Description
Deciens seeks to recruit an associate and/or senior associate to assist the investing team. We already see 900+ opportunities and do 3-4 net new investments per year. This position will help the investing team triage this deal flow, grow the universe of deals we see and use our limited time to maximum effectiveness through conducting primary and secondary research, due diligence, financial modeling, and building market maps. A passion for systems and process will be key as we scale out our ability to handle ever-increasing deal flow with limited bandwidth.
While we are primarily looking for a team member who is based on the West Coast, all locations will be considered. This role can require considerable travel throughout the year, based upon the needs of the organization.
In this role you will
Sourcing:
•Build relationships with any and all sources of deal flow - angels, VC firms, Twitter, conferences, parties. The more orthogonal, the better.
•Evangelize for Deciens and our portfolio companies. As one of the faces of the Firm, make sure everyone knows who we are and what we stand for.
•Find ecosystems that we should be spending time in, and build expertise, perspective, and brand in them. Become the sought-after partner amongst the most interesting founders in those spaces.
Triage:
•Help us digest our raw deal flow into an actionable set of opportunities.
•Conduct primary and secondary research, due diligence, background checks, etc as part of the conviction development process under the guidance of a general partner.
•Develop sophisticated financial models, dilution models, scenario plans, and cap table waterfall models, in support of opportunities. Help GPs prepare term sheets; support counsel, ops team, and finance team in support of closing, post-investment support, and follow-on financings.
Context Building:
•Help the firm have a prepared mind by sharing cutting-edge ideas, content, etc so that when we see compelling, idiosyncratic ideas, we are prepared to act.
•Develop market maps or other materials to help us grasp what are the most interesting categories, sub-categories, and companies in new and diverse spaces.
Requirements
Most important skills
•Insanely high IQ - We want to work with very high IQ individuals. This does NOT necessarily mean you have a traditional consulting or banking background. Neither of the firm’s two principals have that background. But we need evidence of your exceptional intellect.
•Prodigious work ethic - Everyone on the team works insanely hard and loves what we do. While balance is key for sustainability, this is far from a 9-5 sort of job.
•Passion for financial services - If you are not passionate about FinTech or Financial Services this is not a great role for you.
•A demonstrated ability and desire to think for yourself.
Other background and skills
•Must have and/or be able to develop material relationships quickly, especially with founders and other venture capital firms.
•Should be a tremendous financial modeler and creator of presentations and/or memos - will likely have spent several years at a big consulting firm, investment bank, private equity fund, on an equity research team, or at a hedge fund, etc. The senior associate role will have a mastery of Venture Capital deal structures, terms, and industry standards.
•A desire to constantly monitor trends, markets, and founders in and related to the FinTech startup ecosystem.
•An ability to build Deciens community through participating in talks, events, conferences, on social media, etc.
•An incredible communicator, especially in writing.
•Work authorized in the United States.
