Entrepreneur in Residence

About Blue Ridge Labs  

Blue Ridge Labs (BRL) is a venture studio, accelerator, and funder that launches and invests new technology ventures focused on fighting poverty in NYC. Currently, BRL runs three programs aligned with each of these areas: the Fellowship, Catalyst, and the Follow-On-Fund. The Fellowship is our flagship venture studio program that takes designers, product managers, engineers, and experts through a four-month co-creation process with low-income New Yorkers to launch new start-ups tackling issues of poverty. Catalyst is a six-month accelerator providing funding, connections, and insight for early-stage tech innovators to move from initial product to scale. The Follow-On-Fund provides the initial capital (up to $250,000 per venture), the network, and the guidance critical for new tech ventures to scale.  At the heart of our programs is the Design Insight Group (DIG), a community of over 2,500 low-income New Yorkers. They’ve personally faced poverty and now work alongside program participants to develop solutions to the systemic issues they’ve experienced firsthand.  

Position Overview:

Technology often solves many problems and makes tasks easier, but it frequently overlooks the toughest challenges faced by low-income communities. Our Launch Fellowship Program helps founders create products that tackle issues in affordable housing, healthcare, education, and financial empowerment. Tech builders, designers, product managers, engineers, and experts collaborate with individuals who have firsthand experience with poverty-related issues to design and build impactful solutions.

The Blue Ridge Labs Fellowship (EIR - Entrepreneurs-In-Residence) offers a unique opportunity for passionate individuals to make a tangible impact on low-income communities. Fellows engage in intensive, community-centric research to identify, define, and test solutions to pressing issues. Collaborating with diverse teams, Fellows develop and iterate on prototypes, aiming to launch minimum viable products (MVPs) that can evolve into sustainable ventures.

The program runs for 12 weeks, full-time, requiring individuals to meet in the Brooklyn office for programming. The program will kick off in September and finish in December.

Key Responsibilities:

- Conduct community-centric research to identify and define critical problems.

- Collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams, including tech builders, designers, product managers, and engineers.

- Prototype, test, and iterate on solutions to ensure user and customer validation.

- Develop a minimum viable product (MVP) throughout the program.

- Engage with community stakeholders to refine solutions based on feedback.

- Present findings and progress regularly to the program team and community partners.

- Focus on both the immediate launch and long-term sustainability of the solutions developed.

Qualifications:

- Demonstrated commitment to addressing issues faced by low-income communities.

- Experience in technology, design, product management, engineering, or a related field.

- Strong research skills and the ability to engage deeply and empathetically with community members.

- Proven track record of developing and launching products or services.

- Excellent collaboration and teamwork skills.

- Ability to rapidly prototype and iterate on solutions.

- Entrepreneurial mindset with a focus on both user and customer validation.

Benefits:

- Opportunity to create impactful solutions for real community issues.

- Collaboration with a diverse team of experts and community members.

- Access to resources and mentorship from Blue Ridge Labs.

- Potential to develop solutions into venture-backed companies, tech-enabled nonprofits, or open-source projects.

- For more detailed information about the program, visit the Blue Ridge Labs Fellowship page here (https://www.labs.robinhood.org/build/fellowship).

Compensation

- Program participants receive a $15,000 stipend as apart of participating in the Launch Fellowship program.

Note: Information regarding the Fellowship program, including focus areas and key dates, is subject to change based on strategy and available resources. We will keep our website updated with the latest information. For more information about the Blue Ridge Labs Launch Fellowship, visit our webpage here: https://www.labs.robinhood.org/build/fellowship