Director, Venture Studio

Brief Description

The Director of the NJII Venture Studio leads the day-to-day operations of the NJII Venture Studio (the Studio), a joint venture between NJII and New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA). A venture studio creates its own companies and investment opportunities, unlike a venture fund – which invests in other people’s companies. As such, the Director will lead the simultaneous building and qualifying of investment deals while overseeing the operations of the Studio entity itself. The NJII Venture Studio plans to launch at least 2 (and potential more) companies per year for 4 years. New Studio companies will be close to revenue, if not already generating revenue. As such, post-investment support by the Director will include creating the connections to enable new customers, investments, and/or acquisition targets.

This role works closely with the NJII VP of Entrepreneurship (the VP). With respect to the Studio, the VP will:

• Lead - Foundational Operations: Legal, contracting, budgeting management (including capital calls), and financial auditing and reporting
• Lead – Key Stakeholder Management: Lead liaison with the NJEDA, primary connection to the NJIT IP Committee, and Board Chair for the Venture Studio Advisory Board
• Advisory Board: Create agendas to facilitate board meeting and ensure maximum value is extracted from the board members
• Governance Board: Prepare documentation and/or resolutions as needed for decisions requirement from the Governance Board
• Lead - Quarterly reporting to both NJII and the NJEDA (to enable quarterly capital calls).
• Lead – Legal formation of PortCos, deployment of capital into the PortCos, execution of Studio and NJII support agreements
• Lead - Acting as a liaison, on behalf of the Studio companies, to NJII and NJIT as needed.
• Support – Pipeline cultivation and due diligence
• Support – Post investment support
  
  

The Director will have the direct support from NJIT student investment analyst(s) as well as the NJII Venture Studio Investment Manager (a third-party professional investor contracted to support the Studio). Technical advisement and decision support will be provided by NJII’s VP of AI/ML and the President of NJII, respectively.

Acceleration Services

The core competency of the division (and the Director) is venture building, which also includes acceleration. While the acceleration efforts of the Director will primarily be directed at the Studio PortCos, the Director is expected to support – up to 15% capacity – the Acceleration Services portfolio of the NJII Entrepreneurship Division.

Person Reports To

VP of Entrepreneurship

Supervises

Student Investment Analyst(s)

Essential Functions

These are action items – tasks to be performed at least 15% of the day, every day.

Venture Studio Deal Flow & Due Diligence

• Identify/source new ideas to feed into the top of the funnel
• Perform, supervise, or support due diligence from initial screening through Sprint Plan
• Team building – identify and secure individuals to be the Founder/CEO of studio companies and additional staffing as needed.
• Create initial draft of business plans/sprint plans and financials and partner with prospective Founders/CEOs to finalize
• Articulate the criteria for Phase 0, 1 and 2 screening processes
• Pitching/presenting qualified investments to the NJII Board of Directors, the NJII Venture Studio Committee, and others as needed
  
  

Venture Studio Operations

• Create all digital workflows and document management systems to enable the operation of the Studio
• Facilitate the recurring pipeline review and/or decision meetings engaging the pipeline review committee (NJII President, NJII VP for Entrepreneurship, NJII VP for AI/ML, and Studio Investment Manager)
• Supervise (including time sheet approval) and manage the student support
  
  

External Relations

• Represent the Studio in public facing events.
• Partner with NJII marketing team to promote the Studio.
  
  

Post-Investment Support

• Support Studio Companies by fully leveraging the strategic partnering capability of NJII and NJIT. This includes laying the groundwork for future investment or acquisition.
• Actively monitoring NewCo performance and adherence to business plan and facilitate periodic review and/or decision meetings for investment disbursement and/or termination
  
  

Post-Studio Support

• Continue to provide support the NewCo’s post-Studio period as needed.
  
  

Additional Functions

These are action items – functions that are performed less frequently than 15% of the day every day; sometimes only performed periodically.

• Support VP, as needed - Foundational Operations: Legal, contracting, budgeting management (including capital calls), and financial auditing and reporting
• Support VP, as needed – Key Stakeholder Management: Lead liaison with the NJEDA, primary connection to the NJIT IP Committee, and Board Chair for the Venture Studio Advisory Board
• Support VP, as needed – NJII acceleration services
  
  

Qualifications

Education/Degree Requirement

Bachelor’s Degree Preferred

Knowledge/Skills Required

• Experience in early-stage company formation with early-stage operational experience a plus.
• Demonstrable ability to quantify the potential of early stage, technology-centric new ventures.
• Ability to assess the potential of startup founders, co-founders, and teams.
• Capable of developing business model canvases, sprints, and plans rooted in strong business fundamentals.
• Exceptional communication skills and comfort with public speaking and appearances.
• Comfort in the deeply technical domains commonly found in university research environments.
• Familiarity with research university technology transfer platforms and common university intellectual property licensing terms, conditions, and practices.
• Ability to proactively partner with industry and governmental organizations.
  
  

Location

This position is hybrid, allowing for both on-site and remote work but we expect the individual to be onsite at one of our facilities at least twice per week. Thriving in this role will require considerable in-person engagement at NJII, NJIT and stakeholder locations.

In compliance with the NJ Pay Transparency law, the annual salary range for this position is $154k- $161,700 (USD). NJII considers factors like, but not limited to, job scope, experience, education, skills, internal equity, and market conditions when making offers. This pay range covers base pay only and excludes bonuses or other incentives.

NJII provides a comprehensive package of benefits to their full-time employees which includes Medical, Dental, Vision, 401(k) with Employer Match, FSA and HSA. We also provide Company Paid Group Term Life Insurance, AD&D and LTD.

Final candidates will be subject to a background screening. Employment or continued employment is contingent upon NJII's acceptance of the results of the background screening.