Principal-Purple Arch Ventures

About This Role

Purple Arch Ventures, Alumni Ventures’ fund for Northwestern alumni and friends of the community, is seeking an experienced, full-time investing venture Principal who can source, recruit, research, and evaluate venture opportunities.

This individual will serve as a leader of the Fund’s investing work: deal sourcing, researching, evaluating, and managing relationships with portfolio companies and fellow venture investors. The successful Principal will drive enhanced deal quality and improve co-investing opportunities for AV and will have significant input into the creation of a unique portfolio amassing highly valuable strategic assets. AV is a fast-paced, professional, entrepreneurial environment. As Principal, this individual will report directly to and work closely with the Managing Partner of the fund.

Role/ Responsibilities

• Network with various players in the startup ecosystem
• Identify deal resources and conduct outreach to VCs, entrepreneurs, incubators, and more to help fill our deal pipeline with prospects
• Educate deal sources and companies/entrepreneurs about our process and effectively manage relationships
• Prepare and distribute due diligence packages
• Research and evaluate each opportunity as a potential investment, including interviewing company teams, competitors, and customers
• Recruit, train, and manage interns/fellows to help support deal outreach and research
• Present opportunities and respond to Managing Partner and LP questions, run deal meetings, and orchestrate IC meetings
• Help create and manage our company database, monitoring prospects on an ongoing basis
• Assemble and update CRM on companies and entrepreneurs, portfolio monitoring
• As requested, assist with investor relations and potential investor outreach
• Help supervise back-end functions as needed
• Suggest improvements to our approach, process, products, and services

Requirements
Profile Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree
• MBA or advanced degree preferred
• Strong connection to the Northwestern community preferred
• 1-5 years of professional venture investing experience

• 7-10 years of additional experience in finance, venture capital, or entrepreneurship
  Ideal Traits

• Smart, insatiably curious, lifelong learner

• Coachable, optimistic, resourceful with no sense of entitlement

• Good investment instincts and excellent pattern recognition a plus

• Strong research and analytical skills

• Excellent work ethic, humility and professional demeanor

• Demonstrated interest and experience in entrepreneurship, as well as emerging companies and technologies

• Experience in company research and due diligence preparation

• Track-record of managing multiple, complex projects at the same time

• Strong writer and communicator, excellent listener, with superior sales skills and comfort regularly interacting with potential community members

• Capable networker, with an ability to grow our system and process for identifying deals

• Highly organized and detail-oriented, balanced by ability to get and communicate big picture

• Self-starter and independent manager, but good team player and personnel manager

• Smart, creative thinker and problem-solver, fast learner, with demonstrated initiative

• Database management and strong technical and social media experience a big plus

• Comfortable in an “extreme ownership” culture, with a scrappy, grinder mentality.

• Must be able to thrive in a dynamic, fluid environment.