SENIOR ASSOCIATE, VALUE CREATION (GENERALIST)
Updata Partners
COMPANY: Updata Partners
TITLE: Senior Associate, Value Creation (Generalist)
REPORTS TO: Ryan Brady (Head of Value Creation)
LOCATION: Washington D.C.
POSITION SUMMARY:
This role provides the opportunity to join Updata’s growing Value Creation team as we continue to institutionalize our approach to portfolio support. The Senior Associate, Value Creation (Generalist) is the first non-leadership hire on the team. This person will serve as a key partner to the Head of Value Creation with ample opportunity to work directly with portfolio leadership and serve as Updata’s “go to resource” for critical strategic and go-to-market related initiatives.
Day-to-day, this person will work directly with the General Partners, the Head of Value Creation, Updata’s Operating Partners, and portfolio company management teams to identify and drive growth acceleration initiatives, support long-term GTM strategy development, and serve as a super connector between portfolio companies, Updata’s network and Updata’s internal resources. This role combines strategic advisory, operational execution, internal playbook development, exceptional project and stakeholder management, and the ability to effectively leverage third-party experts to drive maximum impact.
In addition to direct portfolio support, this person will also work internally to execute Updata’s Value Creation roadmap by creating templates, frameworks, best practices, playbooks, and collateral that can be used repeatedly across the portfolio.
ESTIMATED TIME ALLOCATION:
• Due Diligence Support: 10%
• Direct Portfolio Work: 50%
• Value Creation Roadmap Work: 30%
• Other (Conferences, internal work, executive candidate calls, etc.): 10%
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
Due Diligence Support (10%)
• Support the investment team throughout the business due diligence process for each prospective investment
• Oversee key third-party workstreams such as marketing diligence, product diligence, technology diligence
• Conduct organizational evaluations using proprietary templates and frameworks
• Collaborate with the Head of Value Creation to build actionable post-close value creation plans centered around business improvements to accelerate organic top line growth
Direct Portfolio Work (50%)
• Working directly with portfolio company management, assisting in the execution and management of post-close value creation plans over the first 12-18 months of an investment. While ranging across several functional areas, portfolio support work will be largely focused on GTM activities. This includes but is not limited to the following activities:
o Go-to-market improvements (ICP identification, customer segmentation, retention analysis, sales excellence, demand generation, pricing and packing guidance, competitive analysis, customer success and account management best practices)
o Go-to-market strategy (New market entry, build/buy/partner framework, international expansion, product expansion, 3-year growth strategy, revenue organization design)
o Operations & technology support (GTM software selection, order-to-cash improvement, GTM data cleanup, KPI instrumentation & activation)
• Work with existing portfolio companies on an ad-hoc basis
Value Creation Roadmap Support (30%)
• Lead the creation of collateral that can be re-used across the portfolio
• Lead initiatives and analysis around portfolio-wide benchmarking and analytics
• Serve as a thought leader on AI use cases for B2B SaaS companies and aggregate best practices for distribution
• Support planning for Updata’s annual CEO Summit
• Write topical whitepapers and best practice guides
• Drive the creation of key portfolio services, such as an executive in residence program
• Maintain an executive compensation database and oversee portfolio-wide compensation benchmarking.
QUALIFICATIONS:
• 5+ yrs. of full-time work experience in B2B software company operations (GTM or strategy); or with institutional investors focused on B2B software; or strategy consulting experience
• Strong background in, and understanding of, the software industry and general management
• Ability to demonstrate proficiency in and regular use of AI as a productivity tool
• Entrepreneurial, driven self-starter with ability to absorb information quickly and present it concisely
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills; comfortable communicating directly with senior executives
• Financial analysis skills, including relevant financial modeling experience
• Excellent research skills using multiple sources (web searches, trade journals, analyst reports, etc.)
• Ability to work efficiently with minor supervision in a relatively unstructured environment
• Undergraduate degree from top tier university with an outstanding record of academic achievement