Co-founder – Product Strategy & Execution | Enterprise Platforms & Business Operations | Equity Only

## About Whitebrinjal I’m building **Whitebrinjal**, an enterprise high-tech market network focused on the journey from technology discovery to enterprise adoption. Enterprises often struggle to identify the right technologies, evaluate unfamiliar solutions, align internal stakeholders and move from initial interest to an informed adoption decision. These decisions involve multiple stakeholders, fragmented information, complex workflows and significant commercial risk. Whitebrinjal is being built to structure this journey. The platform combines a market network with decision-oriented workflows, helping enterprises define problems, evaluate solutions, engage with providers and progress towards adoption through a structured process. Our long-term ambition is to build an interconnected system of **Market Network → Workflow → Intelligence → Enterprise Platform.** Whitebrinjal is currently **pre-MVP, pre-revenue and pre-institutional funding**. The product foundation and extensive UX workflows have been developed. The next challenge is turning that foundation into a focused, functioning product that can support real enterprise interactions and create a credible path to adoption. ## The opportunity I’m looking for a co-founder who can take ownership of **Product Strategy & Execution**, initially bridging business priorities and technology implementation, with the potential to expand into business operations and broader operating leadership as Whitebrinjal grows. This is a founder-level, equity-only opportunity. It is not a conventional Product Manager position, project management role, business operations job or process-improvement assignment. I’m looking for someone who can understand the business problem, determine what the product must accomplish, work with engineers to make it happen and establish the systems required to move from concept to adoption. As a non-technical founder, I bring the company vision, business context, commercial priorities and strategic direction. I’m looking for a complementary founding partner who can independently own product decisions and execution within that direction, challenge assumptions constructively and ensure that business priorities translate into tangible progress. **The objective is not simply to manage a roadmap. It is to build the product, establish execution discipline and help make the business work.** ## What you will own initially ### 1. Product strategy and prioritisation Whitebrinjal has a broader product vision than an early-stage company can execute all at once. Your first responsibility will be to determine what needs to exist for the product to deliver meaningful value. You will: - Assess the existing product foundation, modules, UX flows, workflows and dependencies. - Distinguish essential first-release capabilities from features that can be deferred. - Identify the critical user journeys required to demonstrate the platform's value. - Translate business objectives and customer problems into clear product requirements. - Prioritise work based on user value, business impact, feasibility, dependencies and learning potential. - Maintain a focused product backlog and practical roadmap. - Identify scope creep, unnecessary complexity and unresolved product decisions. - Challenge the founder and team when proposed work does not support the immediate business objective. You should be comfortable making difficult trade-offs. A feature being possible to build does not mean it deserves to be built now. The goal is to establish a coherent product that can be delivered with available resources and tested against real-world needs. ### 2. Translating business requirements into product execution A significant part of this role is bridging business intent and technical implementation. You will: - Understand the business problem behind each major product requirement. - Map user journeys, business rules, decision points, exceptions and dependencies. - Convert requirements into actionable user stories, functional specifications and acceptance criteria. - Work with the technology founder to assess feasibility, sequencing and implementation trade-offs. - Clarify requirements before development and resolve ambiguities during implementation. - Maintain visibility into decisions, dependencies, blockers and scope changes. - Ensure that completed work satisfies the intended business requirement. - Coordinate testing and acceptance of critical user journeys. You do not need to dictate how engineers architect or implement the system. You must understand enough about software development to collaborate credibly, identify risks and ensure that technical work remains aligned with product objectives. ### 3. Product and technology collaboration Whitebrinjal needs a functioning platform, not disconnected screens or a collection of individually completed features. You will work closely with the technology founder to establish a reliable product delivery process. This includes: - Aligning product priorities with engineering capacity and technical dependencies. - Maintaining a shared view of priorities, milestones and blockers. - Coordinating requirements, implementation reviews, testing and release planning. - Identifying dependencies across modules, APIs, integrations and data flows. - Evaluating product changes for their impact on existing workflows. - Establishing practical quality standards and release acceptance criteria. - Raising risks early and driving decisions rather than allowing unresolved issues to accumulate. The intended division of responsibility is clear: **you own product strategy and execution; the technology founder owns technical architecture and engineering leadership.** Both founders contribute to product and technical trade-offs. ### 4. Enterprise workflows and business-model implementation Whitebrinjal is not intended to be a generic technology directory or a conventional software marketplace. Its value depends on making complex enterprise technology discovery and adoption more structured. You will help translate the business model into workable product workflows, including: - Enterprise problem definition and initial qualification. - Expression of Interest (EOI), Request for Information (RFI) and Request for Proposal (RFP). - Buyer and provider onboarding and qualification. - Solution discovery, evaluation and comparison. - Stakeholder alignment and decision documentation. - Commercial engagement, pricing logic and deal progression. - Proof-of-concept, pilot and deployment-stage workflows where applicable. - Handoffs, responsibilities and decision records across the adoption lifecycle. Your responsibility is to understand how these workflows should function, identify the information and decisions required at each stage, and determine how the product should support them. You should be capable of challenging unnecessary steps, simplifying complex processes and identifying which activities can remain manual in the early stages. You are not expected to independently own the company's entire commercial strategy. You are expected to understand its implications for the product and ensure the product supports the agreed business model. ### 5. Product quality and launch readiness A platform is not launch-ready merely because its screens have been designed or its code has been written. It must support the intended user journey, behave reliably and provide enough clarity for users to accomplish their objectives. You will own the product-side launch-readiness process, including: - Mapping critical end-to-end user journeys. - Defining functional requirements and acceptance criteria. - Coordinating testing and defect prioritisation. - Identifying gaps in onboarding, documentation and user guidance. - Establishing release-readiness criteria and making go/no-go recommendations. - Tracking unresolved issues according to severity and business impact. - Preparing mechanisms for collecting and analysing user feedback. - Converting feedback into prioritised product decisions. - Identifying friction that prevents users from completing important workflows. As early users begin interacting with Whitebrinjal, you will ensure that product development is informed by evidence rather than internal assumptions. Market development and commercial relationships will be shared with, or owned by, the relevant founder. Your responsibility is to make sure the product can support those interactions effectively. ### 6. Establishing the initial operating system In an early-stage company, execution can easily become dependent on informal conversations, fragmented documents and the founder remembering every unresolved issue. You will establish the minimum operating structure required to avoid that outcome. You will: - Create a reliable system for tracking priorities, ownership and dependencies. - Maintain product decisions, requirements and execution status in accessible documentation. - Establish a practical cadence for product and engineering reviews. - Track milestones, risks, blockers and decisions requiring founder intervention. - Ensure that requirements and changes are communicated clearly. - Create lightweight processes for testing, release management and feedback. - Establish clear accountability without introducing unnecessary bureaucracy. - Use automation and AI where they genuinely improve execution speed or quality. The objective is to enable a small founding team to work with clarity, make decisions quickly and deliver reliably. ## What I would expect in the first 90 days The first three months should produce tangible progress, not just plans and meetings. **First 30 days: Understand and prioritise** - Review the existing product foundation, UX workflows and development status. - Identify the most important gaps, dependencies and risks. - Determine which capabilities are essential for the first meaningful release. - Work with me and the technology founder to establish clear priorities. - Produce a practical view of what needs to be built, fixed, simplified or deferred. **Days 31–60: Establish execution** - Translate agreed priorities into actionable requirements and acceptance criteria. - Align product work with engineering capacity and dependencies. - Establish a clear process for tracking progress, decisions and blockers. - Begin systematic testing of completed workflows. - Identify the operational requirements for engaging early users and providers. **Days 61–90: Drive delivery and readiness** - Help move priority features towards completion. - Review the product against agreed requirements. - Identify and prioritise remaining gaps. - Establish a practical process for collecting and acting on user feedback. - Present a clear, evidence-based view of product readiness and the next set of priorities. The exact plan will depend on what you discover when you start. I expect you to help shape it, not simply follow a plan handed to you. ## How the role can expand into business operations and COO responsibilities The immediate mandate is product strategy and execution. As Whitebrinjal develops, the company will need coordinated execution across product, technology, commercial activity, customer delivery, resources and organisational priorities. For the right person, this creates an opportunity to grow from product ownership into broader business operations and potentially company-wide operating leadership. ### Stage 1 | Pre-MVP: Product Strategy & Execution Initially, you will focus on: - Defining and prioritising the first meaningful release. - Coordinating product and engineering execution. - Establishing requirements, testing and release-readiness systems. - Creating visibility into dependencies, risks and delivery progress. - Ensuring the product remains aligned with business priorities. **Expected outcome:** A focused product execution system and a credible path towards a usable first release. ### Stage 2 | MVP and early adoption: Product & Business Operations As the platform begins supporting real buyer and provider interactions, your responsibilities may expand to include: - Establishing repeatable onboarding and operational workflows. - Coordinating product delivery with early customer requirements. - Tracking workflow completion, quality and operational bottlenecks. - Establishing operating metrics and review mechanisms. - Improving cross-functional accountability. - Identifying where manual processes should be standardised or automated. **Expected outcome:** Product delivery and early business operations become more consistent, measurable and repeatable. ### Stage 3 | Growing business: Cross-functional operating leadership If you demonstrate the ability to operate beyond product, the scope may expand into: - Translating company priorities into operating plans and measurable outcomes. - Coordinating execution across product, technology, market development and customer-facing functions. - Establishing company-wide operating reviews, accountability and performance visibility. - Identifying organisational bottlenecks and resource constraints. - Supporting operating budgets, capacity planning and resource allocation with the relevant founders. - Building repeatable systems for customer delivery, service quality and internal execution. - Reducing unnecessary dependence on the CEO for day-to-day coordination. **Expected outcome:** The company develops a stronger operating system as complexity and commercial activity increase. ### Stage 4 | Potential COO: Company-wide execution A COO appointment would become relevant only if the company needs a dedicated leader to oversee company-wide operations and you demonstrate the capability to take on that responsibility. At that stage, the mandate could include: - Owning the company's operating plan and cross-functional execution. - Translating the CEO's strategic priorities into company-wide deliverables. - Establishing accountability across functions and resolving organisational bottlenecks. - Overseeing operating performance, resource allocation and execution risks. - Building management systems and operating processes appropriate to the company's scale. - Ensuring that the company's teams and processes support commercial objectives. - Allowing the CEO to focus more deeply on company direction, strategic relationships, market development and capital formation. **Expected outcome:** A business that can execute its priorities through a coherent operating organisation rather than depending on the CEO to coordinate every function. This progression is an opportunity, not a guaranteed promotion. The role, authority and title will evolve only if the business requires them and the person demonstrates the necessary capabilities. ## Product and business judgement As the scope expands, you will need to understand the commercial and operational consequences of product decisions. You will help: - Identify resources and dependencies required to deliver planned capabilities. - Highlight avoidable costs and unnecessary complexity. - Determine which workflows can initially be supported manually. - Identify activities that genuinely justify automation. - Evaluate the operational implications of pricing, onboarding and workflow design. - Establish meaningful measures of product quality, workflow completion and adoption. - Recommend when additional people, systems or operating capabilities are justified. As the business grows, broader operating responsibilities will also require sound financial awareness, resource allocation, performance management and cross-functional leadership. You are not being recruited as a CFO, fundraising specialist or independent commercial strategist. You should, however, understand how product and operating decisions affect the viability and execution of the business. ## Tools, systems and technical fluency You do not need to be an expert in every tool listed below. You should be comfortable using modern product and execution systems independently and capable of selecting appropriate tools for an early-stage business. **Product management and execution** Experience with Linear, Jira, Notion or equivalent tools for product backlogs, requirements, prioritisation, acceptance criteria, release planning and decision tracking. **UX and product workflows** Working familiarity with Adobe XD or equivalent tools to inspect designs, map user journeys and translate product decisions into actionable requirements. **Engineering collaboration** Familiarity with GitHub or GitLab, API documentation, Swagger/OpenAPI, Postman or equivalent tools. You should understand software development workflows, integrations, testing, environments, defect management and release readiness. You are not expected to own engineering architecture or write production code, but you must be technically fluent enough to work effectively with engineers. **Business analysis and operating systems** Strong working knowledge of Google Sheets or Excel, structured documentation, workflow mapping, dependency tracking and operational analysis. **Product quality and analytics** Familiarity with product analytics, user journey analysis, testing and issue tracking. Experience with PostHog, Google Analytics or equivalent tools is useful. **AI and workflow automation** Practical use of AI tools such as ChatGPT or Claude for research synthesis, requirements drafting, documentation and test planning. Familiarity with automation platforms such as n8n, Make or Zapier is an advantage. You should be able to use AI to accelerate execution while maintaining appropriate quality controls. **What matters most is your ability to use tools to make sound decisions, reduce execution friction and deliver tangible outcomes,not the number of tools on your résumé.** ## Who should consider this opportunity? I’m interested in people who have personally taken responsibility for turning an ambiguous product or business problem into a functioning outcome. Your background may be in product management, product operations, enterprise software implementation, technical program leadership, business systems or early-stage technology ventures. Relevant experience may include: - Building product processes and operating systems from scratch. - Taking a product or complex implementation from requirements through testing and release. - Working directly with founders, engineers and business stakeholders. - Translating ambiguous requirements into actionable product decisions. - Prioritising work under limited time, resources and engineering capacity. - Resolving cross-functional dependencies and delivery bottlenecks. - Designing workflows for enterprise software or multi-stakeholder environments. - Using customer feedback to improve product decisions. - Establishing lightweight execution systems in an evolving organisation. - Applying AI and automation to improve productivity and quality. Experience with B2B platforms, enterprise SaaS, marketplaces, workflow-intensive products or complex enterprise adoption is particularly relevant. You do not need experience in every area. However, you must demonstrate strong product judgement, technical fluency, independent execution and the ability to take responsibility beyond your formal job description. Experience in company-wide operations, business performance management, financial planning or scaling cross-functional teams would be an additional advantage for someone interested in the longer-term COO pathway. ## The founder mindset I am looking for **Ownership over coordination.** You identify the problem, work through dependencies and drive it towards resolution. **Judgement over activity.** You understand what matters now, what can wait and why. **Product thinking over feature accumulation.** You focus on user problems, coherent workflows and measurable outcomes. **Execution over presentations.** You can demonstrate what you have personally built, implemented, improved or delivered. **Simplicity over bureaucracy.** You introduce structure where it improves execution and avoid process for its own sake. **Constructive independence.** You can challenge assumptions, make decisions within your mandate and work through uncertainty without waiting for constant instructions. **Business-wide thinking.** You are interested in how product, technology, customers, resources and operating systems work together to create a viable company. **Founder-level commitment.** You want to build a company and take responsibility for its progress, not simply obtain a senior title. ## What this role is not This opportunity is unlikely to be suitable if you are primarily looking for: - A conventional Product Manager role with an established product and engineering organisation. - A project coordination position focused on meetings, schedules and status reports. - A business operations role focused mainly on administration and internal process management. - A strategy-only position where other people are responsible for implementation. - A technical leadership role centred on architecture and production engineering. - A commercial or fundraising role in which sales, partnerships or capital formation are your primary responsibilities. - A position that requires an established team, a defined budget and mature organisational processes to operate effectively. - A salaried role with guaranteed compensation from the beginning. - A COO title without first demonstrating the ability to own company-wide operating outcomes. Whitebrinjal needs someone who can create the structure required for execution rather than depend on an organisation that already has it. ## Working with the founding team You will work closely with the founder and the people responsible for technology, market development and capital. The intended division of responsibilities is: - **Founder / CEO:** Company direction, business model, strategic priorities and overall company accountability. - **Technology & Platform:** Technical architecture, engineering leadership and platform implementation. - **Market Development & Ecosystem:** Market activation, buyer and provider relationships, ecosystem development and commercial opportunities. - **Capital & Institutional Development:** Capital strategy, investor relationships and institutional development. - **Product Strategy & Execution:** Product priorities, requirements, product delivery coordination, launch readiness, user feedback and product operating systems. As the company grows, this role may take on broader operating responsibilities, but ownership of capital, technical architecture and market development will not automatically transfer to this person. The objective is clear accountability and complementary capabilities, not rigid departmental boundaries. You should be comfortable working directly with other founders, challenging decisions constructively and taking responsibility for your part of the company's progress. ## Commitment and equity **This is an equity-only co-founder opportunity.** Whitebrinjal is currently pre-MVP, pre-revenue and pre-institutional funding. There is no initial salary or guaranteed cash compensation attached to this opportunity. This is intended for someone willing to make a genuine founder-level commitment, take ownership of a critical company-building function and share the uncertainty and potential upside of building the business. Equity participation will reflect the person's actual founding contribution, commitment, responsibility, relevant experience and the company's circumstances. Vesting, ownership terms, decision rights and other founder arrangements will be discussed transparently and agreed upon before any commitment is finalised. Any future expansion of responsibilities or executive title will be assessed separately. A possible COO pathway does not guarantee a particular title, additional equity or compensation. This is not a paid consulting assignment, a fractional operating role or a conventional employment opportunity. Please consider the stage, uncertainty and compensation structure carefully before applying. ## How to express interest I am more interested in understanding what you have actually built than in reading a polished summary of your career. Please provide written responses to the following questions. **1. Building from zero** Describe a product, platform or operating capability you helped build from an early or ambiguous stage. What existed before you joined, what did you personally own and what changed because of your work? **2. Product judgement** Describe a situation in which you had to decide what to build first, what to defer and what not to build. What criteria did you use, and what was the outcome? **3. Business-to-technology translation** Give an example of how you converted a business problem into product requirements and worked with engineers to deliver the intended outcome. **4. Execution under constraints** Describe a project where time, funding, people or technical dependencies were insufficient. What trade-offs did you make, and how did you move the work forward? **5. Independent ownership** Tell me about a problem you identified and resolved without being explicitly instructed to do so. What decisions did you make, and what was your personal contribution? **6. Your approach to Whitebrinjal** Given that Whitebrinjal is pre-MVP, pre-revenue and pre-institutional funding, what would you investigate first? What would you aim to establish during your first 30 days, and why? **7. Tools and working methods** Which product, engineering collaboration, analytics and AI tools have you used directly? Explain how you used them to produce a tangible result. **8. Beyond product execution** Describe an instance where you took responsibility beyond your own functional area to improve a broader business outcome. What did you own, what decisions did you make and what changed? **9. Founder commitment** Why does an equity-only, founder-level opportunity at this stage make sense for you? What level of commitment and responsibility are you prepared to take on? Please answer with concrete examples, decisions and outcomes wherever possible. Distinguish your individual contribution from the work performed by your team or organisation. There is no need to make your answers sound impressive. I am interested in how you think, what you have actually done and whether your approach is suited to building a company from this stage. ## Why Whitebrinjal? Whitebrinjal offers the opportunity to help shape a product and company while foundational product, market and operating decisions are still being made. You will not inherit a mature product organisation. You will help determine what should be built, how product decisions translate into implementation and how the platform evolves in response to real enterprise needs. For the right person, the opportunity extends beyond delivering a product. It offers the possibility of building a durable operating capability and, if demonstrated ability and company needs justify it, taking on broader company-wide leadership as Whitebrinjal grows. **If you can connect business problems to product decisions, work credibly with engineers, take founder-level responsibility for execution and potentially grow into broader operating leadership, I would be interested in understanding what you have built and how you would approach this challenge.**