Director of Scouting - Canada

About Antler

Antler is the investor backing the world’s most driven founders from day zero to greatness. Founded on the belief that people innovating is the key to building a better future, we partner with people across six continents to launch and scale high-potential startups that address meaningful opportunities and challenges. Knowing that exceptional founders can come from anywhere with any background, we have offices in over 29 cities, including Toronto, Austin, New York, London, Berlin, Stockholm, Bangalore, Jakarta, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, and Sydney. Our global community backs people from the beginning with co-founder matching, deep business model validation, initial capital, expansion support, and follow-on funding. Fueled by a personal passion beyond traditional investing, we have helped create and invest in over 1,500 startups across a wide range of industries and technologies.

About the position

As the Director of Scouting, you will own our end-to-end recruitment of Founders across Canada. This includes identifying, attracting, and assessing the best Founders in the region. You will also have ownership over building and improving internal processes, reports, and databases to create continuous improvement of the Founders' experience and our internal effectiveness. Additionally, you will support the development of Antler’s brand and positioning in this market, helping define Antler as the first choice for Founders wanting to build a company.

Further details:

Antler Canada has two investment streams:

1. Ten-Week residency program: Every year, Antler Canada runs two cohorts (Fall and Winter)

Antler brings in 60-80 extremely talented individuals who spend 10 weeks working together in our office. The program will allow them to develop an idea, find a co-founder, and potentially raise investment from us. The program's first phase lasts ten weeks. During this time,  the founders will find a co-founder and lock in on a business idea. In week 10, the teams will pitch to the Investment Committee (IC). If successful at the IC, Antler will invest 150K CAD for 10% in the company. The program takes place in-person and requires a fulltime commitment from the founders

The Scouting Director’s primary role will be to ensure that we source and sign these 60-80 founders who join the residency Program.

1. 6-Week Accelerated Direct Investment Program: For existing teams with co-founders, we also offer a 6-week accelerated program that can take place virtually. It will involve the team getting onto a weekly call with one of the General Partners for 6 weeks, and finally pitching to the Investment Committee (IC) at Week 6. If successful at the IC, Antler will invest 150K CAD for 10% in the company.

The Scouting Director’s primary role will be to source and sign these Pre-formed teams for the 6-week Program.

ABOUT THE ROLE

In brief

• You will lead the Scouting function, reporting to the General Partners
• Based in Toronto, you will lead Scouting across Canada and be present at high-impact startup meetups and conferences
• Along with other team members in Canada, you will identify, nurture and drive the best founders in Canada to join Antler
• You will lead operations, automation, and processes within Scouting to drive top-of-funnel founder recruitment
• You will also be responsible for sourcing Pre-formed teams to join our 6-week accelerated program
• You will be responsible and own the deal flow function for our 6-week direct investment program
• You will have one direct report on your team as well as rotating interns.

In detail

• Lead the local Scouting strategy to attract, assess, and secure top founder talent, which will involve:
• Assessing applications: we receive thousands of applications, and you will be part of the interviewing team. To do this well, you need a love for uncovering examples of grit, resilience, and spikes. Plus, curiosity in early-stage business ideas
• Driving efficiency: improve processes and ensure high-quality outcomes through operational excellence, pipeline management, and automation
• Headhunting strategies: market mapping to identify, nurture, and convert top talent
• Targeted campaigns: unearth where latent founder talent sits and deliver messaging to them that will attract them to entrepreneurship and Antler
• Collaborate with Marketing on content creation and partnership opportunities
• Be a powerful brand ambassador, establishing Antler as a premier place to find a co-founder and build a business within founder groups and communities
• Support our residency and portfolio companies in setting the foundations of their Talent functions

REQUIREMENTS

• 3-5 years of professional experience in a related area
• Experience in a tech startup in a commercial role or recruiting for the tech sector
• A good understanding of and experience in implementing go to market and 0-1 strategies
• “Plugged-in” to the tech/startup community and have an active network
• A confident people person with a curiosity to uncover mission-driven individuals
• Have high EQ and the ability to forge trusting relationships quickly
• Toronto based

Preferred but not essential:

• Knowledge of Hubspot, LinkedIn Recruiter, and/or comparable tools