Venture Designer

About Founders Factory

Founders Factory is a venture studio and accelerator supported by leading global corporations. We combine capital investment with expert operational knowledge to launch and grow technology startups from the ground up. With over 300 companies in our portfolio and more than $900 million raised in subsequent funding rounds, we provide a unique environment at the crossroads of corporate innovation and startup creation.

Role Overview

As a Venture Designer, you will be responsible for generating new venture ideas on demand rather than by chance. Collaborating closely with our corporate partners, you will transform broad investment themes into thoroughly tested, venture-viable concepts through an intensive three-month sprint process. This role involves the earliest and most exploratory stage of venture creation, encompassing market analysis, gap identification, solution conceptualization, and validation with potential users—all prior to hiring founders. The successfully validated concepts you develop will be presented to our Investment Committee and can become fully realized ventures. This is impactful, autonomous work that directly influences our portfolio.

Key Responsibilities

• Deconstruct investment themes from our corporate collaborators into distinct problem areas and opportunities.
• Perform comprehensive market research to track sector trends, uncover structural gaps, and analyze competition.
• Develop multiple venture concepts per theme using human-centered design to address true user needs.
• Design and execute rapid testing experiments such as A/B tests, prototyping, and user interviews to validate or discard ideas promptly.
• Consolidate research and test results into well-supported recommendations narrowing ideas to the strongest concepts.
• Deliver compelling presentations of validated concepts to the Investment Committee, which includes corporate decision-makers and the Founders Factory CEO.
• Collaborate with studio teams—other Venture Designers, Venture Builders, investors, and specialists—to enhance insights and utilize collective expertise.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge on emerging technologies, tools, and market movements to bring innovative thinking to sprints.

Qualifications & Skills

• Demonstrated history in early-stage concept development or venture design, successfully evolving fuzzy opportunities into validated ventures across various industries or sectors.
• Sharp strategic mindset balanced with a preference for prompt action; capable of broad market perspective and rapid hands-on experimentation in the same day.
• Strong expertise in market research and competitive landscape analysis, adept at distinguishing relevant insights from noise.
• Experienced in designing and carrying out rapid experiments—A/B testing, landing page validation, concierge MVPs, and user interviews—to test assumptions.
• Exceptional communication and narrative skills for clearly presenting complex insights and recommendations to senior, diverse stakeholders.
• Innovative and disciplined thinker who can generate numerous ideas yet prioritize rigorously based on evidence.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and fast-paced environments; thrives in dynamic sprint settings with broad briefs.

Preferred Additional Skills

• Proficiency in the German language.
• Background working within innovation hubs or venture studios/builders.
• Experience partnering with corporate clients and managing stakeholder relationships.
• Familiarity with rapid prototyping software such as Figma and no-code/low-code platforms to quickly bring concepts to life.
• Understanding business model frameworks and unit economics at the conceptual phase.
• Experience across multiple sectors, including fintech, healthtech, sustainability, and consumer industries.

What We Provide

• Opportunity to influence ventures from inception to company formation through validating concepts.
• Energetic, collaborative studio atmosphere with builders, investors, and operators.
• Exposure to a wide variety of industries and corporate partnerships.
• Support across domains such as marketing, legal, finance, fundraising, growth, and talent acquisition.
• Competitive remuneration and benefits package.