LabStart Associate

Company Overview:

LabStart is a pioneering nonprofit organization dedicated to unlocking climate innovations from premier research laboratories and empowering underrepresented entrepreneurs to bring these technologies from lab-to-market. The LabStart Fellowship is a full-time, one year, cohort-based program, where fellows are supported in launching new climate startups built around intellectual property licensed from U.S. national labs and universities. The fellowship is tailored to reduce common systemic barriers to entrepreneurship such as access to funding, access to networks, and capacity building. We also believe in democratizing access to climate intellectual property to enable more breakthrough climate solutions to get to market.  Accessibility and inclusion are the core of our mission, program, and partner network.

Job Summary:

LabStart is seeking an enthusiastic and versatile person to join our small team as an Associate. We seek someone who is ambitious, adaptable, and energized by entrepreneurship and climate solutions. You'll play a pivotal role in amplifying our mission, helping with day-to-day operations, engaging with our fellows, planning events, and utilizing outreach tools. This is an opportunity to significantly impact our organization, our entrepreneurs, and the planet. Specific job functions will flex with the needs of the program throughout the year and with program scale from year to year. 

We're very excited to meet with people with exceptional attention to detail, written and oral communication skills, who are willing to roll up their sleeves and dive into administrative/operational tasks and feel energized by fast paced environments.  The associate is expected to self-manage tasks in an appropriate manner and ask for assistance when needed.  We are a driven, entrepreneurial organization which means everyone is expected to “wear many hats” and contribute across several areas.

Responsibilities:

• Development of Communication Materials: Create engaging collateral, including newsletters, blogs, presentations, reports, and promotional materials.

• Social Media Management: Plan, create, and schedule content for social media channels, fostering engagement across various corners of our ecosystem.

• Newsletter Creation: Create and distribute newsletters to stakeholders, highlighting key updates, achievements, and opportunities.

• Cohort Engagement: Research opportunities and share relevant resources with LabStart's cohort and broader community.

• Website Management: Update and maintain LabStart's website content to reflect the latest initiatives, resources, and achievements (currently webflow).

• Event Planning and Organization: Coordinate seamless logistics for speaking engagements, networking events, and demo days

• CRM Management: Maintain, update, and own customer relationship management systems to streamline communication and track interactions.

• Logistics Support: Assist fellows with travel arrangements, event coordination, and program logistics.

• Recruitment Support: Collaborate with team members to recruit and onboard the next cohort of entrepreneurs, supporting outreach and application processes.

• Grant Proposal Drafting: Assist in the development of grant proposals, providing research, writing, and coordination support.

• Team Support: Helping out on all-hands-on-deck efforts whenever necessary

Candidate Preferences:

• Based in Colorado or Bay Area, but flexible for the right candidate

• Excitement for and alignment with LabStart's mission and values

• Overflowing passion for climate action and clean energy transitions

• Excellent communication and organizational skills

• Meticulous attention to detail

• Comfort in a fast-moving startup environment

• Comfortable working with web tools such as slack, asana, Streak (crm), mailchimp, notion

• Strong understanding and awareness of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) principles and how to apply them
  
  

Work Environment:

This position offers a hybrid work environment, with team members based in California and Colorado. Collaboration with contractors and partners may occur across various locations and U.S. time zones.

Compensation Philosophy:

LabStart offers competitive base compensation, robust benefits and quarterly performance bonuses (determined by personal and company performance) to attract and celebrate people aligned with our mission and values. Our compensation program reflects our commitment to fairness, transparency, and excellence in nonprofit management.

• An annual salary of $55,000 - 70,000 (depending on experience)

• Employer covered health benefits through a Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangement (QSEHRA) (about)

• Retirement: Simple IRA with up to 5% company match

• Quarterly performance incentives

• Non-accrued sick and personal time - if you need it, use it

Application Process:

We require the following in order to consider your application:

• Email contact@labstart.co  with the subject line “LabStart Associate - [Your Name]"

  • Resume

  • In lieu of a cover letter, we ask that all candidates share in their email:

    • 1. Why are you interested in LabStart?

    • 2. Two individually produced work samples (reports, work products, analysis). Do not send anything produced through collaborative efforts. Please introduce/briefly explain the intended purpose and audience of these materials in your submission email.