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 Spring’s support to assess the company’s 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 Spring's 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 company’s core offerings and points of differentiation (initial foundational research will be provided by Spring).
- Lead fundraising. Drive the capital strategy to support the company’s 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 12–24 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, you'll 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 $150,000 (annual salary). In addition to founder-level equity, CEOs of launched businesses will receive pre-seed funding in the amount of $500,000 from Spring Innovation Fund.
If this opportunity speaks to you but your background doesn’t fit perfectly with the profile above, we’d still like to hear from you. If you’re unsure or have questions, please reach out to Noga Golan directly (noga@foodimpactpartners.com) to start a confidential conversation.
