About JumpStart Inc.

JumpStart is a non-profit venture development organization whose mission is to unlock the full potential of entrepreneurship to transform entire communities. Our vision is to collaborate with partners to generate dramatically improved and inclusive economic outcomes by supporting diverse entrepreneurs, optimizing entrepreneurial ecosystems, and accelerating innovation.

Key to JumpStart’s success is its ability to leverage the skills, experience, and creativity of its inspired team to transform entrepreneurial aspirations into actions with measurable impact. JumpStart associates take great pride in making JumpStart a highly demanding yet incredibly fun place to work.

Position Summary

Located in Cleveland, OH, the Senior Partner, Tech Services & Network Management leads the delivery of JumpStart’s work supporting tech startups through JumpStart’s services and programs, and through networks of collaborators in the 39 counties in northern Ohio. Responsible for delivering the outcomes outlined in the Entrepreneurial Services Program, this position oversees the Line of Business and partners with key staff and collaborators to allocate and deploy resources/services. The role delivers services that achieve inclusive economic outcome targets as defined by regional stakeholders and funders. The following are crucial to success in this role:

  • Build open, trusting relationships with service network partners in the community and foster collaboration and accountability toward common goals.
  • Create trust, credibility and clarity for entrepreneurs so they can effectively navigate through the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
  • Lead and inspire a high-performing team.
  • Partner with JumpStart Ventures, Small Business Services, and Innovation teams to develop, resource and deploy best-in-class programs delivering impact for tech clients/concepts.
  • Ensure compliance and best practices across the Network in capturing and reporting metrics required by funders (e.g., the State, Key Bank, County, EDA, the Cleveland Foundation)

Essential Job Functions

70% – Build a thriving tech entrepreneurial ecosystem, together with partners in northern Ohio,

  • Regional Focus: Provide perspective on the role of collaborative networks within defined geographies and across sectors. Specifically, drive best practices and collaboration among network partners across regions (e.g., ESP (Entrepreneurial Services Program) NEO and NWO) and hyper-local geographies. Provide perspective within the organization and with stakeholders, partners, and funders on how multiple collaborative networks within a region drive community outcomes.
  • Program delivery performance: Evaluate program and collaborator performance to actively manage expected outcomes (metrics, customer satisfaction) and spending against awarded budget, with semi-annual on-site visits in addition to regular interactions. Manage collaborators for compliance with grant sub-agreements and budgets.
  • Survey/metrics: Take lead role in defining and implementing metrics reporting standards. Work with the Data team to develop a system which supports the services team and the network partners’ engagement with clients. Develop and deploy trusted on-demand, accessible any time, data analytics tools across staff and partners that manage engagement, client experience and provide insights on results, trends/gaps.
  • Service delivery: Analyze performance of regional and hyper-local collaborative networks and provide continuous performance/process improvements thereby increasing the quality and impact of services delivered to clients (market research, customer validation, workshops). Organize a common framework across staff and collaborators to provide a consistent, productive and effective approach to the assessment of the idea’s potential, client engagement, and services deployment. Identify gaps and opportunities and evaluate new or different approaches or service models, to accelerate high potential clients.
  • Network communications: Work with collaborators to ensure open communication including sharing details regarding their operating processes and deal flow activities to better integrate resources. Ensure network partner and deal flow meetings are planned, organized and effective.
  • Team Building: Build and inspire a high-performing team both within JumpStart and across collaborators. Set clear goals that are aligned with stakeholder/funder requirements, provide on-going feedback, and bring out the best in people with an inspirational leadership style.

10% – Outreach:

  • JumpStart Outreach events with regional/local communities: Participate in marketing and community outreach, educational and awareness building forums. Represent JumpStart at outreach events and for speaking engagements when needed.

20% – Strategy/Business Development:

  • Work with JumpStart leadership and other organizations to help advocate and position JumpStart for additional funding, structure programmatic operational elements (activities, metrics, budgets)
  • Develop and co-own (with other Services Team members as directed by JumpStart senior management) relationships with State/Third Frontier program representatives, other ESPs.
  • Maintain JumpStart’s leadership position as the NEO ESP lead.

Decision Making Responsibility

Hiring, expense approvals. Budget changes.

Direct Reports:

The Senior Partner leads a team of 10+ people consisting of Entrepreneurs-in Residence (W2 or 1099), a market research analyst, a deal flow analyst, Director of Mentoring and has 4-6 direct reports.

Physical Demands/Working Conditions

  • Across the Northern Ohio region. When required, attend local and out-of-state meetings, conferences, workshops, and special events.
  • Normal professional office environment
  • Hybrid work schedule
  • Some occasional work during evenings (meetings, events) or weekends (pitch competitions, hackathons, startup weekends).

Required Qualifications

Education, Training and/or Experience

  • Bachelor’s Degree in a Business-related discipline
  • 10+ years of progressive management experience including senior management positions
  • Leadership experience in a start-up environment or leading early-stage companies

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Personal Characteristics

  • Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite
  • Ability to see the larger strategic picture, absorb large amounts of data, draw out key findings and synthesize thoughts in easy to follow, logical and coherent manner
  • Ability to relate to all organizational levels and establish credibility with entrepreneurs
  • Appreciation of all aspects and functions of a business
  • Ability to build and operate in team-based environments
  • Combination of strategic thinker and practical operational execution
  • Empathy and people leadership skills

Preferred Additional Qualifications

Education, Training and/or Experience

  • Master’s Degree in Business-related discipline

JumpStart’s Core Values and Key Cultural Behaviors

  • Accountability: Act to deliver on commitments and generate results, and if expectations are not clear, ask
  • Entrepreneurial: Embrace opportunity, continuous improvement, and change, and contribute to the solution as we evolve
  • Equity: Committed to corrective action regarding historically underserved and underrepresented populations through entrepreneurship and innovation
  • Energy: Address our work with focus, grit, and enthusiasm
  • Collaboration: Collaborate with others to play our most helpful role(s) and to increase effectiveness
  • Humility: Balance self-assurance with listening to understand, having an open mind, and demonstrating patience

JumpStart’s Definitions for Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

  • Diversity: A measure of psychological, demographic, physical, and social differences occurring among any and all individuals in a specific group; including but not limited to racial identity, ethnicity, nationality, religion, socioeconomic status, education, marital status, language, age, gender identification, sexual orientation, culture, developmental ability, and learning styles.
  • Inclusion: The act of promoting and maintaining an environment in which diverse groups of individuals are welcomed, respected, supported, valued, and empowered. An environment prioritizing differences and offers respect and acceptance in the words/actions/thoughts of all people.
  • Equity: An acknowledgment and understanding there are historically underserved and underrepresented populations, and corrective action regarding these unbalanced conditions is needed to eliminate barriers and guarantee equality in the provision of fair treatment, access opportunity, and advancement in the provision of effective opportunities to all groups.
  • Emphasis Statement: Historically, African Americans, Latinx people, and women have been economically disenfranchised and disconnected from innovation and entrepreneurship. For these reasons, we place an emphasis on these populations as we work to diversify our culture and be inclusive in our daily interactions and decisions.

JumpStart’s Operating Style: JumpStart team members are expected to be:

  • Honest: We speak the truth, plainly and simply, kindly and considerately. We will challenge you as we seek to accomplish great things. And we hope you will do the same with us.
  • Responsive: We respond rapidly to your inquiries and actively communicate so we are all on the same page.
  • Resourceful: We will be creative and efficient in helping you to access relationships, contacts, and other resources to help you succeed.
  • Insightful: We will provide the knowledge and insight about entrepreneurship and innovation you are not able to easily get from others

This position description is not intended to be a complete list of all responsibilities, duties or skills required for the job and is subject to review and change at any time, with or without notice, in accordance with the needs of JumpStart. Since no position description can detail all the duties and responsibilities that may be required from time to time in the performance of a job, duties and responsibilities that may be inherent in a job, reasonably required for its performance, or required due to the changing nature of the job shall also be considered part of the jobholder’s responsibility.

Posted: Friday, July 1, 2022

If you are interested in this position, please apply here.