VP, Business Development – Sapphire Ventures
About Sapphire Ventures
Sapphire Ventures is a global venture capital firm, with $6.8B assets under management, that invests in mid- to late-stage emerging technology companies as well as early-stage venture funds. More on our portfolio can be found here: https://sapphireventures.com/companies/
In addition to capital, Sapphire Venture offers access to a powerful platform of support via our Portfolio Growth unit that uniquely serves companies ready to scale. Sapphire’s Portfolio Growth (PG) team is composed of 15+ seasoned professionals who provide value to Sapphire portfolio companies across business development, talent, marketing, capital markets and other areas. The PG group is a central pillar of how Sapphire Ventures differentiates as an investor. You can learn more about Portfolio Growth at: https://sapphireventures.com/portfolio-growth/
Specifically, Sapphire’s Portfolio Growth team has built an exclusive and global customer network of digital executives (CIOs, CTOs, Chief Digital Officers, CISOs, etc.) across industries that we strategically leverage to facilitate customer and partner introductions for our portfolio.
This unique role will provide a talented and exceptional professional the opportunity to expand Sapphire’s C-Suite network in the Fortune 500 and Global 2000 ranks, be a thought leader on innovation and emerging technology topics, whilst working closely with an inspiring portfolio of hypergrowth companies and founders on revenue acceleration initiatives.
What You’ll Do
- Regularly engage and nurture Sapphire’s existing global network of Fortune 500 CIOs/CXOs, to ensure we continue to see engagement from digital leaders across industries
- Grow our customer network and build more relationships with CIOs, CISOs, CTOs, CDOs, and IT leaders
- Create strategy and action plan to increase Sapphire’s access to IT decision-makers and CXOs at Global 2000 enterprises
- Connect the dots” between the needs of these CIOs/CXOs and the capabilities of our portfolio companies, and orchestrate relevant introductions with customers and partners
- Work closely with portfolio company CEOs, CROs and executives in a “high touch” fashion to determine best ways to support their BD goals and strategy
- Closely track and report all aspects of BD value-add activity such as introductions, outcomes, revenue generated for portfolio companies and overall engagement levels of our CXO network
- Play a central role in engaging standalone events and forums, geared towards engaging/growing our C-Suite networks with relevant content, thought leadership, and innovative programming
What You’ll Bring
- A minimum of 10 years as a business development, sales or product role having worked at best-in-class enterprise software and SaaS businesses
- Existing rolodex of CIOs, CISOs, CTOs and IT leaders at large enterprises
- A natural “super connector” who is driven to build powerful networks and leverage these strategically for our portfolio and firm
- Ability to engage C-level executives with confidence and authenticity, and lead a dialogue around emerging technologies, startups, and venture capital.
- A sound perspective on how emerging technologies are impacting companies across industries and common challenges faced by CIOs and IT leaders
- Broad understanding of emerging technologies shaping the enterprise IT stack (AI/ML, developer productivity, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, etc.) and ability to quickly learn and articulate Sapphire’s perspective on each of these trends and spaces
- Passion for startups and understanding of how high-growth companies operate and sell
- Self-starter and strategic thinker with a track record of working from a blank slate in creating CIO/CXO engagement strategies
Additional Information
- Reporting to: Partner, Head of Business Development & GTM
- Location: Palo Alto, CA or San Francisco, CA
If you are interested in this position, please apply here.
Jenny Zemel serves as Manager, Special Projects where she provides interdepartmental support on a variety of projects for both the NVCA team and Venture Forward team. She also helps support the administrative needs of NVCA’s President and CEO Bobby Franklin.
