Primary VC

Operator-In-Residence (OIR): Semiconductors

United States

$125,000 – $180,000Compensation
Junior (1 to 2 years)Experience Level
Full TimeJob Type
UnknownVisa
Venture Capital, Semiconductors, Hardware, SoftwareIndustries

Position Overview

  • Location Type: Remote
  • Job Type: Full-Time
  • Salary: $125K - $180K

Primary is the largest early-stage venture firm in the world, with $1B in assets under management, investing in pre-seed and seed-stage startups based in New York City. The firm’s Incubation arm, Primary Labs, launched in 2019 to support the ideation, research and launch of new startups. Primary’s first three incubated companies will return its first fund many times over, and Primary is now primed for substantial growth in its Incubation efforts.

Primary Labs is looking for an Operator-In-Residence (OIR) to join its Incubation program with a focus on opportunities within the semiconductor industry. This role is open to remote candidates. We’re amidst the biggest infrastructure build out in decades. There is $1T+ of cap-ex going into building out AI infrastructure over the next decade, with much of that spend going into compute. With complexity, scale, and demand rising, we believe the semiconductor industry needs new innovation, across software and hardware. As a result, we believe there is a unique opportunity for new entrants to start generational companies in the semiconductor industry.

Primary has a concerted focus to invest in and incubate businesses across the semis and data center value chain, a recent example being Etched, the world’s first transformer ASIC. Etched is disrupting the GPU market with a product purpose built for transformer inference, enabling use cases we never could have imagined like real-time video games. The company recently raised a $120M Series A, with features in TechCrunch and Crunchbase.

We’re hiring an Operator in Residence (OIR) to explore and incubate new ventures in the semiconductor space, with a dual-pronged approach across academic commercialization and industry opportunity mapping.

Responsibilities

As an OIR, you will work across two core vectors:

Academic Commercialization

  • Engage deeply with researchers working on cutting-edge innovations in semiconductors, networking, memory, and power/cooling.
  • Uncover and evaluate promising technologies coming out of academia and explore paths to commercialize them—through partnership, licensing, or incubation.
  • Be technically fluent enough to “talk the talk” with academics and industry experts.
  • Translate complex technical ideas into business opportunities.

Industry-Driven Opportunity Discovery

  • Dive into the commercial semiconductor landscape—including EDA tools, data center software, and emerging infrastructure needs—to identify white space opportunities.
  • Conduct deep customer discovery.
  • Develop insight into industry pain points.
  • Work closely with our investment team to validate and shape potential 0-to-1 companies.

About the Role

  • Support Primary’s idea generation and vetting process.
  • Connect with academics and researchers.

Requirements

  • Experience performing research and analysis on the semiconductor, networking, memory and power/cooling industry more broadly, in order to gain a full understanding of the landscape.
  • Commercially minded with a depth of knowledge on incumbents and newer entrants to the space.
  • Excited about building a business from the ground up (0 to 1).
  • Passion for researching and identifying new opportunities within this evolving space.
  • Comfortable talking to technical operators in the semiconductor industry (you do not need to be technical yourself).
  • Belief that there is a unique opportunity to build a multi-billion-dollar business in the semiconductor space.

Company Information

Primary is the largest early-stage venture firm in the world, with $1B in assets under management, investing in pre-seed and seed-stage startups based in New York City. The firm’s Incubation arm, Primary Labs, launched in 2019 to support the ideation, research and launch of new startups.

Skills

Semiconductors
Hardware
Software
Innovation
Startups
Venture Incubation
Industry Expertise

Primary VC

Seed stage VC for SaaS, ecommerce

About Primary VC

Primary VC specializes in seed-stage investments, primarily targeting two sectors: enterprise software as a service (SaaS) and e-commerce. Their investment strategy is geographically focused on New York City, allowing them to leverage local market insights and opportunities. Unlike many other venture capital firms, Primary VC emphasizes early-stage funding, providing support and resources to startups in their initial phases of growth. The goal of Primary VC is to nurture and develop promising companies in their chosen sectors, helping them to scale and succeed in a competitive landscape.

New York City, New YorkHeadquarters
2015Year Founded
$2,742.6MTotal Funding
UNKNOWNCompany Stage
Venture Capital, Enterprise Software, Consumer GoodsIndustries
51-200Employees

Risks

High concentration in early-stage investments increases exposure to market volatility.
NYC focus may limit diversification and expose to regional economic downturns.
Increased competition in AI infrastructure could challenge Primary's portfolio companies.

Differentiation

Primary VC's Impact team outnumbers investors 2:1, focusing on operational support.
Primary's portfolio companies are 19x more likely to reach billion-dollar valuations.
Primary has a strong NYC focus but invests globally from pre-seed to Series A.

Upsides

Primary's companies are 2x more likely to raise a Series A.
Primary's focus on B2B SaaS and fintech aligns with growing market trends.
Primary's low-volume, high-conviction approach ensures dedicated resources for founders.

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