Venture Manager

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The Compensation Range is the span between the minimum and maximum base salary for a position. The midpoint of the range is approximately halfway between the minimum and the maximum and represents an employee that possesses full job knowledge qualifications and experience for the the normal course employees will be hired transferred or promoted between the minimum and midpoint of the salary range for a job.

Posting End Date

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

Job End Date

At UBC we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research innovation and learning for all faculty staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.

Job Summary

UBC Sauder School of Business is one of the worlds leading business faculties. The school consistently ranks among the top 100 in the world and is recognized internationally for excellence in research and learning an outstanding faculty and unmatched global partnerships. A collaborative and respectful culture within which all members of our community can thrive is a key principle in our strategic plan and one that underpins our educational mission.

We acknowledge that UBC Sauder at the Vancouver Campus is situated within the traditional ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam. We acknowledge that UBC Sauder at the UBC Robson Square is situated on the traditional territory of the Musqueam Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh.

The Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a unique program for massively scalable early stage science-based technology startups with locations in Canada USA France and the UK. CDL-Vancouver is anchored at the UBC Sauder School of Business supporting and contributing to the entire west coast innovation ecosystem in Canada and in the US.

Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a nonprofit organization that delivers an objectives-based program for massively scalable seed-stage science- and technology-based companies. CDL operates within the framework of each host University - in 2022 with twelve locations globally. CDL-Vancouver is located in Vancouver BC at the Sauder School of Business University of British Columbia and is an independent arm of CDL headquartered at the University of Toronto. The goal of CDL is to activate research and tech start-ups from university labs to commercialization funding growth jobs and positive societal impact. Start-ups are recruited as part of a global process and CDL-Vancouver attracts ventures from many regions beyond BC. As such this is a multi-faceted complex international program interfacing with multiple other universities and multiple funding corporate and government agencies. It proactively connects and matches entrepreneurial technology ventures with investors business expertise and milestone-based coaching and mentoring. The programs mentors are successful entrepreneurs with years of experience in building and scaling technology-oriented addition the CDL coordinates business analysis support from UBC Sauder graduate and undergraduate students for the ventures enrolled in the CDL program.

The Venture Manager is responsible for several elements of day-to-day CDL-Vancouver operations including identifying potential opportunities venture recruiting account management for the ventures in the cohort and supporting the delivery of CDL programming.

Organizational Status
Reports to the Associate Director Creative Destruction Lab.

Work Performed

Venture Recruiting
- Identifies and creates lists of centres of innovation in Western Canadian and US Universities venture capital funds incubators & accelerators and tech associations to build a strong pipeline of CDL applicants.
- Proactively searches and creates new business relationships for CDL-Vancouver and works with Senior Venture Managers to engage current and future cohorts.
- Manages day-to-day facilitation between CDL-Vancouver new ventures and other groups. Creates internal and external relationships to provide high level opportunities to the new ventures.
- Advises on the development of outreach strategy for recruitment of future CDL-Vancouver cohort based on past experience.
- Builds pipeline of CDL-Vancouver prospects and implements system for monitoring.
- Utilizes analytical tools and evaluation frameworks to assess fit for early-stage science and engineering-based start-ups that apply for the CDL program.
- Conducts initial screening of all CDL-Vancouver applicants and provides recommendations to decision committee.

Venture Management
- Supports Venture Managers and Senior Venture Managers with account management activities including communications research and overall client management.
- Provides business development support to CDL-Vancouver ventures as required.
- Reviews and documents interactions between ventures CDL Scientists investors and MBA/BCom students.
- Creates plans based on interactions with ventures and provides advice to different groups.
- Utilizes project management systems and generates reports for senior management on weekly basis

CDL Operations
- Supports strategic process improvement initiatives and makes recommendations the Senior Venture Managers to ensure business success in the CDL-Vancouver division.
- Reports on CDL-Vancouver KPIs and creates initial plans to present to the Senior Venture Managers and Director.
- Supports rollout of integrated communication strategy (social media PR etc.) in collaboration with CDL Toronto team
- Provides ad hoc event planning support to CDL-Vancouver division.

Consequence of Error/Judgement
CDL is a high priority and high-profile initiative for the UBC Sauder School of Business and UBC. Program outcomes can be expected to have a significant impact on UBC Sauder and UBC public profile and standing in the eyes of Universities the startup & technology sector and the general public in both Canada and the US.

Lack of professionalism and poor decision making could lead to loss of support and fundamental damage to the reputation of the CDL and UBC.

Supervision Received
Reports to the Associate Director Creative Destruction Lab. Seeks advice from the Senior Venture Manager.

Supervision Given
N/A

Minimum Qualifications
Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline. Minimum of four years of related experience with at least two years of experience in business analysis or project management or the equivalent combination of education and experience.

- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives including perspectives in conflict with ones own

- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing ones own awareness knowledge and skills related to equity diversity and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

• Post-graduate degree in a relevant field or equivalent professional experience is preferred.

• Demonstrated ability to establish a vision and plan strategically in a complex competitive environment.

• Experience in technology innovation and commercialization

• Experience leading teams and working in start-up/technology company in leadership roles.

• Strong understanding of business models and drivers of success in start-ups across several verticals.

• Deep financial literacy and experience with fundraising and venture deals.

• Experience and confidence working with senior tech executives and angel investors.

• Highly motivated with strong interest in all aspects of business development and relationship management.

• Demonstrated ability to raise operational funding from government agencies corporations and individual donors.

• Ability to analyze and systematically evaluate ventures - proficient with financial modeling conducting market analysis and strategic planning.

• Previous experience founding a start-up is an asset.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and public speaking skills.

• Passion to consistently meet or exceed performance objectives. Strong team-oriented work ethic with willingness to work independently and autonomously.

• Project management expertise with strong tech stack abilities and experience managing inter-disciplinary teams.

• High level of professionalism.

• Strong people and relationship skills and ability to operate effectively with senior stakeholders peers and to coach and empower their local team.

• Domain expertise in technology commercialization and early stage funding and existing relationships with leaders in corporate innovation seed stage investment and technology translation.