Connecting Startups to Global Companies — the Role of BD at Madrona

We are looking for a Director of Business Development!

At Madrona, our mission is to partner with leading founders and founding teams from day one to the long run. In order to achieve that mission, we spend a lot of time listening to our founders and portfolio company executives to understand where we are able to help and provide the most leverage to our companies.

Two of the requests we hear over and over again from companies inside and outside of our portfolio are (1) help with hiring and recruiting great talent and (2) getting introductions and access to enterprise customers. To address the first request, we built out a fantastic recruiting team that helps our companies develop recruiting strategies and connects talented candidates with companies.

To help companies get access to potential customers, we have created several ongoing initiatives such as our Madrona CIO Network, our annual CIO Summit, and regular tech meetups that bring together startups and enterprise customers. These initiatives are designed to help large enterprise companies understand trends, learn about innovation in the start-up ecosystem, and ultimately help them determine solutions to problems that CIOs face in their own environment.

We are looking for a Director of Business Development to continue to build out this function, to nurture and expand Madrona’s network of senior executives, collect market intelligence, and guide Madrona’s portfolio companies on go-to-market strategies and customer relationships.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it:

Your First 120 days:

· Listen and learn. By the end of your first few months, you should be able to accurately articulate the core tech and customer targets for our 70+ portfolio companies.

· Seek to understand. You will be fluent in the use cases for our priority companies and map the customer opportunities where we can or should build relationships and create access.

In your first year you will:

• Create and organize regular executive briefings (2–3 a month) to connect Madrona’s portfolio companies with Global 2000 enterprises — target audience personas will be the primary buyers of technology, predominantly CIO, CTO, CMO and CISO
• Develop and lead our annual flagship CIO Summit in early Fall that brings together top tier CIOs, CTOs and CISOs. Success will be measured by NPS scores now, and later by the connections made that lead to deals (the person in this role will define measures).
• Conduct a Quarterly Business Review with our investment team to educate us on learnings and developments.
• Along the way you will own and further develop Madrona’s relationships with C and SVP-level executives at enterprise customers and partners.

You’ll love this opportunity if you have:

• A demonstrated track record leading C-level sale, strategic alliance and/or business development transactions between early stage companies and F200 enterprise software brands.
• You love making deals, but you are not driven by the typical commission-based rewards. Instead, you like the long game of building companies and creating massive leverage though intelligently navigating information and relationships.
• You are a master communicator who can read an audience. You have strong interpersonal skills and a history of presenting to large audiences and senior executives in summit forums as well as more intimate formats. During your interview, you might be asked to demonstrate your deftness in facilitating peer sharing meetings in large and workshop type settings.
• Demonstrated technical acumen and fluency of the enterprise software ecosystem. An emphasis on SaasS models in B2B, as well as basic understanding of the latest technologies such as Cloud, AI/ML, Data Management, and Multi-Sense User Interfaces. You will have an opportunity to demonstrate this knowledge in your interactions with CIOs and portfolio companies’ founders.
• Intense curiosity and a thirst for learning and assimilating complex data. You are analytical and able to draw connections and conclusions from disparate types and sources of information. You are known for your personal integrity and emotional intelligence. You’re a self-starter who takes initiative to chart a path with little supervision.
• BA/BS required. MBA strongly preferred.

If our mission, culture and this role sounds like it would be interesting to you or someone you know, please get in touch!

Madrona is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.