About Upfront
Upfront Ventures is seeking a Healthcare Investment Associate to join our team and work closely with our partners, portfolio and the broader tech ecosystem. Founded in 1996 and one of the most active early-stage funds in Southern California, we are currently investing out of our 7th early-stage fund and 3rd early growth fund, with close to 100 active portfolio companies and growing, including healthcare startups like Bionaut, Arlo, Certify, Keragon, Reveleer and Rula (see our whole portfolio here).
About the Role
The two year Associate program is designed to expose you to the full scope of a lead VC partner, from meeting entrepreneurs, sourcing investments, attending board meetings and supporting portfolio companies, to building the firm-wide platform. The startup landscape and the VC industry is evolving faster than ever and you will be at the forefront of those changes.
Upon completion of the program, you will have gained strong points of view on technology shifts and the inner workings of startup operations at different stages, and have developed a wide and deep network across entrepreneurs, executives and investors. Our alumni have joined portfolio companies in leadership positions, launched their own startups, or continued their investment careers at other leading funds.
This role is onsite with our team in Santa Monica and expected to travel to major tech hubs. You’ll report to Kevin Zhang, Partner and Lead Healthcare Investor, who started off as an Associate 12+ years ago.
Responsibilities
- Deal Sourcing: Find and win over top entrepreneurs in academia and industry, whether they come from inside or outside healthcare, with the long-term dedication to fix our broken system.
- Thesis-building and Analysis: Research emerging trends and conduct due diligence across a variety of AI to care delivery opportunities selling to patient, payor, provider and pharma.
- Portfolio Support: Collaborate with portfolio companies, advising them on everything from hiring and strategy to growth and fundraising. We are on the boards of most of our portfolio companies and pride ourselves on being proactive and value-add.
- Platform Building: Develop content, research, and materials to enhance firm-wide processes and share insights internally and externally.
Ideal Experience & Qualifications
- 2+ Years of Operator Experience: Work at a high growth healthcare or techbio startup.
- Networking: Natural relationship builder within the healthcare and investment communities.
- Investing Experience: Some experience in investing or scouting would be a bonus.
- Analytical Skills: Strong quantitative and analytical capabilities. Your work would make for good training data for ChatGPT.
- Communication Skills: The ability to translate complex healthcare and technical concepts verbally and in writing, i.e. coherently describing how PBMs work or opining on the role of AI in speeding up preclinical drug discovery.
- Passion for Healthcare: A genuine interest and curiosity for how technology can transform and modernize the broken US healthcare ecosystem with all its inertia and misalignment.
- Team Player: Collaborative mindset with a proactive and self-starter attitude.
- Ownership: You take charge of your work, uphold your commitments, and never drop the ball.