolio.

The Open Call confirmed that innovation is alive and well in the space and we are thrilled at the opportunity our new EIR will have to help such a diverse set of startups. The EIR will help both for-profit and nonprofit organizations of varying experience, size, and traction solve complex problems facing our democracy, from upgrades to the political messaging supply chain to building new models for local media. We are looking to hire someone with passion and experience helping early-stage startups grow, and envision the EIR refining and building on the support we offer our startups.

The application deadline for this role is September 20th. Since NMV is committed to democratizing access to capital and supporting a diverse community of entrepreneurs on the frontlines of change, we particularly encourage people who are underrepresented in the investment and startup space to apply.

Position Description

Location for this position is flexible and can be based in the Bay Area (the NMV office is in Oakland, CA) or remote. Start date of October/November 2019.

The EIR will:

  • Provide direct coaching to our portfolio of startups, which may include a range of relationships, some higher touch and some lower touch, based on each individual organization’s needs, experience, and trajectory. This may include, among other things:

    • One-on-one conversations over phone or email to provide advice, network connections, etc.

    • Topic-specific advising to provide consistent support on a wide range of areas such as pitching, finding tech vendors, hiring (or firing) practices, etc. 

  • Facilitate and expand the free tech resources program for portfolio startups, including finding and negotiating deals with companies that offer free software to early-stage startups (e.g., Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Credits)

  • Plan, coordinate, and execute recurring webinars for portfolio startups

    • Webinars have historically spanned a broad set of topics, from peer-led panels on bringing products to market, to expert-led discussions on new legislation or fundraising trends that might affect founders

    • Webinar frequency is not set, but generally NMV aims to provide webinars 1-2 per quarter

  • Play an active role in the NMV community, including managing the NMV founder list, membership maintenance, thread moderation, and being available to answer logistical or discussion questions as they arise

  • Pilot new ways to support portfolio startups, e.g.,

    • Leverage NMV research on the needs of first-time founders to create high-impact interventions  

    • Expand the community of mentors available to support startups 

    • Explore partnerships with other organizations (e.g., civic innovation consulting firms or incubators) to offer additional support to startups

Candidate requirements:

  • Available at least 8-10 hours / week supporting NMV portfolio startups for at least 12  months starting Oct/Nov

  • Experience starting, leading, and/or advising early-stage startups

  • Comfort with ambiguity and changing needs of startups and the consultant role

  • You thrive in inclusive environments collaborating with people from a broad spectrum of backgrounds.

  • A listening orientation: excited to patiently hear from startups and serve as a trusted and empathetic advisor

  • Team player who is equally willing to think through the direction of entrepreneur support or work through the minute tactics of a webinar

  • Strong organizational skills and attention to detail

Candidate pluses (not required to apply):

  • Access to a network of funders, founders, and other professionals who are excited about and willing to support early-stage startups

  • Deep experience and network in the media, tech, and/or civic innovation spaces

  • Investment (VC, PE, etc.) or grant-making experience

  • Direct experience working on social and environmental issues that NMV seeks to address, particularly those that affect underrepresented communities

What to expect from us:

  • Up to $8K/month, commensurate with experience

  • Behind-the-scenes access to the most inspiring startups working on civic innovation

  • A team with a sense of justice, and a sense of humor

  • A low-ego, high performance culture, with a collaborative and flexible work environment

In case you missed it: We recently hosted a webinar to answer questions about New Media Ventures and the EIR role. Check out the audio recording here and the Q&A notes here.

We also recommend checking out the following information about our work.

Ready to apply? Please fill out this form to upload a 1-2 page PDF resume and answer the following questions:

  • Why are you interested in this position?

  • Share a personal or professional experience mentoring someone (or an organization) you are particularly proud of and why 

  • Share the top three priorities you would have in this role and why

Application Note: The application is hosted in Airtable, and will not autosave your responses. We recommend working on your answers in a separate doc and then uploading to Airtable when you are ready to submit.

Apply by September 20th.