Founding CEO, Shrimp Stunner Co

SPRING INNOVATION FUND

SPRING STUDIO

Founding CEO Shrimp Stunner Co

Location: Remote with travel as required
Type: Full-time Founder-in-Residence leading to Founding CEO

Stage: Venture Creation Pre-Seed

Spring Innovation Fund (Spring) is a venture studio building companies in the field of animal welfare technology.

We are seeking an exceptional entrepreneur to become the Founding CEO of a new hardware venture commercialising an affordable electrical stunning system for shrimp processing.

Every year hundreds of billions of shrimp are harvested globally. While electrical stunning is recognised as a humane alternative existing commercial systems are often expensive making them inaccessible for the vast majority of farmers.

This new company will launch a lower-cost stunning system designed to make humane shrimp slaughter commercially viable on a global scale. Spring provides the foundational research licensed intellectual property initial capital strategic and fundraising support and ecosystem access. You bring the entrepreneurial drive commercial leadership and execution capability to turn a validated opportunity into a scalable venture-backed and mission-driven business.

The venture is expected to launch with licensed intellectual property from an industry partner committed pre-seed funding initial deployment partnerships and a prototype pathway already in place. This creates an unusually de-risked starting point for a pre-seed hardware company while still requiring a founder who can validate the market refine the go-to-market strategy secure customer traction and build the company from the ground up.

The role will begin as a paid Founder-in-Residence position with Spring for an initial venture validation period of approximately three months. During this phase the FiR will work with Springs support to assess the companys technical commercial operational and fundraising readiness. At the end of this period Spring will assess venture readiness and FiR performance and decide whether to launch and fund the company.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop deep market expertise. Immerse yourself in the relevant industry by working closely with operators researchers manufacturers customers and technical advisors to build the understanding needed to lead the company with credibility.

• Exercise rigorous judgement. Challenge assumptions identify critical risks early and recommend when opportunities should be refined pivoted or discontinued. Success is measured by making the right decision not simply starting another company.

• Validate the opportunity and define the venture strategy. Build on Springs research to validate customer demand refine the business model assess technical and commercial feasibility prioritise product development and produce an investment-ready roadmap for company formation.

• Operate with founder-level ownership. Take end-to-end responsibility for turning an ambitious concept into a viable company. Navigate ambiguity make difficult decisions with limited information and maintain momentum without requiring close direction.

• Build industry partnerships. Develop and nurture relationships with key industry partners including farmers processors and other supply chain stakeholders across both the development phase and the sales and implementation phase of the business.

• Define market strategy. Research and develop a deep understanding of the applicable market; build out the business plan and hiring strategy; and define the companys core offerings and points of differentiation (initial foundational research will be provided by Spring).

• Lead fundraising. Drive the capital strategy to support the companys ongoing growth. Spring will provide initial and potentially follow-on funding for promising companies but securing additional outside capital may be necessary.

• Build a team. Oversee the recruitment of a co-founder (if applicable) and build a high-performing team across technical sales and other key functions.

• Represent the company. Serve as the primary representative of the company to all external stakeholders.

• Travel frequently. Travel regularly to engage partners customers and investors as the needs of the business require including frequent travel to Southeast Asia.

Who you are

You are a builder.

You have a track record of creating scaling or leading high-growth businesses and are energized by the challenge of building something new from the ground up.

Personal Attributes:

• Entrepreneurial and highly self-directed

• Resilient and persistent in the face of setbacks

• Comfortable operating without large support teams or established infrastructure

• You bring founder-level ownership resilience and pace.

• Exceptional relationship-building and communication skills

• A bias toward action and ownership

• Strong commercial instincts and customer development skills

Ideal Background:

• Founder or co-founder experience

• Experience in the shrimp farming or aquaculture industry

OR

• Experience leading a hardware startup ideally having shipped physical products to market

• Electrical hardware or systems engineering background

• Product development experience from prototype to manufacturing

What Success Looks Like

In the first 1224 months you will:

• Launch and establish a new venture

• Secure early customers and strategic partnerships

• Recruit a founding team

• Validate a scalable business model

• Raise follow-on capital

• Position the company for long-term growth and impact

Why This Role

Launching a startup is hard.

Launching one with validated research licensed IP committed funding experienced venture builders and an established ecosystem behind you is rare.

At Spring youll have the autonomy of a founder combined with the support of a venture studio committed to helping ambitious companies succeed.

This is a unique opportunity to build a category-defining company capable of delivering both significant commercial value and extraordinary animal welfare impact.

Compensation during the Founder-in-Residence phase is $150000 (annual salary). In addition to founder-level equity CEOs of launched businesses will receive pre-seed funding in the amount of $500000 from Spring Innovation Fund.

If this opportunity speaks to you but your background doesnt fit perfectly with the profile above wed still like to hear from you. If youre unsure or have questions please reach out to Noga Golan directly () to start a confidential conversation.