Chief of Staff  
Location: Skaneateles, New York 

 

Founded in 2014, Armory Square Ventures (ASV) is a returns-oriented, mission-focused technology venture capital firm created out of one community’s desire to seed greater opportunities and jobs for those living in Upstate New York. We invest in startup markets in the Northeast and Midwest where we believe there may be untapped pockets of opportunity—an approach that has served the Upstate region, where our firm has catalyzed the creation of over 2,500 jobs over the past decade. 

Our aim is to identify and support exceptional entrepreneurs from all backgrounds and encourage teams who may lack traditional access to capital and networks. We believe creativity can come from anywhere, and that thriving entrepreneurial ecosystems can be created in underestimated regions. Armory Square is enriched and nourished by individuals from a range of backgrounds, all of whom are passionate about uplifting and inspiring growth across America’s smaller cities. We like to say we are an optimism engine for secondary cities and a community catalyst for regions outside Silicon Valley. 

ASV has one of the top track records in the entire venture capital industry, returning hundreds of millions of invested capital to its limited partners, which include nonprofits, endowments, CEOs of past investments, and other blue chip institutional investors and family offices. The firm was an early investor in ACV Auctions (NASDAQ: ACVA) and BentoBox (acquired by Fiserv) and has many other exciting active investments including: Clerio, Qualifi, and Machinery Partner.  

 

About 

The Chief of Staff position is designed to offer a talented professional an opportunity to immerse themselves in the early-stage venture capital community and industry. He/she will report to the Senior Associate and will have close day-to-day interactions with the firm’s Managing Partner. This person will have exposure to the broad functional areas of the firm including sourcing and structuring investments, investor relations, marketing, legal and compliance, etc. This is an opportunity to work on the front lines of venture capital, build sector knowledge, and work with talented entrepreneurs, VCs, limited partners, industry executives, and other key ecosystem stakeholders. 

 

Responsibilities

  • Sourcing: Identifying new deal flow that fits ASV criteria through research and outbound prospecting. Lead initial calls with prospective investment candidates and qualify for fit. Manage and track new investment opportunities from initial review through final decision. 

  • Partner Support: Ensure ASV’s Managing Partner is fully prepared with background and context prior to meetings and follow up on next steps after meetings. 

  • Relationship Management: Schedule meetings and communicate with prospective investment candidates and investors. Manage relationships and communication within the ASV community and partner networks.  

  • Office Management: We are a lean team and this role requires an administrative function including vendor management, expenses, calendaring, etc.  

  • Portfolio Company Support: Track and facilitate support of portfolio companies, and engage other teams within ASV to provide support to founders and their companies. 

  • Special Projects: Execute special projects, which are typically projects that are temporarily owned by the Chief of Staff and might not yet have a natural home elsewhere in the organization. 

 

We are looking for:  

  • Two (2) years of work experience.  

  • Strong analytical, writing, communication, and presentation skills. 

  • An interest in business development and sales and the capability to develop a network with local entrepreneurs and with those deeply involved in startup communities. You will be expected to speak with dozens of entrepreneurs weekly.  

  • A project manager or operations guru who thrives on keeping the trains running on time with little oversight. 

  • A genuine curiosity about technology-driven transformation across industries, including B2B software markets or verticals such as auto technology, education technology, financial technology, and healthcare IT. 

  • A passion for ASV’s investment thesis to drive mobility and growth in secondary cities. 

  • Fluency and comfort using social media and blogging. 

  • Extremely comfortable with technology including Excel, PowerPoint, and Google Slides.  

 

You are:

  • A scrappy problem solver who thrives in fast-moving environments. 

  • Open and transparent. 

  • Proactive–when you see an opportunity to do something new or do something better, you bring it up and take it on. 

  • Excited to get deeper into the world of technology and investing. 

  • Smart and quick (the team talks and thinks fast). 

  • Trustworthy and able to maintain confidentiality. 

  • You want to be exposed to all kinds of people and all kinds of work.  

  • You love going from 0 to 1 and building systems and processes that can scale. 

  • Comfortable talking with all kinds of people (team members, investors, founders, potential recruits, etc), have high EQ, and can be trusted to handle sensitive relationships. 

  • Detail-oriented when it comes to people and building and maintaining relationships. 

  • You love brainstorming and bouncing ideas back and forth, but also work independently and love getting an assignment and then running with it and executing on your own.