Advisor, Butler Launch Pad – Wellesley, MA (Temporary)

The Advisor’s role is to provide dedicated mentorship and coaching in a variety of areas for Butler Launch Pad teams.
The Blank Center for Entrepreneurship annually presents academic year incubation program for graduate and undergraduate students and alumni. The program develops their entrepreneurial leadership skills and knowledge and helps them to accelerate their ventures and venture concepts. This program may be held in a variety of formats (i.e. in person vs online). The program runs throughout the year with a focus on the academic year when entrepreneur demand for guidance is the highest.

Key Responsibilities:

• Work directly with entrepreneurial teams to provide business guidance with a focus on fundraising (meetings may be held virtually or face to face).
• Advise teams as needed if the Advisor’s experience has direct application to that team’s current challenge or next step.
• Assist entrepreneurs in developing goals, a timeline, and action items using the Blank Center’s goal-setting process.
• Monitor entrepreneur’s progress against their action plan.
• Be a sounding board for team and individual issues.
• Provide guidance in connecting to external resources as appropriate; in some cases, connect/introduce the entrepreneurs to those contacts.
• Support the teams in creating value propositions and messaging and in honing presentations.
• Facilitate sharing, teaming, and peer-to-peer mentoring.
• Monitor progress and report progress at advisor meetings.
• Participate in Butler Launch Pad team meetings up to twice a semester.
• Participate in the seed funding review process which takes place once each semester.
• Assumes additional responsibilities as required.

Supervises:

N/A

Education Requirements:

Minimum Level of Education Required                   Bachelor’s Degree

Position Knowledge/Skills & Abilities Requirements:

• At least 3-5 years of related experience.
• Entrepreneurial and Investor experience.
• Appropriate industry/functional experience that is relevant to the ventures in the program (we try to have a mix of experience across the advisors).
• Experienced and knowledgeable about Babson’s Entrepreneurial Thought & Action (ETA) methodology, including idea generation, design thinking, customer and expert interviewing, marketing, sales, pivoting/shaping, venture forecasting, and sources of capital.
• Strong coaching, advising, and mentoring experience.
• Strong interpersonal skills.
• Ability to listen, probe, critique, and push entrepreneurs.
• Strong computer skills including proficiency in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint).
• Ability to work in a culturally diverse environment and interact with culturally diverse individuals. Works in partnership with the Blank Center team to advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts in alignment with Babson College’s goals.
• Ability to introduce/share appropriate contacts with entrepreneurs as needed.
• Envisions and proposes new methods to perform tasks that support ET&A; takes thoughtful risks; and accepts new and ongoing initiatives, objectives, and solutions to gain sought-after results.
• Anticipates and embraces change; demonstrates willingness to achieve, acquire, and utilize new skills and challenging tasks; and is flexible in changing conditions.

Working Conditions:

• Typically 1.5 – 2 hours of advising meetings with entrepreneurs per week (4 - 5 hours per week estimated overall time commitment).
• Virtual meetings as needed at other times.
• Attendance at special events (average 1 or 2 events during the academic year).
• Attend Advisor meetings (typically 1 hour up to 2 per semester).
• Babson College requires all Babson faculty and staff members authorized to work on our campuses or any other property owned or controlled by the College to verify that they have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19. We have extended our vaccination policy to require a COVID-19 booster shot for all eligible community members as well. Faculty and staff must provide booster vaccination information upon hire or within 21 days of becoming eligible for a booster (unless granted a medical accommodation or religious exemption). Requests for medical accommodation or religious exemption should be addressed directly to Human Resources.

• Graduate Degree preferred