Co-Founder

Co-founder, Commercial & Partnerships, Zentari

Location: Remote, United States preferred; Europe considered

Type: Co-founder role, initially equity-based

Founder equity: 49% founder equity, subject to founder agreement, vesting, IP assignment, role commitment, and legal and tax review

Expected vesting: Four-year vesting with a one-year cliff

Function: Commercial, partnerships, go-to-market, fundraising support

Company stage: Early-stage deep-tech venture

Role summary

Zentari is building a bioreactor-first scaffold intelligence platform for structured cultivated and hybrid proteins. The platform helps scaffold suppliers, bioprinter OEMs, CDMOs, pilot plants, and structured-protein R&D teams design, simulate, validate, and hand off scaffold structures with traceable evidence.

We are looking for a Co-founder, Commercial & Partnerships, who can turn Zentari’s technical platform into paid pilots, strategic partnerships, and a repeatable go-to-market motion. This is a true co-founder position, with 49% founder equity and founder-level responsibility.

This role sits alongside the product and platform founder. The commercial co-founder will own customer discovery, buyer validation, first pilot sales, strategic partnerships, pricing, commercial narrative, and fundraising support.

What success looks like

Success means building a qualified pipeline of scaffold suppliers, bioprinter OEMs, CDMOs, cultivated-meat R&D teams, hybrid structured-protein companies, investors, and technical partners.

In the first phase, success means validating the strongest buyer segment, securing serious pilot conversations, shaping a paid design-pack or material-passport offer, and helping Zentari move from product thesis to commercial traction.

Longer term, success means owning Zentari’s commercial engine: repeatable pilot sales, partnership agreements, customer feedback loops, investor readiness, early revenue, and a credible route towards scalable B2B growth.

Responsibilities

* Develop and execute Zentari’s early commercial strategy across scaffold suppliers, bioprinter OEMs, structured-protein R&D teams, CDMOs, pilot plants, and adjacent foodtech partners.

* Build and manage a qualified partnership pipeline, including target lists, outreach, discovery calls, follow-ups, proposal development, and relationship tracking.

* Translate Zentari’s technical capabilities into clear buyer propositions, including scaffold design packs, material passports, bioreactor-readiness assessments, validation packs, and OEM integration pilots.

* Run structured customer discovery and document buyer pain points, budget signals, objections, procurement routes, decision-makers, and pilot success criteria.

* Co-develop pilot packages, pricing logic, partnership terms, and commercial milestones with the product and platform founder.

* Support fundraising through market validation, partner evidence, commercial narrative, investor materials, and relevant introductions.

* Represent Zentari in the alternative protein, cultivated meat, bioprinting, biomaterials, and foodtech ecosystems.

* Help define Zentari’s data-rights and partnership posture, with attention to trust, confidentiality, customer ownership, and long-term model improvement.

* Turn customer and partner feedback into product requirements, prioritisation inputs, and commercial roadmap decisions.

Qualifications

* Strong experience in business development, partnerships, venture building, enterprise sales, commercial strategy, or go-to-market execution.

* Relevant exposure to one or more of the following areas: cultivated meat, cellular agriculture, alternative protein, foodtech, bioprocessing, bioprinting, biomaterials, tissue engineering, life sciences, simulation software, or B2B deep tech.

* Ability to sell an early technical product before the market category is fully established.

* Strong written and spoken communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technology to commercial, technical, and investor audiences.

* Evidence of relationship-building across founders, executives, R&D leaders, investors, suppliers, or ecosystem organisations.

* Comfort with founder-level ambiguity, fast iteration, direct outreach, and hands-on execution.

* Commercial judgement around paid pilots, pricing, partnership structures, and early customer validation.

* Fundraising, investor relations, food industry, life sciences, or strategic partnership experience would be highly valuable.

* No specific degree is required. Relevant experience, network strength, commercial judgement, and founder fit matter more than formal credentials.