Life at JetBlue Ventures: Where Innovation Takes Flight
At JetBlue Ventures, we pride ourselves on our innovative approach to investing in early-stage startups that are shaping the future of travel and hospitality. But here’s the secret to our success: building an exceptional team. We work hard to bring together a group of passionate individuals with diverse perspectives, who take ownership of their work and support each other.
JetBlue Ventures operates in two strategic locations: San Francisco and New York City. With dedicated teams responsible for investment, operations, administration, and marketing, each plays a vital role in our collective mission of identifying innovative solutions. While they have distinct responsibilities, these teams work together to achieve our shared goals and drive innovation within JetBlue and the broader aviation industry.
The Investment Team
Our investment team comprises seasoned professionals who specialize in identifying, evaluating, and executing potential investments aligned with our investment strategy. Their day-to-day consists of actively sourcing for promising startups that demonstrate the potential to revolutionize the travel experience, from enhancing customer service to improving operational efficiency.
The investment process consists of thorough due diligence, where our team evaluates various factors such as the startup’s technology, team expertise, market potential, and strategic alignment with JetBlue. This analysis ensures that we make informed investment decisions that offer both financial returns and strategic value to JetBlue.
Post-investment, the team provides ongoing support to portfolio companies by facilitating introductions, participating in board meetings, and offering strategic guidance to ensure success.
The Operations Team
Given our role as a corporate venture capital firm, it’s important that our investments align with JetBlue’s strategic objectives and benefit the aviation industry as a whole. This is where our operations team comes in.
Serving as the primary liaison between JetBlue Ventures and JetBlue Crewmembers, our operations team fosters relationships with various business units within JetBlue. They conduct in-depth analyses of the challenges and pain points faced by these units, gathering valuable insights that inform investment decisions and shape our overall investment strategy.
Additionally, the operations team plays a pivotal role in running our innovation sprints, which are collaborative programs that introduce startups to JetBlue business units to address specific challenges. These sprints serve as a platform for startups to showcase their innovative solutions and for JetBlue to explore opportunities for collaboration and partnership.
The Administration & Marketing Teams
Finally, these two teams handle processes, events, branding, and communications for JetBlue Ventures. They are instrumental in promoting our mission and highlighting the innovative work of our portfolio companies. Ultimately, our administration and marketing efforts ensure smooth day-to-day operations, raise awareness, and foster engagement for both JetBlue Ventures and the startups we support.
Working together to drive innovation
Although each team has its own unique responsibilities, we all have a shared objective: to provide support to our portfolio companies while simultaneously aligning with JetBlue’s strategic objectives and driving progress in the aviation industry. Through collaboration and leveraging respective expertise, all teams drive innovation and create value for JetBlue Ventures and our stakeholders.
At JetBlue Ventures, we are dedicated to assembling an exceptional team to tackle the exciting and significant challenges the industry faces. If this interests you, come join us!
