Job Description
Overview
As an Innovation Associate, you will work as an innovation research expert and a startup coach. You will act as a key executive in our core programs and contribute to their efficient administration and delivery. In doing your job, you’ll qualify and assess innovations, products and startups by conducting research on market sizing, competitor offerings & go-to-market strategies. You will weigh in on a startups’ problem landscape, solution landscape, business model and provide further analysis to guide the decisions of the accelerator program manager(s). Finally, you will have an active & integral role in the team that designs and runs our core programs.
In doing your job, you will be working closely with our mentors, experts, and startup founders. You will build a strong network and learn a lot from each and every one of them. Eventually, given your access to all areas of early stage investment and venture management, you can even build a niche for yourself in a particular sector or area of expertise.
Role Responsibilities
- Scan the problem-solution landscape of any given innovation and/or product, assessing the different approaches to solving a given problem, its market, and commercial viability.
- Conduct research on market and investment trends in the technology and startups landscape.
- Work alongside the analysts, program manager(s), and mentors to identify the needs of portfolio startups on the product, team, and strategy pillars.
- Guide our entrepreneurs and act as a coach to facilitate their participation in our workshops, industry clinics and mentoring sessions.
- Assist the program manager(s) in planning and undertaking all core program activities such as workshops, clinics, mentoring sessions and networking events.
- Ensure all participant startups are making full use of our online platform by regularly updating their dashboards, required forms, update and feedback reports.
- Upkeep our acceleration frameworks & learning tools, collaborating with other Analyst(s) & Developer(s) to deploy those frameworks and tools efficiently.
- Define key performance indicators and milestones for the innovation project and assure their implementation.
- Update senior management on the projects’ status through regular progress reporting against the respective milestones and KPIs.
- Conduct due diligence research to validate the data provided by participants on the business performance.
- Work closely with program manager(s) to identify quarterly objectives and potential training and career succession plans.
- Support the program manager on project management tasks including team and resource management and budget review.
- Provide analysis & content preparation (data on projects, PowerPoint presentations, briefs, etc) for client engagements, proposals, and executive management meetings.
- Support the program manager(s) and senior management with any other activities as required.
Qualifications
- 3-5 years of innovation research or business analysis experience
- Experience in the entrepreneurship ecosystem (desirable)
- Bachelors / Masters (desirable) in a related field with a focus on entrepreneurship, innovation, research, technology
- Project Management certification or a similar qualification
- Professional Agile Business Analysis qualification (desirable)
Skills & Knowledge
- Demonstrate interest in research, new technology trends, startups, venture capital
- Autonomous worker, able to interface with clients, mentors, and entrepreneurs
- Creative problem solver, often considering unorthodox yet feasible ways to push the design and sharing insights with others
- Design thinking knowledge or experience (desirable)
- Impeccable attention to details with a great sense of ownership
- Collaborative team player, ability to think outside the box, and strong self-organization
- Excellent communication/presentation skills, with the ability to write strategy documents, to develop business plans, and to write and deliver presentations
- Self-motivated and able to work with a high degree of autonomy
Company Profile
Nucleus Ventures is a leading consultancy firm providing innovative solutions and expert advice to entrepreneurs and start-ups across various industries. We help our clients tackle their most pressing challenges and create lasting value. We are committed to fostering an environment where our team members grow and thrive, working collaboratively to make a meaningful impact.