Entrepreneur First invests in exceptional individuals to build startups from scratch. We bring together talented outliers to develop their most ambitious ideas and raise money from the world's best investors.
Since pioneering Talent Investing in 2014, we've learned to recognize individuals with extraordinary futures before anyone else, embedding them in a community of ambitious peers and giving them the tools they need to succeed, fast. We back them before they have a company, a team, even before they have an idea, based purely on talent.
The startups cofounded on our programs are now worth over $10B, and include Tractable, Magic Pony Technology, Cleo, La Vie, Aztec, Sonantic, and many more.
EF is backed by some of the world's leading founders and investors, including Patrick and John Collison (Stripe); Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn), Tom Blomfield (GoCardless and Monzo), Sara Clemens (Whatnot and Twitch); Demis Hassabis (Google Deepmind); and Matt Mullenweg (Wordpress). We exist to make great companies happen that otherwise wouldn't.
What You'll Do
We are looking for an Intern to support our Talent Investors in the US. Your job will be to help where you will be responsible for driving investments into, and maximising outcomes for, exceptional individuals and the companies they build at EF.
Contribute to the development, and execution of, a thesis on where and how to find non-obviously exceptional founder talent: At EF we focus on people with exceptional talent who are too early in their careers to have generated achievements that would make them obviously exceptional founders. This requires you to think, and act, creatively when it comes to finding these people. You will contribute to the development and testing of hypotheses about where and how these people aggregate. This will involve identifying particular communities or institutions which are talent-dense (we call these "talent clusters") and/or potential signals of exceptionalism (e.g. looking for winners of interesting prizes or scholarships).
Support the team to build relationships with key nodes, who can help you navigate talent clusters: At EF, we seek to build a deep understanding of a small number of dense talent clusters. To do this, we need to build enduring relationships with key nodes within these clusters, such as Computer Science Professors, or the leaders of interesting societies. You'll be responsible for identifying these nodes, and supporting your team to build relationships with them.
Become a trusted advisor to exceptional talent, from before they realise they want to be a founder through to the close of their seed round and beyond: You will develop the skills that will enable you to unlock the potential of the deeply ambitious by working closely with them as a trusted career and company building advisor. This means accompanying them through the process of deciding they want to be a founder, developing their first idea, finding (and likely breaking up with) their first co-founder, reaching out to their first customers, right through to the moment they close their first round of external funding. You will leverage the power of EF's global network to amplify your work.
Constantly train your mental model of what exceptional talent looks like: To be an excellent Talent Investor, you'll need to be constantly training your mental model of what exceptional talent looks like. This will require; (i) prolonged and repeated exposure to exceptional talent through the activities outlined above, (ii) learning from EF's best Talent Investors through apprenticeship-style training and (iii) the humility and discipline to learn from failure and success.
Contribute to our investment decisions into individuals and the startups they build: You will be a contributor to our investment decision-making, where we primarily focus on the potential of the talent, and subsequently the team/idea they have created.
Who You Are
You likely are a builder and excel in the following areas;
Operationally excellent: You have experience sequencing and delivering complex, cross-functional projects from end-to-end. You consistently produce high quality work against tight timelines.
Clarity of thought: You can explain and articulate complex ideas, simply and effectively. You can comprehend and synthesise a large amount of nuanced information. Your written and verbal communication is highly structured.
Proactive problem solver and radical owner: You spot problems in advance and proactively find creative solutions. You take radical ownership for your work and aren't afraid to "run through walls" to get things done.
Thrive in ambiguity: You are comfortable navigating ambiguous environments. You are known as the go-to person for creating clarity from chaos.
Relationship builder: You have a track record of building productive working relationships at all levels of a fast paced organisation.
Relentlessly curious. You love learning about other people and what they're working on. You often go down wikipedia rabbit holes.
Doer. You get things done.
Seniority level
Internship
Employment type
Internship
Job function
Education and Training
Industries
Venture Capital and Private Equity Principals
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