Entrepreneur-in-Residence (Bentonville, Arkansas)

Alloy Partners • Bentonville, AR

7d • Onsite

About The Position

Fieldbook Studio, an Alloy Partners venture studio located in Bentonville, Arkansas, is focused on creating advantaged companies across the retail value chain. Our newest venture is designed to address a significant and overlooked opportunity in the independent retail and emerging CPG ecosystem by rethinking how product discovery and brand expansion happen across this market. Independent retailers represent more than 1.7 trillion dollars in annual spend, yet the process of discovering new products remains highly fragmented. Retailers lack a curated and reliable way to identify trend-forward items for their stores. Emerging CPG brands face high customer acquisition costs and a challenging pathway to retail exposure. This new venture solves these challenges by creating a curated sampling and discovery platform that connects retailers with emerging brands and helps brands expand into retail more efficiently. Fieldbook Studio is seeking an Entrepreneur in Residence who will lead this concept through early commercial validation, operational development, and long-term scale. This role is intended to transition into a founding CEO role at the time of incorporation. This is an opportunity to build a zero-to-one company inside the Bentonville retail ecosystem with the full support of the Alloy Partners venture studio model.

Requirements

• Deep independent retail background required, including buying, merchandising, forecasting, and experience with physical product dimensions and case pack design
• High credibility within the retail community and strong relationship-building instincts
• Experience leading sales teams or serving as a head of sales with accountability for revenue targets
• Ability to recognize and predict consumer trends with a strong social media presence or portfolio that demonstrates trend fluency
• Understanding of scalable business dynamics and familiarity with building businesses capable of reaching one hundred million dollars in revenue
• Hands-on execution mindset ready to inherit and refine a live pilot
• Comfort traveling to trade shows and partner events, and building multiregional retail relationships
• Must be based in Northwest Arkansas, including Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers, or Springdale

Nice To Haves

• Experience as a retail founder is preferred.
• Experience in funded startups or prior fundraising preferred

Responsibilities

• Lead Strategy Market Discovery and Concept Evolution
• Develop a deep understanding of the problems facing independent retailers and emerging CPG brands
• Translate market insights and early pilot activity into a clear company strategy and value proposition
• Shape product themes and guide how curated discovery will work across the platform
• Drive Early Traction and Customer Development
• Step into the leadership of early pilot activity and monthly sampling cycles in motion at the time of hire
• Build strong relationships with emerging CPG brands and manage onboarding, product sourcing, and curation
• Lead retailer acquisition efforts, including referrals, partnerships, and network development in priority markets
• Identify and predict consumer trends to guide product offerings and develop a six-month trend pipeline and corresponding brand network.
• Build Go To Go-To-Market Strategy and Revenue Foundations
• Develop and execute the dual-sided commercial strategy for brands and retailers
• Shape pricing and economic models and refine a repeatable go-to-market motion
• Identify growth pathways that support long-term scale, including retailer network expansion and brand channel partnerships
• Explore enterprise adjacency opportunities within large retail ecosystems
• Oversee Operations and Logistics
• Manage the operational workflows required for a monthly sampling and discovery platform, including sourcing, fulfillment, and logistics
• Build scalable systems and operational processes as volume increases
• Evaluate long-term operational models

Benefits

• Competitive compensation.
• A collaborative, entrepreneurial environment with a proven venture studio playbook
• A highly validated concept and business model hypothesis developed by our team
• The support of the venture studio and platform services, our goal is to surround the startup with world-class expertise in every discipline required to build a market-leading company

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Executive
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 51-100 employees