New Venture Director

WHO ARE WE?
We’re Mach49™ and we work with Global 1000 companies to build and launch new disruptive businesses. To do this, we work side-by-side with intrapreneurial teams to take an idea (market or product concept) through customer validation, solution ideation, and prototype testing to building a fully-formed business that the teams can launch. We work with the teams to instill lean startup, design-thinking, and agile development mindsets as they build out their businesses. Our process is highly customer-centric, relying on customer design research as a linchpin of our overall methodology. Still with us? Good!

WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR:

As a New Venture Director, you’ll act as a co-founder on projects with entrepreneurial client teams. You’re responsible for creating an innovative, impactful, and disruptive business. You keep the “big picture” in mind as the team executes on the Mach49 process—thinking several steps ahead of the team, anticipating potential issues with team direction (e.g. reality checking feasibility, business viability at the appropriate times)—ensuring the teams absorb and effectively use Mach49 user research methodology.

BIG PICTURE:

  • Be main point of contact for incubation teams working with Mach49.
  • Establish a close advisor relationship with the client team’s leader, helping guide the leader and the team through the incubation process
  • Facilitate workshops and exercises that help establish team norms, teach Mach49 methodology, and/or help advance the team towards their goals
  • Be responsible for client team success and positive working environment. Identify and troubleshoot (or escalate) situations that might derail teams.
  • Facilitate daily/weekly syntheses, training team to run their own syntheses
  • Orchestrate and work with Mach49 user research resources to train and coach team on customer interviews, scripts, storyboards, prototypes, etc.
  • Drive/facilitate team into convergence on ecosystem maps, customer segmentation, and key process maps
  • Contribute to “strategic product thinking”
  • Inject creative ideas
  • Point team to “analogs” and other inspiration to drive their thinking
  • Help teams structure and sort through concepts. Brainstorm and facilitate team through creation of product frameworks.
  • Provide guidance on the intersection of user research testing and product learning (i.e., help drive and frame the testing strategy via the big picture product questions)
  • Work with client team and team leader to build and refine their story in preparation for New Venture Board (NVB) meetings. Orchestrate reviews with Mach49 partnership and NVB sponsors, driving toward resolution among stakeholders
  • Help teams build out operating plan (Product/Market Fit testing, GTM, etc.), underpinned by lean startup philosophy
  • Participate in interviewing and vetting potential entrepreneurial team members
  • Leverage world-class resources within Mach49 to assure exceptional performance and results. Know when to bring in the right resources, and orchestrate those resources to ensure the teams can maximize their use
  • Escalate any client team issues to Partnership before they become problematic
 

THE DETAILS:

  • 6+ years of work experience
  • 3+ years of experience managing and/or leading teams
  • 2+ years software and/or digital product management experience
  • Past roles working at or consulting to Global 1000 companies, ideally in a strategy role
  • Time spent in customer facing roles (e.g., consulting, sales, sales support, customer service)
  • Familiarity and/or experience interviewing customers for market research and/or Voice of the Customer initiatives
  • Previous experience within a start-up
  • Experience facilitating ideation and solution brainstorming workshops for cross- functional teams
 

YOU’VE GOT THE FOLLOWING:

  • Ability to develop product concept visions, MVPs, and roadmaps, and understand them at both the strategic level and the detailed, tactical level required to build a product spec
  • Ability to manage complex projects, run teams, and drive consensus among key stakeholders
  • Ability to assess the political landscape in the context of a small team and capability of team members to perform as part of the startup
  • Ability to gain confidence and build rapport with team members, board members, and partners
  • Demonstrated expertise in Strategic Planning
  • Education and/or experience in lean startup approaches
  • Ability to work successfully within small, unstructured teams
  • Self-initiated, working well with little supervision
  • Work efficiently in a fast-paced, multi-task environment
  • Ability to work effectively with all levels of organizations
  • Persuasive written and oral communication style
  • And if you have read this far and are still interested, we want to hear from you!
 

WHAT WE OFFER:

This is a unique opportunity to work in a startup-like, fast-paced, innovative environment, while at the same time having the support and full benefits of a great company.

Contract Type: Full-time

Travel: Limited travel (10-30%)

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