Venture Scout

About First Momentum Ventures

We're building one of Europe's most distinctive early-stage venture funds. As students, we've deployed two funds (now totaling €35m) into ~50 pre-seed Deep Tech companies across Europe. Our portfolio has raised follow-on funding from top-tier European and US investors.

Today, we're a community of over 100 (mostly technical) scouts, founders, and operators who help us identify the best technical founders before anyone else does. We accept only 1 in 15 applicants; this isn't just another community. We operate under clear rules that ensure everyone is committed, and we kindly offboard those here only for the VC tag.

Note: This is an unpaid role with performance-based referral bounties for successful investments.

Tasks

What You'll Do

Source breakthrough companies. Connect us to the most promising technical founders in your ecosystem, people building in labs, at hackathons, in research groups, or launching their first startup.

Represent us locally. Attend events, universities, and accelerators where technical founders gather. Make it easy for them to find us.

Share your expertise. When we evaluate companies in your domain, semicon, robotics, climate tech, AI infrastructure, we'll tap your technical knowledge and ecosystem insights.

Contribute to portfolio success. Our scouts don't just source deals. They actively support our portfolio companies through introductions, domain expertise, and ecosystem connections.

Shape our strategy. Help us understand your local scene: which research is commercializing, which founders are worth watching, which technologies are gaining momentum.

Requirements

Who Thrives in This Role

You're technically fluent, whether as a CS/engineering student, PhD researcher, startup operator, or technical founder. You can have credible conversations with deeply technical people.

You're embedded in a European tech ecosystem, connected to a university, research institution, or startup community. You know who's building what.

You're genuinely curious about Deep Tech or industrial innovation. You follow research, products, and companies in areas such as TechBio, Energy, Manufacturing, and developer tools.

You're entrepreneurial and self-directed. You create opportunities, follow through, and take ownership of your impact.

You want to learn how early-stage investing works, and you're willing to put in the work.

Benefits

What You'll Gain

Real VC experience. See how deals happen from sourcing through investment decisions. Join workshops on term sheets, technical diligence, and portfolio support.

A powerful network. Build relationships with founders, investors, and fellow scouts across Europe that compound over time.

Domain expertise. Go deep on emerging technologies through deal reviews and virtual sessions.

Career acceleration. Many scouts join startups, launch companies, or build VC careers. This role opens doors.

Community access. Join a European community of technical builders and attend startup events where the most interesting work happens.

Chapter Lead Opportunities

High-performing scouts can grow into Chapter Lead roles at their university or city. Chapter Leads take on additional responsibility:

• Recruit strategically. Build a scout presence across relevant faculties and fill gaps when scouts move on
• Foster community. Organize one meetup per quarter to keep your local scout network engaged
• Support events. Work with the First Momentum team to bring startup events to your ecosystem