Intern, Sector Intelligence

We are Braven, an early-stage investment firm built for breakthroughs within large, regulated sectors, beginning with finance, insurance, and healthcare. We selectively invest in Seed through Series B companies and coordinate the full ecosystem of people and resources needed for each investment’s success. We are a new model of early-stage investing, a hybrid of the best of VC, PE, and consulting in which founders, investors, and partners collaborate in unprecedented ways to build and scale early-stage breakthrough companies. We founded Braven with the conviction that there are large, underserved opportunities to do good in the world while concurrently earning outsized financial returns and exponential impacts on key industries.

As our firm expands, we seek a full-time, paid Intern, Sector Intelligence based in the US. This remote position requires a full-time commitment with an anticipated start date in January or June 2024 for a 6-month contract; thus, it is not intended for current students but rather for recent graduates and/or industry transitions. In this role, you will have dual reporting to William Abecassis, our Managing Partner and the former founder of BlackRock's $1B+ venture group, and Brad Wilkins, Sr. Partner, Talent and Performance.

In this dynamic internship, your primary focus will be on supporting the intelligence gathering/research for our Innovation Programs, which sit at the heart of Braven’s model and serve as the pipeline for all firm investments and/or incubations. Programs aim at uncovering extraordinary opportunities for technology to drive system innovation within our key sectors. System Innovations involve the application of technology to restructure entire ecosystems, requiring the coordination of various functions and stakeholders. These initiatives are significantly more complex than unit innovations, as they must deliver enhanced functionality while aligning the interests of all participants, including customers, gatekeepers, and regulators.

In this role, you will have the unique opportunity to work closely with and collaborate with other esteemed Braveneers, including Senior Partners, other outstanding Fellows, our strategic advisory board members, and founding teams.

Key Responsibilities And Accountabilities…

• Support the teams across sectors executing “Innovation Programs,” involving in-depth research, analysis, and synthesis through three stages including Opportunity Exploration, Solution Design and Cobuilding Development. These insights may take various forms, including investment thesis memos, strategic business plans to incubate new companies, white papers, social media posts, etc.
• In some cases, this could lead to the opportunity to support our portfolio companies as an internal consultant to "co-build" their groundbreaking ventures by facilitating programs that enhance their strategic initiatives
• As a vital member of our small firm, you will gain exposure to various facets of our organization. It's important to clarify that this role does not involve sourcing companies or being involved in investment decisions.
  
  

Relevant Experience To Prepare You For This Fellowship

• Undergraduate or advanced degree providing a foundation for strong research and self-driven project management skills.
• Other experiences that are nice to have might be operational or research experience in one of our key sectors, startup experience, other relevant internships (including summer consulting), etc.
• Solid and indisputable record of high performance, characterized by achievements attained through comprehensive information gathering, incisive analysis, hypothesis formulation and rigorous testing
  
  

OUR EVALUATION PROCESS

• Since our requirements are relatively minimal, we have formulated a process to understand your actual capabilities moreso than your resume. This evaluation process is more akin to an athlete attending a "tryout" where teams try to get a holistic picture of their strengths. This rigorous and thorough evaluation may take the form of psychometric and cognitive assessments, practical simulations as well as traditional behavioral interviews. We have an elite team and are using the internship as an opportunity to identify an exceptional individual who might not have typically been interviewed based on their experiences or lack thereof
  
  

To achieve this mission, we are looking for these attributes in Braveneers:

• Excels at bringing structure to ambiguity, prioritizing tasks, managing projects, and adopting a results-driven approach to work (testing, measuring, iterating)
• Delivers 10x results by applying systems thinking and data analysis to create massive scale with quality and consistency in a deliberate manner
• Possesses a growth mindset, innate curiosity, and robust problem-solving skills, continuously staying informed about emerging trends to identify potential opportunities
• Is a creative problem solver who excels at identifying trends and patterns, diagnosing root causes, and employing a diverse toolkit to address those root causes
• Leads by example, instilling a sense of energy, ownership, and personal commitment to work, while exhibiting both diplomatic and directive qualities
• Is a courageous teammate, eager to push boundaries and venture into the unknown to achieve exceptional results that others may not have the foresight or ability to envision
• Demonstrated excellence a storyteller capable of translating complex topics to varied audiences in compelling, innovative, and informative ways
• Has a high EQ, enjoys networking and building relationships with thought-leaders, researchers and practitioners in their respective fields
• Demonstrates the ability to think and operate effectively under high-stress situations.
  
  

ADVANTAGES OF WORKING AT BRAVEN

Braven Isn’t Built To Be The 3,001st US Venture Firm — We’re Built To Be The First Firm Engineered From The Ground Up To Co-build Companies Tackling What We Believe To Be The Largest And Most Important Opportunity Set Of The Next Few Decades. Our Journey Will Require Capability, Grit And Courage. We Will Push Ourselves As Much As We Will Push You. Along The Way, There Are Both Short Term And Long Term Rewards And Development Opportunities. We Also Offer The Following To Fellows

• We offer a monthly salary between $3,000 - $4,000/month depending on experience and academic credentials
• Paid holidays and flexible time off as needed. This is sometimes called “Unlimited PTO”; we don’t have a set amount of days you are able to take off but rather expect you to manage your well-being by taking time off as needed while also successfully performing your role
• The opportunity to break into early stage investing / venture capital with no VC, PE or investment banking experience on the ground floor
• Coaching and mentoring, continuous education and opportunities to engage with exceptional colleagues both at Braven and in our larger community, including visionary founders harnessing technology to change the world
• Lifetime access to the Braven Fellows Community, a cohort of former Fellows
  
  

At Braven, we believe our biggest asset is our people and strive to hire the top 0.1% of candidates. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer, hiring and developing individuals from diverse backgrounds and experiences to add to our collaborative culture. Braven treats all candidates and employees with respect and does not discriminate in our recruiting, hiring, and promoting processes, including based on race, color, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, national origin, veteran status, or disability.