Heretic Ventures
Heretic has an immediate opening for an Associate to support the ideation, development, and prototyping of Heretic’s early-stage startup concepts. This is an opportunity to build a studio from the ground up; the Associate will gain exposure to all aspects of Heretic’s venture studio, including both portfolio-level decision-making and operations as well as venture-level prototyping, testing, and development. The Associate will work with and learn from a small, world-class high-performing group of investment professionals and entrepreneurs.
Located in San Francisco’s Presidio, Heretic Ventures is a San Francisco-based venture studio ideating and launching new businesses in the creator economy, including those that capitalize on blockchain / crypto technology. Heretic is run by Managing Partner Mariam Naficy, who founded and built the pioneering internet companies Minted and Eve.com. Heretic is backed by household names in Silicon Valley (investors and entrepreneurs), who act as the studio’s advisors both in selecting and advising companies. To be clear, Heretic typically does not make investments in outside businesses; instead, it founds its own companies with entrepreneurs-in-residence, seed funding and graduating those businesses out of the studio.
The Associate role is compensated with a mix of salary, carry in the fund’s investments, and equity stakes in all companies created by the Studio.
Venture development responsibilities:
- Conduct consumer research including survey development, focus group design & coordination, ad testing, and other consumer analyses
- Write and refine business plans, financial models, and launch plans in support of new venture strategic planning and development
- Conduct and synthesize primary / secondary research to test venture assumptions and risks
- Participate in the creation of early-stage venture planning & communications materials including business plans, pitch decks, business cases, and go-to-market strategies
- Prepare product and business requirements for MVP and prototype technical development, in partnership with the Chief Product Officer and engineering team of the studio
- Create scalable business processes and systems that easily transition to our Co-Founders as concepts graduate from the studio
Investment analysis responsibilities:
- Perform financial analysis, modeling, and interpretation of market, company, competitive, and other quantitative and qualitative data to support investment decisions
- Support company and market research, preparation of investment memos, due diligence, and other investment assessment tasks within the studio
- Remain current on web3, crypto, and creator economy market developments and business news, regularly summarizing for the studio team
- Prepare market analyses and develop studio perspective presentations to share with investors and external partners
- Be the keeper of idea trackers and founder databases, keeping them up to date with latest information and disseminating well-written and well-organized information through the studio
Studio operations & investor relations responsibilities:
- Manage the Limited Partner Slack channel, posting daily information from the studio
- Assist in writing Limited Partner updates
- Support general studio operations as needed, such as occasional event planning (e.g., investor meetings, offsites), file repository organization, software license management
To join our team, you should be excited to:
- Be constantly exposed to new industries and business ideas and have a mindset that enables you to enjoy constant learning
- Love building new companies, exploring new markets, and learning about new technologies
- Manage competing priorities across the studio through communication and prioritization
- Be a founding member on a small team, and do what it takes to launch a successful venture studio
- Roll up your sleeves to get things done while juggling multiple priorities
Minimum qualifications:
- 3+ years of experience at a top-tier consulting firm or venture studio/incubator/accelerator
- Extensive experience consumer research and testing, including survey design, focus group facilitation, product testing, and A/B testing
- Advanced financial modeling, market research, competitive analysis, and due diligence skill set
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly communicate complex business concepts in presentations and memos
- Ability to solve complex problems through deep analytical and creative thinking
- Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to collaborate with a small team to drive maximum results
- Passion for entrepreneurship and new venture development
- Interest in NFT, metaverse, crypto, and other web3 topics, and cutting edge technologies such as AI
- Experience in early-stage product development is a plus
- MBA preferred
