Best Buy leveraging its business acumen into the exciting field of venture capital investing. Called Best Buy Capital, it will, according to several job postings, “serve as a source of innovative growth options for the enterprise rooted in smaller, more innovative, and potentially disruptive opportunities.” Sounds great! I have an idea for a new kind of digital tortilla chip clip. You know how you get down to the bottom of the bag of tortillas and you get the chip pieces that are small? And then when you try to dip them in salsa you get salsa all over your fingers? Well with my chip clip you would be able to grab a bunch of the chip pieces together. All dip, no drip! Plus, your fingers won’t start to burn from the salsa exposure, irregardless of how long you use it. It would also have a digital timer and be USB-powered. Best Buy Capital, if you’re interested, drop me a line. Inside, via DiversityInc Careers, a job posting for Best Buy Capital so maybe one of our readers can get a job there and then invest in my project…

---

Job Title: Principal, Best Buy Capital CORE
Employer: Best Buy
Job Code: 080000008X
Location: Minneapolis, MN United States
Date:03-11-2008
Job Description
Description:
Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is an innovative Fortune 100 growth company that continually strives to create superior customer experiences. Through more than 740 retail stores across the United States and in Canada, our employees connect customers with technology and entertainment products and services that make life easier and more fun. We sell consumer electronics, home-office products, entertainment software, appliances and related services

At Best Buy, our most important asset is our people. We place a high value on learning and growth, and we encourage our employees to excel in their fields. We offer a rich array of benefits that help contribute to balanced lives, general well-being, and supportive personal and professional relationships. We also offer competitive pay, employee discounts, and excellent career opportunities

In order to be considered for this position, you must complete an online application

Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer

Best Buy Capital is a newly created function to support minority investments across the enterprise. Best Buy Capital will have 2 main initiatives in supporting minority investments in the enterprise:

1. A program (‘Core Fund’) supporting investment opportunities for current business units consistent with our past investment activities; and
2. A new strategic initiative (‘Alpha Fund’) which provides a market-based mechanism for Best Buy to proactively participate in and encourage consumer innovations and disruptions by making direct investments in companies that are early on in its lifecycle.

The combination of the Core Fund and the Alpha Fund investment programs will:

* Create a portfolio of option in emerging, disruptive technologies and innovations that impact consumers;
* Hedge against Best Buy’s current mass-market oriented business which is largely dependent on traditional development patterns and cycles;
* Enhance Best Buy’s brand value proposition to be the consumers’ trusted advocate for innovations and disruptions;
* Enhance Best Buy’s positioning in the ecosystem to be the partner of choice for emerging consumer innovations and technologies;
* Provide real-time, market based insights into emerging innovations and disruptions that could have an impact on Best Buy’s current and near-term business; and
* Catalyze outside-in, market-based innovations and thinking through-out the enterprise

The Principal is responsible for supporting and leading, under the direction of the Managing Partner, many activities of Best Buy Capital’s Core Fund including deal-sourcing, due diligence, negotiations, structuring, and portfolio management as well as supporting some activities of the ALPHA Fund. In addition, the Principal is expected to stay engaged with Best Buy’s enterprise, understanding business strategies, objectives, and organizational context to make better investment decisions for Best Buy Capital.
The Principal will need to maintain strong personal and professional relationships across the enterprise, actively leveraging internal networks and resources to optimize investments
Best Buy Capital will serve as a source of innovative growth options for the enterprise rooted in smaller, more innovative, and potentially disruptive opportunities.
The Best Buy Capital team will therefore need to possess:

* An exceptionally high level of business sense, strategic aptitude and agility
* A ‘close the deal’, ‘get to done’ attitude
* Outstanding financial skills
* Outstanding analytical skills
* Outstanding negotiation skills
* Individuality and an entrepreneurial mindset

An Ideal Candidate will possess:
# Demonstrated passion for new and growth-oriented technologies
# Demonstrated track record of leadership in a variety of scenarios
# Candidates should have experience in making venture investments, preferably with a personal network of contacts in the venture industry.
# Candidates should be able to demonstrate a wide range of successes and learnings from business experience (such as sales, marketing, finance/accounting, consultancy, entrepreneurship, investment banking, etc.)
# Candidates must possess the knowledge, experience and foresight to identify, quantify and qualify transaction opportunities which enhance business strategies
# Candidates must be able to take an investment from deal-sourcing to successful closure including due diligence, term negotiation and post-investment portfolio management
# Candidates must possess a great deal of strategic agility and the ability to effectively synthesize insights from complex data

Basic Qualifications:

Bachelor’s Degree
4 or more years of significant financial, business, and strategic analysis, including valuation work experience
Familiarity and comfort with accounting concepts, issues, and analyses.
End to end exposure to and familiarity with investment and / or M&A processes.
1 or more years of prior experience working with new technologies, business models, and the venture industry

Preferred Qualifications:

MBA or other advanced degree
6 or more years of significant financial, business, and strategic analysis, including valuation work experience.

(Thanks to Lee!)

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.