Who to Target

Everyone is being asked to innovate within their roles, but it’s essential to find the right person that can either decide to engage or help build the needed relationships. That could be an executive innovation leader, the CMO, or the individual tasked with digital transformation.

Tip: Be relentless, engage all of them, and insist on meeting C-level executives along the way—as early in the relationship as possible—who will ultimately make the decision to move from consulting project to building something—preferably a joint venture!

Find Out What They’re Looking For

Each transformation leader will have a unique set of problems that they’re trying to solve for. Maybe they’re trying to build exciting companies, and they know they need to find domain expertise. They may be looking for other companies or startups to partner with, and are looking for new avenues to those introductions. Some are just trying to move the needle, and they need help moving to horizon two on the innovation scale.

Tip:

1. Do your homework, find out which sectors are their priorities.
2. Invest in high-level tech scouting efforts if you aren’t familiar with those sectors.
3. Be a thought leader and someone in the know, a resource they want to turn to who has a pulse on ‘what’s next?’

What to Show Them

In order to explore solutions and create a foundation for a corporate/studio relationship, low-cost but tangible engagements let both sides discover how a future venture could proceed. These can include:

• Tech Scouting
• Showcases
• Validation Sessions

Tip: The studio should run these engagements in consultation with the corporate stakeholder. The pricing should reflect the costs of getting the job done with the hopes of more extensive engagements later. Put another way: Show value but don’t lose money.

A warning: It’s easy to become a consultant. That’s not what you’re trying to do here. Each “first step” engagement should have a clear “next step.” While there’s no obligation to continue working together, be clear that the goal is to move forward—by building a company together.

The Next Step

At the end of the day, studios are meant to build startups. Corporate partnerships offer an excellent opportunity to work with established industry expertise to get these ventures off the ground.

After demonstrating value with that first (or second) engagement, take those initial findings and identify your partner’s appetite for starting a more defined, ongoing relationship. This process can iterative. It requires in-depth discussions around the problems that they’re trying to solve near-term and longer-term. It could be identifying their next growth engine, what will be getting them to their next $100+ million line of business.  

Or it could be a bunch of things that they’re working on: enabling the business to be digitized, make the customer experience better, or allows them to partner easier. The studio’s goal is to find the enabling solution for their problem, and for some of the more progressive corporations, a disruptive solution.

Once you’ve identified a possible solution, this is the studio’s opportunity to start down the path of validating, prototyping, and identifying the studio team members to get the idea to a minimal viable product (MVP).

Another warning: Don’t move too far too fast. Launching something that requires a lot of capital, a lot of resources, or challenges the status quo can be very difficult. In these situations, C-level or board-level engagement is critical to moving projects forward. 

Location:
Columbus, Ohio or Remote

Job Type:
Contract to Full-Time

Horizon Two Labs (H2L) is a venture studio that (co-)conceives, develops and operates startups. We partner with founders and large enterprises to form joint ventures that leverage the expertise, resources, and intellectual property of our partners with the design & technical chops and go-to-market execution and entrepreneurism of the studio.

The H2L studio creates startups across a wide variety of industries but we also continually test our own internal ideas through our four (4) step process of validating, design, build/test and scale. Through our internally funded ideas, our goal is to create one (1) new validated startup per quarter that takes an idea from zero (0) to a midwest Pre-A funding round. 

Our core studio team is made up of serial entrepreneurs, engineers, marketers, and creatives who like to build cool shit to solve real (big) problems. The opportunities are endless and we strive to not only scale startups, but also our own aspirations.

Currently, H2L builds fintech startups and online marketplaces.

Responsibilities: 

• Work with the validation team using the H2L process for building new companies 
• Lead market analysis and synthesis for new concepts
• Develop and refine H2L ideation process
• Execute a detailed work plan for studio and startup development
• Lead internal and external meetings including pitching to leadership teams and partnering VCs
• Leverage internal product team to drive new startup development

Requirements:  

• Prior startup founder or experience working at an early stage company
• Demonstrated experience building products and leading teams
• Exceptional leadership skills with the ability to inspire stakeholders and collaborate with teams
• Superior problem-solving skills with the ability to think strategically and decide pragmatically
• Ability to quickly manage and adapt to changing tasks and priorities
• Ability to work with remote teams
• Highly analytical with excellence at leveraging customer research to drive product decisions
• Working knowledge of Google Suite/Drive, Slack, Jira, Github, and other project management tools

Nice-to-Haves: 

• Demonstrated knowledge of early-stage startup development and funding of technology companies
• Experience building marketplace, consumer and/or industry technology with an understanding of customer-centric product development

Location:
Columbus, Ohio or Remote

Job Type:
Contract to Full-Time

Horizon Two Labs (H2L) is a venture studio that (co-)conceives, develops and operates startups. We partner with founders and large enterprises to form joint ventures that leverage the expertise, resources, and intellectual property of our partners with the design & technical chops and go-to-market execution and entrepreneurism of the studio.

The H2L studio creates startups across a wide variety of industries but we also continually test our own internal ideas through our four (4) step process of validating, design, build/test and scale. Through our internally funded ideas, our goal is to create one (1) new validated startup per quarter that takes an idea from zero (0) to a midwest Pre-A funding round. 

Our core studio team is made up of serial entrepreneurs, engineers, marketers, and creatives who like to build cool shit to solve real (big) problems. The opportunities are endless and we strive to not only scale startups, but also our own aspirations.

Currently, H2L builds fintech startups and online marketplaces.

Responsibilities: 

• Define the long-term vision, strategy, and quality standard for new venture studio companies alongside the Project Leads
• Develop product roadmaps to direct feature releases with weekly, monthly, and quarterly key performance indicators
• Communicate the strategy to the stakeholders of each project to minimize roadblocks
• Perform routine progress assessments to determine milestones
• Collaborate with stakeholders to develop plans for potential issues involving the budget, business model, and product
• Develop an initial go-to-market plan that supports growth objectives such as market share, revenue, users, and margin
• Manage product launches with pre- and post-launch marketing activities.
• Develop individual go-to-market strategies for new regions. This includes the planning of events and marketing initiatives that coincide with market needs.
• Ensure relationships with customers are maintained to understand their needs and wants.
• Regularly communicate new opportunities to stakeholders based on the data gained from talking to customers
• Continuously evaluate our market position and competition to ensure that we are solving the most important issues for our customers

Requirements:  

• 3+ years of product development experience
• Exceptional leadership skills with the ability to inspire stakeholders and collaborate with teams
• Superior problem-solving skills with the ability to think strategically and decide pragmatically
• Ability to quickly manage and adapt to changing tasks and priorities
• Ability to work with remote teams
• Bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, design or relative work experience

Nice-to-Haves: 

• Working knowledge of Google Suite/Drive, Slack, Jira, Github, and other project management tools
• Technical background with proficiencies in SQL, JQL, Postgres databases, and Ruby on Rails
• Highly analytical with excellence at leveraging customer research to drive product decisions
• Detail-oriented with the ability to multitask and prioritize
• Roll-up-the sleeves work ethic with a “do-what-it takes” attitude to continuously execute in a fast-paced work environment
• Experience building marketplace, consumer and/or industry technology with an understanding of customer-centric product development

Location:
Columbus, Ohio or Remote

Job Type:
Contract to Full-Time

Horizon Two Labs (H2L) is a venture studio that (co-)conceives, develops and operates startups. We partner with founders and large enterprises to form joint ventures that leverage the expertise, resources, and intellectual property of our partners with the design & technical chops and go-to-market execution and entrepreneurism of the studio.

The H2L studio creates startups across a wide variety of industries but we also continually test our own internal ideas through our four (4) step process of validating, design, build/test and scale. Through our internally funded ideas, our goal is to create one (1) new validated startup per quarter that takes an idea from zero (0) to a midwest Pre-A funding round. 

Our core studio team is made up of serial entrepreneurs, engineers, marketers, and creatives who like to build cool shit to solve real (big) problems. The opportunities are endless and we strive to not only scale startups, but also our own aspirations.

Currently, H2L builds fintech startups and online marketplaces.

Responsibilities: 

• Prepare comprehensive market research and feature set analysis for studio concepts
• Participate in ongoing customer validation that includes reaching out to potential customers 
• Research markets and new business opportunities
• Organize a process around problem structuring, analysis, and synthesis
• Execute a detailed work plan for projects
• Seek out and build relationships with potential co-founders
• Create content for marketing campaigns
• Prepare financial models and projections
• Work closely with the leadership team to develop and deliver key insights and opportunities
• Seek out and build networks of potential co-founders

Requirements:  

• Some financial acumen and strong analytical skills (Excel/Google Spreadsheet expert) and an understanding of key startup metrics
• Superior problem-solving skills with the ability to think strategically and decide pragmatically
• Ability to quickly manage and adapt to changing tasks and priorities
• Ability to work with remote teams
• Working knowledge of Google Suite/Drive, Slack, Jira, Github, and other project management tools
• Bachelor’s degree (or pursuing a degree) in business, finance, marketing or engineering or relative experience

Nice-to-Haves: 

• Experience preparing research reports
• Has spent time at a startup or with venture capital
• Content or email marketing experience
• Experience building marketplace, consumer and/or industry technology with an understanding of customer-centric product development

Location:
Columbus, Ohio or Remote

Job Type:
Contract to Full-Time

Horizon Two Labs (H2L) is a venture studio that (co-)conceives, develops and operates startups. We partner with founders and large enterprises to form joint ventures that leverage the expertise, resources, and intellectual property of our partners with the design & technical chops and go-to-market execution and entrepreneurism of the studio.

The H2L studio creates startups across a wide variety of industries but we also continually test our own internal ideas through our four (4) step process of validating, design, build/test and scale. Through our internally funded ideas, our goal is to create one (1) new validated startup per quarter that takes an idea from zero (0) to a midwest Pre-A funding round. 

Our core studio team is made up of serial entrepreneurs, engineers, marketers, and creatives who like to build cool shit to solve real (big) problems. The opportunities are endless and we strive to not only scale startups, but also our own aspirations.

Currently, H2L builds fintech startups and online marketplaces.

Responsibilities: 

• Greenfield application development and maintain existing products
• Build responsive, testable web apps using React framework, or equivalent
• Integrate with internal and 3rd-party APIs/services
• Write unit/functional tests using industry-standard test frameworks (eg. Jest)
• Use tools/frameworks to monitor app performance (eg. analytics, crash reporting, etc)
• Work closely with other developers
• Learn and follow the software development process, including gitflow
• Learn new technologies/languages, as needed

Requirements:  

• Minimum 1 year of experience with a popular programming language
• Understanding of the basics of best software development practices
• Competency using a source code management system (Git)
• Lean and agile methods to ship software successfully
• Superior problem-solving skills with the ability to think strategically and decide pragmatically
• Ability to quickly manage and adapt to changing tasks and priorities
• Ability to work with remote teams
• Highly analytical with excellence at leveraging customer research to drive product decisions
• Working knowledge of Google Suite/Drive, Slack, Jira, Github, and other project management tools
• Either completed or pursuing a bachelor’s degree in engineering or relative experience

Location:
Columbus, Ohio or Remote

Job Type:
Contract to Full-Time

Horizon Two Labs (H2L) is a venture studio that (co-)conceives, develops and operates startups. We partner with founders and large enterprises to form joint ventures that leverage the expertise, resources, and intellectual property of our partners with the design & technical chops and go-to-market execution and entrepreneurism of the studio.

The H2L studio creates startups across a wide variety of industries but we also continually test our own internal ideas through our four (4) step process of validating, design, build/test and scale. Through our internally funded ideas, our goal is to create one (1) new validated startup per quarter that takes an idea from zero (0) to a midwest Pre-A funding round. 

Our core studio team is made up of serial entrepreneurs, engineers, marketers, and creatives who like to build cool shit to solve real (big) problems. The opportunities are endless and we strive to not only scale startups, but also our own aspirations.

Currently, H2L builds fintech startups and online marketplaces.

Responsibilities: 

• Greenfield application development; including developing a reusable set of tools for use in many H2L projects
• Build responsive, testable web apps using React framework, or equivalent
• Integrate with internal and 3rd-party APIs/services
• Write unit/functional tests using industry-standard test frameworks (eg. Jest)
• Use tools/frameworks to monitor app performance (eg. analytics, crash reporting, etc)
• Follow our development process; including gitflow
• Work closely with the product team to scope work and convey the technical impacts of features/changes

Requirements:  

• Minimum 3 years of professional development experience
• Exceptional leadership skills with the ability to inspire stakeholders and collaborate with teams
• Competency using a source code management system (Git)
• Lean and agile methods to ship software successfully
• Superior problem-solving skills with the ability to think strategically and decide pragmatically
• Experience coding ES6 or later Javascript
• Ability to quickly manage and adapt to changing tasks and priorities
• Ability to work with remote teams
• Highly analytical with excellence at leveraging customer research to drive product decisions
• Working knowledge of Google Suite/Drive, Slack, Jira, Github, and other project management tools
• Bachelor’s degree in design, business, or engineering or relative experience

Nice-to-Haves: 

• Some startup experience
• Experience developing native mobile iOS/Android applications
• Experience designing and building React Native mobile apps
• Competency in additional programming languages, such as Java, Ruby or equivalent
• Experience building marketplace, consumer and/or industry technology with an understanding of customer-centric product development

Location:
Columbus, Ohio or Remote

Job Type:
Contract to Full-Time

Horizon Two Labs (H2L) is a venture studio that (co-)conceives, develops and operates startups. We partner with founders and large enterprises to form joint ventures that leverage the expertise, resources, and intellectual property of our partners with the design & technical chops and go-to-market execution and entrepreneurism of the studio.

The H2L studio creates startups across a wide variety of industries but we also continually test our own internal ideas through our four (4) step process of validating, design, build/test and scale. Through our internally funded ideas, our goal is to create one (1) new validated startup per quarter that takes an idea from zero (0) to a midwest Pre-A funding round. 

Our core studio team is made up of serial entrepreneurs, engineers, marketers, and creatives who like to build cool shit to solve real (big) problems. The opportunities are endless and we strive to not only scale startups, but also our own aspirations.

Currently, H2L builds fintech startups and online marketplaces.

Responsibilities: 

• Conduct brand and competitive market research
• Gain a deep understanding of customer needs and pains
• Translate research into user journeys that inform design decisions
• Create conceptual mockups that provide a clear and unique visual direction
• Design wireframes and prototypes based on market validation feedback
• Develop user experiences with sitemaps, information architecture, content requirements, and navigation
• Provide guidance for compelling brand story
• Regularly present design decisions and conceptual direction with internal team
• Translate concepts into user flows, wireframes, mockups and prototypes that lead to intuitive user experiences.
  Facilitate the client’s product vision by researching, conceiving, sketching, prototyping and user-testing experiences for digital products
• Design and deliver wireframes, user stories, user journeys, and mockups optimized for a wide range of devices and interfaces
• Identify design problems and devise elegant solutions
• Make strategic design and user-experience decisions related to core, and new, functions and features
• Take a user-centered design approach and rapidly test and iterate your designs
• Collaborate with other team members and stakeholders
• Ask smart questions, take risks and champion new ideas

Requirements:  

• Minimum of 3 years of design experience in either visual, UX, UI design
• Experience with user experience design for software and mobile solutions
• Be passionate about resolving user pain points through great design
• Expertise in standard UX software such as Sketch, OmniGraffle, Axure, InVision, UXPin, Balsamiq, Framer, and the like is a must
• Ability to dive into the project scope and requirements
• Ability to design creatively while remaining somewhat consistent with the given market
• Ability to adapt to changing tasks and priorities
• Highly analytical with excellence at leveraging customer research to drive product decisions
• Bachelor’s degree in design, business, or engineering or relative experience

Nice-to-Haves: 

• Working knowledge of Adobe Products, GSuite, Slack, and other project management tools
• Experience in the financial services industry
• An understanding of customer-centric product development
• Some understanding of HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript

Location:
Columbus, Ohio or Remote

Job Type:
Contract to Full-Time

Horizon Two Labs (H2L) is a venture studio that (co-)conceives, develops and operates startups. We partner with founders and large enterprises to form joint ventures that leverage the expertise, resources, and intellectual property of our partners with the design & technical chops and go-to-market execution and entrepreneurism of the studio.

The H2L studio creates startups across a wide variety of industries but we also continually test our own internal ideas through our four (4) step process of validating, design, build/test and scale. Through our internally funded ideas, our goal is to create one (1) new validated startup per quarter that takes an idea from zero (0) to a midwest Pre-A funding round. 

Our core studio team is made up of serial entrepreneurs, engineers, marketers, and creatives who like to build cool shit to solve real (big) problems. The opportunities are endless and we strive to not only scale startups, but also our own aspirations.

Currently, H2L builds fintech startups and online marketplaces.

Responsibilities: 

• Conduct brand and competitive market research
• Gain a deep understanding of customer needs and pains
• Translate research into user journeys that inform design decisions
• Create conceptual mockups that provide a clear and unique visual direction
• Design wireframes and prototypes based on market validation feedback
• Develop user experiences with sitemaps, information architecture, content requirements, and navigation
• Provide guidance for compelling brand stories
• Build a holistic brand guide with a logo, color palette, typography, imagery, and voice
• Regularly present design decisions and conceptual direction with internal team

Requirements:  

• Minimum of 3 years of design experience in either visual, UX, UI design
• Experience with logo design
• Experience with brand strategy
• Experience with user experience design for software
• Ability to dive into the project scope and requirements
• Ability to design creatively while remaining somewhat consistent with the given market
• Ability to adapt to changing tasks and priorities
• Highly analytical with excellence at leveraging customer research to drive product decisions
• Bachelor’s degree in design, business, or engineering or relative experience

Nice-to-Haves: 

• Working knowledge of Adobe Products, GSuite, Slack, and other project management tools
• Experience in the financial services industry
• An understanding of customer-centric product development
• Expertise in typography

Location:
Columbus, Ohio or Remote

Job Type:
Contract to Full-Time

Horizon Two Labs (H2L) is a venture studio that (co-)conceives, develops and operates startups. We partner with founders and large enterprises to form joint ventures that leverage the expertise, resources, and intellectual property of our partners with the design & technical chops and go-to-market execution and entrepreneurism of the studio.

The H2L studio creates startups across a wide variety of industries but we also continually test our own internal ideas through our four (4) step process of validating, design, build/test and scale. Through our internally funded ideas, our goal is to create one (1) new validated startup per quarter that takes an idea from zero (0) to a midwest Pre-A funding round. 

Our core studio team is made up of serial entrepreneurs, engineers, marketers, and creatives who like to build cool shit to solve real (big) problems. The opportunities are endless and we strive to not only scale startups, but also our own aspirations.

Currently, H2L builds fintech startups and online marketplaces.

Responsibilities: 

• Greenfield application development; including developing a reusable set of tools for use in many H2L projects.
• Build responsive, testable web-based frontend clients (React or equivalent) and/or native/hybrid mobile clients (eg. React Native).
• Design and develop secure, scalable web services (NodeJS, Rails, or equivalent)
• Model and build efficient, flexible data storage solutions.
• Integrate with internal and 3rd-party APIs/services.
• Write unit/functional tests using industry-standard test frameworks
• Use tools/frameworks to monitor app performance (eg. analytics, crash reporting, etc)
• Follow our development process; including gitflow
• Work closely with the product team to scope work and convey the technical impacts of features/changes

Requirements:  

• Minimum 3 years of professional development experience 
• Exceptional leadership skills with the ability to inspire stakeholders and collaborate with teams
• Competency using a source code management system (Git)
• Lean and agile methods to ship software successfully
• Superior problem-solving skills with the ability to think strategically and decide pragmatically
• Experience coding in both front end and server-side languages (eg. Javascript, HTML, CSS, Rails,
• Ability to quickly manage and adapt to changing tasks and priorities
• Ability to work with remote teams
• Highly analytical with excellence at leveraging customer research to drive product decisions
• Working knowledge of Google Suite/Drive, Slack, Jira, Github, and other project management tools
• Bachelor’s degree in design, business, or engineering or relative experience

Nice-to-Haves: 

• Some startup experience
• Experience developing native mobile iOS/Android applications 
• Experience designing and building React Native mobile apps
• Competency in additional programming languages, such as Java, Ruby or equivalent
• Experience building marketplace, consumer and/or industry technology with an understanding of customer-centric product development