Founder Associate

 About Lateralus AI

Lateralus AI is a new breed of company that develops and scales
AI-native applications
, with a primary focus on
Vertical AI Agents
for
high-impact, underserved markets.

Software digitized processes.
AI-native applications now replace both software and labor
— unlocking a fresh multi-trillion-dollar economic layer in fragmented, manual industries. At Lateralus, we go niche and deep, co-create with domain experts, and run fast, lean teams — compounding returns across our portfolio.

 Founder Associate

We are looking for a
Founder Associate
to join the first squad of a new vertical initiative. This role blends
entrepreneurial hustle, market insight, and operational execution
, making you a key partner in shaping the direction of the venture.

Responsibilities

• Discovery & Market Validation
  Conduct deep dives into industry workflows and competitive benchmarks.
• Run user interviews, shadow domain experts, and extract pain points.
• Test willingness-to-pay and validate commercial hypotheses.
• Business & GTM
  Frame initial business model options (pricing, TAM/SAM/SOM analysis).
• Support early customer outreach, pilots, and partnerships.
• Own pipeline building and CRM hygiene.
• Ops & Execution
  Keep the squad organized: structure sprints, track experiments, manage ops.
• Support fundraising prep (decks, data, benchmarks) with studio leadership.
• Step into any gap: research, onboarding pilot users, writing docs.

Required Skills

• 2–5 years experience in
  consulting, VC/PE, strategy, or startup ops
  .
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Entrepreneurial mindset: hands-on, resourceful, and adaptable.
• Clear communicator, comfortable with both
  C-level execs and engineers
  .
• Familiarity with AI tools (for research, automation, or ops) is a plus.

Nice-to-Have

• Exposure to B2B or complex industries (e.g., maritime, logistics, manufacturing, health).
• Prior experience in
  customer discovery
  or GTM.
• Prior startup experience, especially in an early-stage, fast-paced environment.

Why Join Us?

• Founding DNA
  : join the
  first core team
  of a new vertical AI venture.
• True Ownership
  : your work directly shapes
  product, market, and GTM direction
  .
• End-to-End Impact
  : from
  discovery to scale
  , you'll drive 0→1 execution within a repeatable framework.
• Studio Leverage
  : execute with the
  speed, infrastructure, and playbooks
  of Lateralus, while having support from an experienced core team.
• Aligned Incentives
  : we offer
  competitive compensation and equity
  — so you share directly in the upside.