Associate
Entrepreneur First
London
Posted on December 13, 2023
We are looking for an associate to join a world-class team of venture capital investors. In brief, you will be responsible for identifying the founders of the next wave of world-changing companies before anyone else, supporting them closely and advising them in the earliest stages of their companies.
Within your first year in the role, you will have built deep relationships with a number of uniquely talented people and supported them through all the stages of the early company building process, from initial ideation, to EF’s pre-seed investment into their company, to raising their seed round externally. Your responsibilities will span the entire process, offering you a unique level of involvement with remarkable people, teams and ideas.
The expectations of the role reflect the kind of work you will be doing; no two days are the same, situations are often high-stakes, the pace of work is intense and you will be working with people who hold incredibly high standards for themselves and others. The role of an associate is always challenging, stimulating and deeply interesting. You will experience the immense highs and lows of the company building process alongside the founders you are working with.
What you’ll do
Fundamentally, your job is to find exceptional people and support them to build exceptional companies. If you do this job well, you will become part of the origin story of the iconic companies of the future.
Given this, you will predominantly spend your time on building and informing your mental models of company building and talent identification. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Â Developing a personal thesis on where and how to find high potential founders before they have a team or idea
- Â Building relationships with the people you have identified
- Â Becoming a trusted advisor to the individuals and teams you work with before, during and after their time on the EF program
- Â Contributing to our investment decisions into individuals and the startups they build
Who you are
1. You are intellectually curious.
You have diverse interests; you may have a tendency to fall down rabbit holes, explore niche topics or become obsessive about ideas. You probably have nuanced opinions about what the future looks like, or how it should look, and you have an inkling of the kind of ideas, technologies or types of people who will make it happen.
2. You are a discerning judge of others.
You are able to identify the overlooked and look beyond the overrated. You do not unquestioningly follow consensus or defer to authority or common wisdom; you have your own opinions about what great looks like and are constantly updating, and upgrading, your beliefs.
3. You understand and appreciate technology’s potential for impact.
You don’t need to have technical skills (although they can be immensely helpful) but you do need to believe in technology’s capability to drive change and value creation. In addition, you are not afraid to ask questions and do deep research to build your understanding of the technologies that you believe are, and will be, important.
4. You are driven.
You have an innate desire to do great work, create value and seek out knowledge, and have ideas about how you will go about it. You are not seeking a framework for success.
5. You are a network builder.
You are drawn towards smart people who are doing interesting things and they are drawn to you. You back yourself to be able to meet and gain the trust of people with interesting intellectual outputs, those who have built niche, engaged communities around their passions and groups of people pushing the frontiers of what is possible.
What we offer
- Annual bonus of up to £15,000
- A share in the profits EF makes from all the founders you work with
- The opportunity to supercharge your learning by working with a diverse global team across Europe, Asia and North America
- 30 days of holiday allowance
- Enhanced parental leave, plus broader leave policies. We care about our team and enabling the right balance between home and working life.
EF champions diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive environment in which a wide variety of backgrounds thrive. We do not tolerate discrimination of any nature including but not limited to discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, culture, nationality, gender, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, sexual orientation, age, disability, or marital status.
