Founder's Associate

The Studio is part of Utopia Capital’s integrated venture platform — combining AI-native venture building, capital, and shared infrastructure to help founders build faster and smarter. Every role here directly contributes to launching and scaling AI-native companies across the Global South, from idea to Series A.

**About The Studio**:
The Studio is an AI-native venture builder for the Global South, purpose-built to transform high-barrier problems into scalable, investable companies.

Partnering with domain experts & high-agency founders from concept to Series A, it both builds new ventures and re-engineers existing ones for AI-driven growth.

Powered by UTOPIA OS — a modular, adaptive stack tailored to each venture — it compresses the path from concept to Series A to under 24 months.

**About the Role**:
We’re looking for a **Founder’s Associate** to work directly with our **Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIRs)** as their operational and strategic partner — helping them turn ideas into validated, investable products.

You’ll collaborate closely with the **Head of Venture Success & Strategic Partnerships** and the broader Studio team (Design, Product, Marketing and Talent) to ensure each founder has the systems, data, and structure they need to move fast.

This role is about **making founders successful day-to-day** — running sprints, managing pilots, gathering insights, and coordinating the resources that make venture building smoother and smarter.

Over time, you'll evolve from executional support into a strategic GTM builder — learning how to turn early-stage traction into scalable growth systems. This role is designed as a launchpad for future GTM and growth leadership.

You’ll report functionally into the Head of Venture Success & Strategic Partnerships to ensure every founder’s journey — from concept to traction — runs smoothly, data-driven, and AI-native.

**Reports to**: Studio Directors
**Growth path**: Head of GTM & Growth Strategy

**Responsibilities**:
**_ Founder Support & Venture Operations_**:

- Work side-by-side with founders through the Studio journey — from concept validation to proof-of-concept and spin-out.

- Manage daily venture workflows: meeting notes, timelines, sprint tracking, and milestone reporting.

- Translate founder ideas into structured action plans — defining what needs to happen, by when, and who’s responsible.

- Support venture pilots — coordinating between technical, design, and product teams to ensure delivery stays on track.

- Maintain venture documentation so progress is visible and measurable.

- Gather insights and feedback from founders and users to improve studio processes and venture playbooks.

- Collaborate with founders to structure early go-to-market tests — messaging validation, channel experiments, and customer discovery loops.

- Use AI tools to analyze user data, generate market hypotheses, and identify signals for traction.

**_ Research & Strategic Insights_**:

- Conduct market and competitive research to support founder discovery and opportunity mapping.

- Analyze venture KPIs, performance metrics, and progress reports to identify patterns and opportunities for improvement.

- Prepare concise decks and briefs for internal reviews, investor meetings, and partnership discussions.

- Assist in building simple GTM models (ICP definitions, funnels, value-prop mapping) and document early traction metrics.

**_ Program & Ecosystem Coordination_**:

- Work with the Head of Venture Success to run Studio programs: onboarding, workshops, sprints, and milestone reviews.

- Support founder engagement initiatives — EIR Fellowship, POD sessions, and cross-venture learning events.

- Coordinate with the Marketing & Comms team to capture venture stories, milestones, and learnings.

- Help identify and manage relationships with ecosystem partners — mentors, advisors, and domain experts who can support specific ventures.

- Support venture exposure by coordinating with the Marketing & Comms team to position pilots, product milestones, and founder stories for visibility across ecosystems.

**_ Operational & Administrative Excellence_**:

- Keep venture systems organized — task boards, documentation, data rooms, and reporting dashboards.

- Track progress across ventures and maintain accountability through weekly updates and milestone reviews.

- Support logistics for Studio events, founder demos, and ecosystem meetups.

- Ensure every operational process reflects the Studio’s AI-native, Global South identity and design principles.

**Experience & Skills**:

- 3 years+ of experience in startups, consulting, or venture environments (internships or fellowships included).

- Strong analytical and operational skills — you can move between research, coordination, and execution easily.

- Excellent at structuring ideas into slides, reports, or playbooks.

- Tech-savvy — comfortable with tools like Notion, Airtable, Figma, Linear, and Google Workspace.

- Curious about AI, ven