ABOUT THE ROLE
We are a venture studio. We research and validate ideas in-house, then bring in an Entrepreneur in Residence to turn the strongest of them into real companies. Each venture starts with a clear thesis, a budget and a small team already in place.
As EIR, you lead one venture from early build to a standalone business. You work with a small cross-functional team across product, growth, sales and engineering, test quickly with real customers, form the company, and hand it to a long-term CEO once it is ready to raise.
You are the single accountable owner from start to handover. This is a hands-on operating role, not an advisory one. You push forward when the evidence supports the venture and recommend stopping early when it doesn't.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Build
- Take a validated concept and start executing from week one
- Lead the product build with a small cross-functional team
- Use AI and no-code tools to ship product, research and assets quickly
- Set clear owners, deadlines and weekly milestones for every workstream
Validate
- Launch an MVP and measure real behaviour: usage, conversion, payment and retention;Run short test-and-learn cycles and drop what the data doesn't support
- Build the evidence case for continued investment
- Recommend stopping the venture early if traction isn't there
External Relationships
- Lead conversations with partners, early customers, suppliers and service providers
- Drive early business development and first commercial deals
- Manage contractors and specialists who don't report to you directly
- Keep leadership and investors informed with regular, concise updates
Company Formation
- Set up the legal entity, payments and core operating systems
- Put basic finance, legal and reporting processes in place
- Recruit the venture's first hires
- Document decisions, systems and metrics so the business can run without you
Transition
- Help recruit the venture's long-term CEO
- Hand over the business cleanly and on schedule
- Flag risks early to studio leadership before they cost time or money
- Share lessons learned to improve how the studio builds future ventures
SUCCESS METRICS
- MVP live with paying or active users within the first 90 days.
- Clear traction evidence that supports further investment, or an early, well-reasoned stop recommendation
- Consistent weekly delivery across all work streams
- Entity, payments and first hires in place on schedule
- Long-term CEO hired and handover completed within the agreed timeline MUST-HAVE EXPERIENCE
- Built or led a venture from zero as a founder, early operator or EIR
- A track record of fast, disciplined execution against a plan
- Daily, practical use of AI tools to build, research and ship
- Led small cross-functional teams, including contractors and external partners - Made the call to stop or pivot a product when the data required it
CORE COMPETENCIES
Execution
Speed with structure
End-to-end ownership of outcomes
Judgement
Decides on data, not opinion
Comfortable making hard calls early
Leadership & Communication
Leads without formal authority
Clear, proactive written communication
- 6+ years of experience in startup operations, venture building, general management, or a comparable operating role, ideally spanning more than one company.
- Direct, hands-on experience taking at least one company from zero to launch, not just supporting someone else's launch, but owning it.
- Strong working knowledge of AI tools and agentic workflows, with a track record of using them to replace team-based work, not just accelerate individual productivity.
- Experience designing or operating a structured process for de-risking new initiatives - stage gates, funnel management, or comparable venture-building systems.
- Hands-on experience managing execution across multiple work streams, products, or business lines simultaneously without relying on a large team.
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability to provide concise, honest assessments of portfolio or business health.
- Comfortable operating as an independent contractor, with compensation aligned to scope and impact rather than a traditional salary ladder.
WHAT GREAT LOOKS LIKE
- Starts shipping in the first week
- Brings evidence, not opinions
- Every work stream has an owner and a deadline
- Surfaces problems before they grow
- Stops a venture early when the data says so
- Hands over a business that runs without them
CANDIDATE SNAPSHOT
- A former founder or early operator who has taken a product from zero to paying customers - Builds with AI tools every day and ships before polishing
- Comfortable leading people they don't directly employ
- Wants to build multiple companies, not just one
- Motivated by results, not titles
- Fully remote. No office, no commute, just you, the operating system, and wherever you do your best work.
- This isn't about inheriting an established company. It's about building and continuously evolving the operating system that future ventures will run on.
- Core collaboration hours: 9:00 AM–12:00 PM PST, ensuring consistent overlap with the founding team.
- Contractor engagement, paid in USD.
- Full compensation details will be shared directly with shortlisted candidates.
