Portfolio Business Development

Salary: $300,000 CAD

Location:
Kelowna, BC (In-Office Only)

We are hiring a founder‑caliber operator to own and scale the Portfolio Engine for Martell Ventures
, leading all business development, deal flow, and founder talent pipeline. You will source and close world‑class founders for Partnerships and Incubation, drive top‑tier deal flow through brand leverage and the Media team, and ensure only ventures with clear ICP, problem definition, offer design, and monetization paths enter the studio.

You will also match validated product ideas to the co‑founders you advance through the pipeline, ensuring each founder enters with a studio‑approved and strategically vetted product focus taken from our prioritized idea list or from a new opportunity endorsed by the Martell Ventures leadership team.

Your mandate is to drive high‑quality pipeline growth and ensure every founder handed to the Portfolio Growth Leader has a clear, validated, and strategically aligned product direction that increases the likelihood of PMF and enterprise value creation.

You will run the deal pipeline end‑to‑end, translate founder ambitions into clear early operating plans and milestones, and maintain a cross‑portfolio view of momentum, risk, and resource needs before handing initiatives to the Portfolio Growth Leader for activation and growth.

This is a high‑velocity, high‑judgment role that combines sourcing, evaluation, systems thinking, operating systems thinking, and founder leadership. You are a founder‑level operator who can sell, evaluate, coach, and close at a very high bar.

• Deal Flow and Founder Qualification
• Source, qualify, and close world‑class founders and venture opportunities across Partnerships, Incubation, and Studio‑owned product categories.
• Build the founder pipeline through outbound sourcing, brand leverage, media distribution, SaaS Academy, influencer networks, industry ecosystems, and targeted hunts.
• Operate from a thesis‑driven market map that guides sourcing lanes, segment founders by archetype, and tailor qualification accordingly.
• Apply rigorous founder and product qualification standards including execution proof, ICP clarity, traction signals, alignment to the Ventures filter, PMF likelihood, and structured founder capability scoring for grit, speed, and coachability.
• Drive opportunities through top of the funnel to Contracting with speed, precision, and discipline while maintaining high cultural alignment.
• Use the Martell Ventures framework to evaluate strategic fit, assumptions, risks, expected venture economics, and provide light coaching to test adaptability.
• Early Product Validation and Offer Clarity
• Partner with founders to clarify ICP, problem definition, offer design, pricing, and early GTM sequencing before handoff to the Portfolio Growth Leader.
• Run early validation cycles that confirm traction signals, monetization potential, customer development quality, and evidence needed for incubation readiness.
• Translate founder ambitions into early operating plans: targets, constraints, sequencing, and milestone maps.
• Assess venture viability against stage, capital, runway, and strategic priorities to ensure a high‑probability path to PMF and revenue.
• Ensure all new opportunities meet investment criteria with clear evidence, assumptions, risks, and monetization potential.
• Use evaluation conversations to coach founders in real time to test clarity, adaptability, resilience, and execution readiness.
• Strategic Partnerships and Portfolio Growth
• Drive business development outcomes that increase enterprise value and expand the overall opportunity frontier.
• Build and maintain a high‑leverage ecosystem of founders, operators, partners, and domain experts aligned with the Ventures thesis.
• Identify cross‑portfolio leverage opportunities: shared talent, distribution channels, customer learnings, product patterns, and partnership angles.
• Identify and assess high‑calibre operators, builders, and repeat founders for future incubation or partnership.
• Create a repeatable BD engine that scales deal flow, increases opportunity quality, and compounds long‑term strategic advantage.
• Set the cultural bar from the…