Tech Investor

Description

OUP is hiring a Tech Investor in Philadelphia: an entry-level investing role for engineers and scientists who want to back startups inspired by academic research. We’re looking for a PhD, or a BS/MS with 2–4 years in industry. No venture experience required.

About OUP

Osage University Partners (OUP) invests in startups built on breakthrough research from universities. Since 2009 we have built exclusive, long-term partnerships with more than 150 universities and research institutions, including Stanford, Caltech, Duke, Harvard, MIT and many others. Those partnerships give us early visibility into new spinouts and access to each university’s contractual right to invest in its startups across all of their venture rounds. In tech, we invest in compute, semiconductors, photonics, AI, robotics, cybersecurity and energy; we also have an investment team focused on opportunities in the life sciences. Our team also dives into specific thesis areas that overlap with our university deal flow to expand its reach to invest to all startups regardless of their spinout affiliation.

OUP is headquartered in Philadelphia and manages approximately $850M across five funds. Many of our partners started their careers here. We hire people we expect to grow into career investors, and we train them to get there.

The Role

The Tech Investor is an entry-level investing role on OUP’s Tech team. You will be the team’s engine for sourcing, founder calls, and diligence: meeting faculty and founders every week, digging into the technology behind the companies we are considering, and turning what you learn into clear recommendations. You will work directly with the partners on live deals from your first month. No venture experience is required. What we need is real technical depth, sound judgment, and the confidence to use both.

What You’ll Do

• Source. Build and work a pipeline of university spinouts and early-stage companies by staying close to faculty, graduate students and founders across our partner universities as well as the campus tech transfer offices.
• Take the first call. Run a high volume of introductory calls with founders and co-investors, and decide quickly which companies deserve a deeper look.
• Run diligence. Read the papers and patents, pressure-test the technology, size the market, map the competition, and run expert customer and reference calls.
• Write and recommend. Prepare investment memos and present your point of view to the partnership, including when it is “pass.”
• Build theses. Develop informed views on emerging technical areas that shape where the team looks next.
• Represent OUP. Travel to partner universities and technical conferences, and keep our pipeline and database current so the whole team benefits from what you learn.

Where We’re Focused

Compute and datacenter infrastructure; semiconductors and photonics; AI systems; energy and power electronics; and sensors, robotics, and defense technology. You won’t be expert in all of these on day one. You should be expert in at least one and eager to get there in the others.

Who You Are

• Technically deep. A PhD, or a BS/MS with 2–4 years in industry or at a startup in electrical or computer engineering, applied physics, or a related field. You have built, designed or researched something hard. We are open-minded about qualifications and welcome you to apply if your passion overlaps but your resume does not.
• Confident, and grounded about it. Your confidence comes from real accomplishments, whether in a lab, a fab, a startup, or an engineering organization. You can hold your own with a professor or a CEO, and you can say “I don’t know yet” without flinching.
• Curious beyond your field. You get up to speed quickly in unfamiliar domains and enjoy doing it.
• A clear communicator. You move easily between a whiteboard session with a scientist and a conversation with an investor, and you write crisply.
• Fluent with AI tools. You already use them in your work, will help us use them better, and will also be a part of our AI startup investment efforts.
• Aligned with our values. Humble confidence, endless curiosity, collaboration and work ethic.

Logistics

• Based in, or willing to relocate to, the Philadelphia region. We work in the office Monday through Wednesday and virtually Thursday and Friday.
• Regular travel to universities and conferences.

• Referrals are welcome at the same addresses. Learn more about OUP at www.oup.vc.