Playing Offense vs. Defense

Yesterday, David Biesel from NextView Ventures wrote a great piece called “Playing Offense vs. Defense.” He highlighted how VCs often get bogged down with busy work—emails, messages, and managing portfolios. While those tasks are important, it’s crucial to shift gears, dive into deep work, and actively seek out opportunities.

This got me thinking about how job seekers can need to be on the offensive. So I put together a simple but effective framework that should help you land the job you really want:

1. Research the Company: Dive deep into the company—understand its mission, products, and market position. Identify any gaps or pain points where they might need help.

2. Reach Out: Send a message to the founder or key decision-makers on Twitter, LinkedIn, or via email. Keep your message genuine and personal.

   1. Show Genuine Interest: Highlight what you admire about the company and explain why their mission or work excites you. Be specific.

   2. Share Your Background: Provide a concise, results-oriented summary of your skills and experiences.

   3. Pitch Yourself: Clearly explain how you can make a difference. Be specific and, if possible, include case studies or proof of your work. For example, if you’re a PM, pinpoint areas where they might be lacking and offer actionable ideas.

P.S. This approach is even more effective if you’ve engaged with the company before. Comment on their posts, join discussions, and provide genuine feedback. This helps you stand out and makes your approach more authentic.

Be a sniper. Targeting companies you genuinely care about will get you better results than sending out a generic resume to hundreds of jobs. Do the work, and don’t expect instant returns.

Fewer Than 10 Employees:

Remote:

• Co-Founder & CEO, 16VC (VC)

  • Looking for individuals to join us them Co-Founder / CEO for their incubated startups. They typically invest $500K across sectors.

• Growth Chief of Staff, Jam.dev (Enterprise)

  • Auto-captures all the info engineers need to debug. Trusted by 32 of the Fortune 100 & serve over 125k happy users.

• Chief of Staff, Big Leap Health

  • Founded by Yakov Kagan, this is the opportunity to become the #1 employee at a healthtech startup looking to democratize access to breakthrough mental health treatments.

• Research Analyst, Interplay (VC)

  • NYC based startup ecosystem investing in technology-enabled businesses across Seed, Series A, and Series B.

• Partnership relationship manager, Denarii Labs (Web3)

  • Denarii Labs empowers the next generation of Web3 founders in crafting robust tokenomics models. They have developed products with Alchemy, 300Dao, InMind and more.

• GTM Director, Root (Consumer)

  • A new social communication platform that enables third-party developers to build tools and features on top of the core infrastructure. Backed by Konvoy Ventures, a leading gaming focused VC.

• Customer Success Lead, Rentana (PropTech)

  • Revenue Management Software for the multifamily housing industry.

New York:

• Analyst, Arc Ventures (VC)

  • Pre-seed to Series A, geographically agnostic fund with a focus on Israel and Europe.

• Chief of Staff, Linero (Enterprise)

  • AI-native system that works in unison to drive ongoing alignment between business goals and behaviors.

California:

• Investor, Adverb (VC)

  • Founded by Jessica Verrilli and April Underwood, adverb is a fairly new VC fund backing pre-seed through Series A.

Others:

• Investment Associate, Pillar (VC), MA

  • Seed-stage venture capital firm for scientists and engineers building in deep tech and bio.

• Investment Intern, Trammell VP (VC), TX

  • Investing in seed- and early-stage startups building on the Bitcoin protocol stack

• Director of Finance, Topo Advisors (FinTech), IN

  • Backed by High Alpha, Topo Advisors provides fractional embedded finance and accounting support to high-growth SaaS and services companies.

Early But Not Too Early:

Remote:

• Content & Community Lead, ThingTesting (Consumer)

  • A place to discover and review online brands. This would be a pretty cool gig.

• Chief of Staff, Turing Labs (Enterprise)

  • Leveraging data and human intelligence to help organizations like P&G to develop better products.

New York:.

• Chief of Staff, Slingshot Ai (HealthTech)

  • Partnering with mental health providers to create tools to provide the best support to everyone, everywhere.

• SVP of Operations & Finance, Terra Kaffe (Consumer)

  • Making new age coffee machines. Extremely well paying job.

• Generalist, Dirac (ManufacturingTech)

  • Building BuildOS, the first automated work instruction platform. They can automate Draft assembly work instructions in minutes, not weeks drastrically reducing R&D & Production time. Use the offensive framework about.

• Lifecycle Marketing, Senior Associate, Thesis (HealthTech)

  • Building an ecosystem that helps people reclaim their focus, starting with nootropic blends to support every kind of brain.

• VC Investor, Tribeca Venture Partners (VC)

  • They back Series A teams addressing opportunities in SaaS, marketplaces, fintech and AI.

California:

• Senior Mission Manager, Varda (SpaceTech)

  • One of my portfolio companies, Varda is building factories in space. Here is a detailed interview of the founder on Varda.

Others:

• Market Lead, Heartland Ventures (VC)

  • Heartland Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that connect high-growth technology startups to large corporations.