Robert Osborne
Senior Program Associate at Outlier Ventures
Robert Osborne
Senior Program Associate at Outlier Ventures
London, England
Overview
Work Experience
Senior Program Associate
2024 - Current
DePIN Base Camp
Program Associate
2023 - 2024
Cohorts: IPFS Base Camp 2 NEAR Base Camp Futureverse Base Camp
Fundraising Associate
2022 - 2023
Within the Structuring and Fundraising Team, we are responsible for guiding the project teams in designing and preparing for their fundraising process. This includes: presenting workshops on fundraising and tokenomics, providing open house sessions for investment discussion, assessing their round size and valuation, identifying investors to approach and negotiate terms. As part of this, I host a monthly pitch event where our cohort teams from Base Camp and Ascent programmes present their projects to investors.
Operations Associate
2021 - 2022
Associate
2018 - 2020
● Managed a syndicate of private investors to pool capital. This required an astute level of stakeholder management and relationship building. ● Planned, design and delivered a common investment strategy to suit their collective interests and needs. Investment portfolio comprised stocks, previous metals, venture capital and alternative assets, such as art, crypto, whiskey and wines. ● Collaborated with members to implement business strategy to establish the company as a functioning and profitable community. ● Worked in tandem with the events and communication team to organise events, both in-person and virtual, for members to network and cooperate on projects. ● Collected and analysed data to measure the impact of policies on the membership community and devised feedback mechanisms to gather consistent information on service quality.
Lead Researcher
2017 - 2018
As Lead Researcher, my duties and responsibilities include: • Designing and delivering high quality quarterly research publications that evidence the value of entrepreneurs and present new data, opinion and insight on topical issues affecting entrepreneurship. • Managing a research assistant and any fixed-term research interns. • Working with the director to execute media campaigns to launch each publication. • Disseminating research to politicians, government officials and influencers. • Raising the profile of the Centre through written outputs including blogs and op-eds. • Developing data-driven partnerships to aid in research activities. • Developing research streams in partnership with expert bodies to deliver joint publications and events. • Supporting report launches, round-tables, panel debates and other research-centric events. The role requires me to have an active interest in entrepreneurship and an understanding of entrepreneurship policies, as well as supportive organisations. I require a broad knowledge of the policy environment in the UK affecting businesses and entrepreneurs. I need to be able to conduct empirical evaluations of practical programmes and have strong analytic research skills (quantitative and qualitative). The role also requires a proven ability to write in a clear, concise and engaging manner for various audiences. The role also includes informing a wide range of stakeholders with the most recent and relevant information and perspectives about entrepreneurs and the state of entrepreneurship in the UK. This involved the release of never-before-seen quantitative data, such as the annual rate of startup formations to providing insights to journalists: --> https://centreforentrepreneurs.org/cfe-releases/business-formations-fall-tax-clampdown/ --> https://www.ft.com/content/e1f5416e-4eb8-11e8-ac41-759eee1efb74
Research Assistant
2017 - 2017
I was invited to oversee the transition of the Legatum Institute's Culture of Prosperity programme into an independent research and publishing organisation on a contractual agreement. My role as Research Associate involved in all research projects conducted at Erasmus Forum. This work involved coordinating the various contributors of research projects, producing themes for historical and culture investigation, editing and preparation research for publication, and on certain projects, doing in-depth research into topic areas myself in a way that was concise and effective in communication for projects that were published during my time there. This role also involved me in the set up of events in which we invited keynote speakers to address large audiences. My role as External Relations Advisor involved investigating possible areas of co-operation/partnership with other research and publishing organisations, other think tanks, learned societies, universities, international organisations, media organisations, philanthropic institutions, companies and businesses, public institutions and government offices in the UK and abroad. This required me to be informed of and make use of new research areas of such organisations and creating ways of relating that work to Erasmus Forum's own work and aims.
Research Intern
2016 - 2016
In this role, I was a researcher for The Culture of Prosperity programme. This programme examined the historic and cultural roots of human flourishing to better understand the role of culture in our lives today. Its sub-programmes included: The History of Capitalism series; the Roads to Freedom series; the Architecture of Prosperity. My role as a research intern involved: research in support of programme growth and development; organisational assistance with lectures and seminars; editorial and fact-checking assistance with publications; written content for the Legatum Institute website and other publications (in print and digital form); and managing communications with programme speakers and participants, including database management. This role required that I: (1) have the ability to write clearly and concisely, with a strong attention to detail; (2) have excellent research, organisational and communication skills; (3) have an ability to multi-task and prioritise workloads; (4) demonstrate knowledge of, and interest in, history, art, literature, among other disciplines; and (5) work effectively and proactively in a team setting. It was in this role that I was the assistant editor of, ‘Community and Regeneration: A Case Study of Swansea East and the Lower Tawe Valley’, and I also contributed the following essay, 'Eclipsed Investigations: Money and Politics in Swansea's Regeneration' (available upon request).
Co-Founder
2014 - 2016
Fiftyoneb (51b) was a small business venture - an experiment - started by myself and my brother whilst at university. It started as an online art gallery, serving as an e-commerce store. The project was always intended to be a business project with a short lifespan. In fact, we exceeded our expectations of achieving our own business goals before the one year deadline that we set for ourselves. This was a business venture intended as an experiment to see whether two amateurs (myself and my brother, who had no prior business experience and with little knowledge of the art world) - and with minimal start-up money - could enter into a notoriously difficult industry and make a success of it.
Private Tutor
2013 - 2016
Working as a private tutor of History and Spanish. Levels ranged from beginner to A-Level and preparation for personal statements and university interviews. Developed my own lesson plans which were catered to the varying requirements between exam boards.
Office Assistant
2012 - 2014
I prioritised daily workflows, including all inbound calls, quotes and sales-related inquiries. I managed and recorded all leads from outbound telephone marketing, set up new accounts, established customer credit, and set up payment methods. I also answered customers' questions regarding products, prices and availability and emphasised product features based on analysis of customers' needs. In doing so I maintained friendly and professional customer interactions at all times.
Deputy Head of School
2012 - 2013
One of a few responsible for a team of 24 senior prefects who helped in the day to day running of the 1300-person school. Assisted in the organisation of the end of year leavers’ ball. We also raised over £1000 for cancer charities during our tenure
Debater and administrator
2010 - 2013
I was a regular debater at my school's society and at national conferences, winning awards for my skills in technique, style and form of debating. This amounted to my selection for an international conference in Qatar as a member of the only British team made up of five individuals. In the final year of my membership, I took more of an administrative role, assisting in the organisation of school MUN events and conferences.