Investment Associate

Failup Ventures is the first Finnish VC fund with deep roots in Silicon Valley - combining Nordic clarity with West Coast ambition. Founded by recent operators we built Failup to bring sharper founder spirit into venture and bridge the best of the Nordics and the US. Our angel portfolio of 40 companies attracted follow-on investments from a16z NFX General Catalyst and other top-tier funds. Our 35M Fund I has already backed companies scaling to multi10M revenue in Year 1 and were now preparing our AI-native Fund II.

Our thesis focuses on the 0.1% founder talent solving massive real-world problems with AI. We operate as generalists but lean into themes where AI produces the deepest leverage:

• AI Advancement (data quality infra tooling compute)
• AI Agents for Work
• AI for Individuals

Were hiring an Associate starting January - someone with a unique personality sharp intelligence and an unconventional life path. Someone founders and LPs remember. Someone bold curious and driven to help shape the next generation of AI-native companies.

Tasks

As an Associate at Failup you will:

• Source and evaluate early-stage AI-native startups across the Nordics and US
• Conduct deep-dive research market analyses and founder assessments
• Build theses on emerging categories and identify outlier founder talent
• Participate meaningfully in the investment process: deal screening diligence negotiation and decision-making
• Support founders with strategic thinking connections and operational insight
• Contribute to LP communications fundraising processes and fund narrative
• Expand and leverage your own networks across founders operators angels and LPs
• Proactively improve team processes workflows and leverage points - removing busywork and elevating how we operate
• Represent Failup at events demo days and community gatherings
• Bring new ideas contrarian perspectives and original thinking to the table
• Not a 9-to-5 job: demands flexibility responsiveness and a willingness to put in time when needed.
• Participate in product development: building Failup Ventures internal AI native operating system that powers our daily work.

This role holds real responsibility - you wont be support staff. You will be a core strategic part of the team.

Requirements

Were looking for someone who embodies most of the things in the lsit below. But keep in mind were looking for an extraordinary person and we are not set in our ways. So feel free to convince us why youd be the best person to join us despite your background. Personality and intelligence matter more than experience. :

Unique Personality & Thinking

• Memorable engaging presence - someone who makes people think
• Bold fun opinionated yet grounded in reasoning
• Comfortable challenging assumptions (including ours)

Unconventional Trajectory

• Has carved their own path in life
• Nonlinear career unexpected choices personal projects or entrepreneurial attempts
• Not a check-the-box CV background

Startup DNA

• Experience as a founder investor operator or deeply curious builder
• Understanding of early-stage dynamics and what top 0.1% founders look like

Analytical & Professional Strength

Not only based on experience but more importantly intellectual capability.

• Can produce professional-grade research analysis and memos
• Comfortable forming and defending strong evidence-backed opinions
• Able to contribute to LP communications and fund narrative

Negotiation & Deal Acumen

• Knows their own value and uses it wisely
• Understands deal dynamics human psychology and win-win structuring

Depth Vision

• Can dive extremely deep on a topic
• Can then convert that depth into sharp big-picture insight

Dependability & Independence

• Reliable consistent and self-directed
• Spots opportunities others miss
• Pushes back on low-leverage work and proposes smarter alternatives

Hunger & Drive

• Wants to grow fast and help elevate the entire team
• Energized by the idea of building a next-generation VC firm

Networks

• Unique founder operator or LP relationships - or the ability to build them aggressively

Technical capabilities

• Ability and curiosity to learn new technologies
• You dont need to be a top coder (if you are thats great) but you should understand how building software in this day and age works

Years of experience matter far less than intelligence personality and trajectory.

Benefits

What you get:

• 5075K annual salary depending on candidate profile
• Carry-tied bonus structure with potential for multisix-figure payouts based on fund performance
• Meaningful yearly bonus system
• Direct access to top founders investors and LPs across the Nordics and Silicon Valley
• A chance to shape the DNA of a next-generation AI-native VC fund
• Room for extremely rapid personal growth and responsibility
• A small high-velocity team with low bureaucracy and high ambition
• Real influence and a voice that actually matters
• The opportunity to build a career with compounding upside reputation and network effects

If youre someone who breaks the mold - someone with personality sharp thinking and a path that looks nothing like everyone elses - wed love to meet you. This is a rare chance to join a high-ambition founder-led VC fund at the most explosive moment in AI history.

Send us something that shows who you are and why youre the right person for this role. Surprise us. Impress us. Make us curious.