Venture Leader (Seed SaaS Venture in Retail)
1848 Ventures
The Company
1848 Ventures is a venture studio focused on consistently building, launching, and scaling a portfolio of B2B SaaS companies that harness the power of AI to fuel the future of small and medium sized business.
Backed by Westfield®, a respected leader in commercial insurance, 1848 Ventures extends beyond insurance by launching digital products that address the uncertainties that businesses face on a daily basis. We focus on industries that are the driving force of our economy including construction, real estate, hospitality, retail, and restaurants. Westfield’s backing affords us the agility to explore innovative ideas, weather uncertainties, and pursue ambitious ventures with confidence.
Our talented team of hands-on venture builders, data scientists, engineers, and designers combined with repeatable playbooks allows us to rapidly validate, build, launch, and scale customer focused AI enabled startups.
At 1848 Ventures culture is not just a concept – it is the essence of what we do, our behaviors, rituals, and practices. It’s the actions that enable our set of evolving relationships and the experiences they create. The culture is grounded in the practice of virtues. This enables our pursuit of excellence, which we express and measure by our actions. We act on these behaviors in the “how” of our work, our interactions with others, and the conduct we hold ourselves and others accountable to, individually and collectively.
Read on to discover how your skillset and experiences may help contribute to our approach.
Position Description
You'll be the driving force behind this high-potential SaaS business from seed to success; build and scale the product, grow a talented team, create the GTM strategy, and own the P&L. All capital to support the venture will come from the parent company, Westfield, allowing you to focus entirely on driving the venture’s success.
This is your chance to make a significant impact by transforming an innovative retail concept into a market-leading solution, with the freedom to experiment, innovate, and execute, steering the venture to profitability.
What You'll Do
Ready to take the reins and lead a pre-seed venture in retail from the ground up? Here’s how you’ll make your mark:
- Set the Vision: Define the strategy, vision, and goals for the pre-seed venture. Your leadership will be crucial in setting ambitious targets, including achieving $20M in ARR by year 10, ensuring the business reaches positive cash flow by year 5, and maintaining sustainable, attractive SaaS economics. You’ll determine the key OKRs and KPIs that will drive product-market fit and long-term success.
- Lead Market Experimentation: Spearhead ongoing B2B SaaS business model experiments and develop a GTM strategy. You'll ensure the pre-seed venture in retail targets the right customer segments, with a value proposition that truly resonates.
- Accelerate Growth: Develop, execute, and refine customer acquisition strategies to rapidly decrease CAC while increasing customer satisfaction. You'll evolve pricing strategies to maximize market opportunity and ensure alignment between marketing, sales, and product.
- Build & Lead: Assemble a small, high-performing team that you'll coach and develop. You’ll maintain a lean structure, adding expertise as the venture scales, ensuring every team member aligns with the overall strategy. Your leadership will inspire and drive success to achieve great things together.
- Collaborate on Product Strategy: Translate the challenges your customers face into a compelling product vision that resonates and retains. Work closely with the Technical Leader to create and prioritize the product roadmap. Your insights will guide the product to meet and exceed market needs.
Who You Are
You are a visionary leader with a track record of bringing early-stage SaaS ventures from concept to $1M+ ARR. Your leadership is marked by a blend of strategic thinking and hands-on execution. You:
- Have deep experience in B2B SaaS, especially in leading cross-functional teams through growth phases.
- Thrive in startup environments that demand rapid learning and adaptation, whether in familiar or new industries, and understand the challenges that come along with building 0-1 startups.
- Are driven by data, unafraid to experiment, and always looking for the next opportunity to push boundaries and innovate.
- Excel in setting strategic visions and narratives that inspire stakeholders and guide your team to success.
- Build and develop high-performing teams, and lead by example, inspiring those around you to excel driving them toward a winning strategy.
- Bring experience in leading a SaaS company through early traction to achieving significant ARR. You know how to find and define product market fit through iterative GTM strategies.
- Possess the chops to quickly get up to speed in new industries, applying your expertise where it matters most.
- Create and set a strategic vision that comes to life through clear priorities and effective resource allocation. You understand how to balance all aspects of the business to achieve sustained success.
- Bring a balanced approach that considers all aspects of the business—from customer acquisition to product development, whether you’ve been deep in Growth/Revenue or Product Management.
Travel
This role is remote or hybrid, based on your location. While flexibility is key, we also value in-person connections. Whether you're remote or hybrid, travel may be needed for customer discovery, team building, and/or networking.
Compensation & Benefits
We offer a competitive salary, incentive program, pension, and a comprehensive benefits package.
We are an equal opportunity employer/minority/female/disability/protected veteran.