The success of a startup is almost always defined by how well the founding team can convince others of their version of the future. Big beautifully articulated missions are magnetic forces for great people — for the best staff, the best investors, the best customers, the best partners.”

• Blackbird co-founder, Rick Baker: Company Missions: High Definition and Vivid Colour

Next week, I’m launching Wild Hearts, a Blackbird podcast devoted to bringing you the real stories of founders with vivid, HD missions.

In the first three episodes, you’ll hear the stories of companies like:

• Eucalyptus, who are delivering truly patient-centric healthcare online.
• Fleet Space, who are connecting everything, everywhere on Earth via toaster sized satellites.
• Vow Foods, who are resurrecting past culinary delights long forgotten by history via synthetic biology.

I want to uncover the never before heard stories of these founders navigating their way through the often messy and difficult ups and downs of building a business.

Nearly 2 years ago, I joined Blackbird to help contribute to the best business stories of our time. This podcast is an extension of that same goal.

The magic of the Wild Hearts podcast will be coupling these founder stories with insights directly from the Blackbird investors who’ve backed them. In these interviews, the Blackbird partners will reveal their first impressions of the founders, the strengths and weaknesses of their pitch, and ultimately why they decided to invest.

While I have big ambitions for this podcast, if only one founder walks away with a discovery, insight or idea that unlocks a new way to look at their business, I’ll be forever satisfied.

Subscribe here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/wild-hearts/id1510919873

If you’re hungry, curious, possess exceptional attention to detail and have a high ownership mentality, we’d love for you to apply.

Blackbird’s Women in VC alumni interns include:

• 2018, Michelle Hu is building a beauty accessories brand that’s amassed over a seven-figure run rate in less than a year. She wrote about her internship here.
• 2017, Emma Wiltshire is now in Westpac’s Graduate program.
• 2016, Michelle Huang is in Canva’s Growth team. She wrote about her internship here.

About Blackbird Ventures

Blackbird is a venture capital firm whose mission is to supercharge Australia’s most ambitious founders. We do this by raising venture capital funds, investing into the best startup companies and helping them succeed. We have half a billion dollars under management and a portfolio of over 60 companies including some of the most successful Australian startups such as Canva, Zoox, Safety Culture and CultureAmp.

Like the companies we back, we want to build a business that lasts for decades and produces excellent returns for our investors. Most of all, we want to support Australia’s most talented founders build category-defining technology companies.

We’ve written a lot about what we love at Blackbird, so check out our Medium if you want some more information about us. In particular, you should read about our mission and values, our master plan, and what we look for in founders.

About the Role

This is a 4-week internship program for current university students or recent university graduates. We want to find and nurture Australia’s next generation of women venture capitalists.

During the program, you will work closely with Blackbird’s Melbourne-based analyst on:

• Operations: Collating information relating to our portfolio companies
• Research: Conducting research on public and private markets
• Investment experience: Attending Investment meetings
• Community experience: An all-inclusive trip to Blackbird’s inaugural event — The Sunrise in New Zealand

Logistics of the role:

• Applications close on the 26th of September
• The paid internship begins from the 14th of October (Flexible)
• Depending on your commitments, the program will run full-time for 1 month or part-time for 2 months
• Must be available in the Melbourne office

We use Applied to ensure every applicant gets an equal chance of success.

Apply here.

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Blackbird is a Pledge 1% member — we pledge 1% of our time, equity and profits to help not-for-profit causes in our community, with a focus on greater gender diversity in STEM education.

An Internship for the next generation of Women Venture Capitalists was originally published in Blackbird on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.